St. Shotts
& Area
Your Home-Base for Exploration
Ideally situated mid-way on the Irish Loop Drive, The Keeper's Kitchen B&B is your perfect home-base for exploring the beautiful southern tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula.
There is so much to see and do in this area. Some of the highlights include:
1. Cape Pine Lighthouse and Cape Race Lighthouse - both National Historic Sites
2. Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site with fossils dating as far back as 565 million years! Tours must be booked in well in advance.
3. The Avalon Wilderness Reserve is abundant with wildlife. You may see caribou, moose, grouse, foxes; etc on the surrounding barrens and marshlands.
4. Unparalleled Hiking on the barrens, marshes and headlands - 100% un-groomed and un-crowded
5. Berry-picking Grounds - In season, you can pick bakeapples (cloudberries), marshberries, blueberries and partridgeberries just outside our door!
6. Whale Watching - St. Vincent's Beach has one of THE best shoreline whale watching opportunities in the entire province.
Cape Pine Lighthouse
Discover a National Historic Site at the most south-easterly tip of North America
Let us be your guide to exploring the history, culture, and stories of this wild and beautiful coast.
Coming from six generations of lighthouse keepers, Michelle grew up at Cape Pine Lighthouse before moving to St. Shotts in 1972 to the house her father built for their family.
Learn more about the history of the house.
Our B&B is the perfect place to call home while exploring Cape Pine and Cape Race Lighthouse among many other things you can see and do.
When you stay with us, you can feast in our kitchen, hear shipwreck stories on the barrens, and enjoy a front row seat to traditional and original live music.
Find out more here:
Mistaken Point
Did you know that just a short drive from The Keeper's Kitchen B&B you can see, touch and walk on some of the oldest fossils in the world?
We're talking 565 million year old fossils!
Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is NOT to be missed.
Be forewarned - your tour MUST be reserved in advance, so be sure to check availability to avoid disappointment.
Whale Watching
Want to whale watch without 'rockin' on the water'?
St. Vincent's Beach is THE most spectacular place to shoreline watch humpback whales during their capelin feeding frenzy (tiny silver fish that gather in a deep ocean floor drop just mere feet from the landwash...... and it's just a short drive from The Keeper's Kitchen B&B.
Being in the right place at the right time will give you a front row seat to witness some of nature's most majestic creatures in action.
We can keep you informed on whale activity, so you don't miss the show.
Home Grown
One of the most fun ways to get familiar with a culture is through music, food, art and storytelling.
At the Keeper's Kitchen B&B, we place high priority on curating one-of-a-kind experiences for our guests.
Whether it be a gourmet meal made with locally sourced ingredients, a house concert with local recording artists, an outdoor adventure in foraging, an unfolding of historical shipwreck stories that have never been shared before, or an art workshop with your host Michelle, you'll come face to face with home grown hospitality and talent.
THAT is the stuff that memories are made of and it awaits your visit.
What's in a Name?
As you're probably well aware - there is no saint of shotts or shots! So how did St. Shotts get its name? Well, like everything around here, there's a bit of a story to it.
While the coastline and cliffs are breathtakingly beautiful, they are also treacherous.
St. Shotts and the surrounding coastline became known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because it is estimated that over 70 ships have wrecked in and around the community.
The ragged coastline offers stunning views, but is also a testament to just how harsh living off the land and sea must have been in the days before modern navigation.
It is these exact cliffs that are responsible for the original naming of our historical fishing village.
“According to research published in the magazine Decks Awash in 1981, the community's name comes from the French ‘cap de Chincete,’ which means “little rag” and it’s first known appearance in relation to St. John’s was on a 1544 map.
An English map dated 1690 refers to St. Shotts as “Sanshot,” the magazine reported, “while another (map) called the place ‘Chinckhole’ in 1715. Captain James Cook’s map of 1770 offers two names: St. Shot and Chink Hole, of which only the former survived in common usage.”
(From an article by Patrick Newhook on January 27, 2022 in The Irish Loop Post)
Being settled by predominantly Irish and Scottish settlers, and being surrounded by similar settlements named after Roman Catholic saints such as St.Stephen's, St. Vincent's, St.Mary's, St.Joseph's it is only natural that the name became anglicized to reflect a similar religious significance.
One distinguishing feature remains in the name and that is the lack of apostrophe before the final 's'. We are St. Shotts, not Shott's regardless of how many places you may see it written that way.
It is because of the ragged cliffs that many ships came to their end on our coastline.
And it's because of those shipwrecks that lighthouses and foghorns were erected on prominent surrounding headlands.
The Myrick family have a long lineage of lighthouse keeping which intertwines with the history, hardships, beauty and abundance associated with the sea.
These are the stories we wish to share with guests at our table, on our stage, in our art studio and on the marshes, barrens and beaches surrounding The Keeper's Kitchen B&B.
We hope you come experience them firsthand yourself.