Nowadays, anyone visiting Gooseberry Cove Provincial Park would never believe that it was once a settlement. In the nineteenth century, Gooseberry Cove was home to several families with roots in Ireland. The Doyle family arrived around the year 1840 and almost 35 years later, there were farmers working the land and fishermen harvesting the riches of the sea. Most were no doubt related to the original Doyle family.

Gooseberry Cove was never a major settlement and its population peaked during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The McAlpine’s Directory from 1894 to 1897 listed four Doyle families and one Dalton family. By 1921, McAlpine’s Directory noted the presence of five families who still resided in Gooseberry Cove. With the arrival of 1935, only ten people remained and by 1958, the last remaining inhabitant, Richard Dalton, left Gooseberry Cove, moving to Patrick’s Cove a little to the north.

Time marches on and Gooseberry Cove is now a welcoming provincial park. The wide sandy beach with the waves crashing on shore beckon anyone visiting the beach to simply delight in the pleasure of the moment. There are picnic tables in case anyone is in the mood to enjoy a meal to the serenade of the waves. Otherwise, Gooseberry Cove Provincial Park offers an unrivalled view of Placentia Bay which on a clear day is a breathtaking sight to behold.