Welcome to Argentia.org

Introduction

Ownership of this domain was transferred out of Maine in May 2007 ... with hosting and maintenance coordinated out of Philadelphia. This website is affiliated with the Argentia Historical Trust and Research Foundation, which was established by a group of professional individuals with similar interests in Argentia's French, Colonial and American military history. While this website retains copyright to all non-quoted written material, please feel free to use it for reference purposes, provided you give appropriate credit to the source. In referencing any non-quoted information from Argentia.org, you may feel assured that it is accurate.

Mission Statement

The purpose of Argentia.org is to promote the accurate as possible history of Argentia, Newfoundland. We will be presenting accounts of various aspects of Argentia's history as they unfolded and were recorded by various official sources, not as how several misinformed sources have published them in the past.

Dedication

This website has a commitment and loyalty to two extremely important aspects of Argentia's history … all the people who called it home for 279 years prior to World War II — especially those who resided there when a simple but contented way of life ceased to exist — and those who replaced them for a much shorter period. Thus, it is with great pride that Argentia.org dedicates everything that follows:

To all the people who were forced to surrender their homes, land, livestock, and way of life at Argentia in 1941 to make way for a massive foreign military installation.

And

To all the American military personnel who served at Argentia for various lengths of time while providing security and defence for the Western Hemisphere, economic prosperity for the local residents, and a friendship that should not be forgotten.

About Home Page Photograph

When we decided to have a photograph on the Home Page, the choice was not as straight forward as one might think. To have an image from any one of the French, Colonial, American, and Canadian eras would not have been representative of Argentia's entire history. We needed an image that would transcend all four historical periods.

After assessing thousands of quality images, we chose a photograph of The Isaacs, as seen from the shoreline of Big Traverse's Cove in 2003. It was taken by Russ Guibord of Bristol, Maine on the second of several visits that he has made to the Argentia area while tracing the footsteps of his father, Lieutenant Loring (Larry) Ralph Guibord of Melrose, Massachusetts, who was stationed at Forth McAndrew U.S. Army Base in 1942.

Located on the eastern side of the entrance to Argentia harbour, The Isaacs make up the one landmark with which people from all eras would have been very familiar. Although they have endured various kinds of temporary change during French, British, American, and Canadian rule in Argentia, The Isaacs are a stalwart example of local geography that would be recognized by specific people all over the world; they are the same now as when the French first visited the region in the 1500s.