St. John's, Newfoundland: North America's Oldest City at the Edge of the Atlantic

Signal Hill, the rocky promontory guarding the entrance to St. John's harbor, is the defining landform of the city and the site of two events that mark major turning points in communications history. Here in 1762, British forces defeated the last French attempt to hold Newfoundland, effectively ending France's ambitions on the island. And here in December 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal — the letter 'S' in Morse code, transmitted from Cornwall, England. The Cabot Tower at the summit commemorates both events and has a small exhibition on the wireless transmission. The clifftop walk around the headland, called the North Head Trail, takes about 90 minutes in each direction and passes above the harbor entrance narrows, a passage so narrow that two ships cannot pass simultaneously. On a clear day icebergs are visible in season — April through June — drifting south on the Labrador Current from Greenland.

Cape Spear, 11 kilometres southeast of the city center, is the easternmost point in North America. A lighthouse has operated here since 1836; the current automated version runs alongside the original restored light keeper's dwelling, which functions as a National Historic Site. The walk around the headland takes 30 minutes and is exposed to North Atlantic weather regardless of season — bring a layer. The point is significant not just geographically but as the place from which the continent is physically closest to Europe; the distances are made tangible by standing there.

Downtown St. John's is built on a grid of steep streets above the harbor, with Water Street as the main commercial artery and George Street as the center of the city's bar culture — George Street has more licensed premises per square foot than anywhere else in North America, a statistic that comes up in nearly every conversation about the city. The painted row houses of Jellybean Row, on Gower and Prescott Streets, are the most photographed image of the city: Victorian residential architecture painted in vivid primary colors that was originally a practical navigation aid for returning fishermen. The Railway Coastal Museum, housed in the former CN Rail station on Water Street, covers Newfoundland's narrow-gauge railway history and the ferry routes that connected isolated coastal communities before road construction.

Newfoundland cuisine is among the most distinctive in Canada and almost entirely determined by what the North Atlantic provides. Salt cod and brewis (salt fish with hardtack soaked overnight, fried with fatback) is the foundational dish; cod tongues, pan-fried in a light batter, are considered a delicacy and are available at most traditional fish-and-chips restaurants on Water Street. Toutons — fried bread dough served with molasses — are the breakfast item most associated with the province. The craft brewing scene centered on George Street produces ales with names tied to Newfoundland history and geography; the local screech rum (actually Jamaican rum bottled in Newfoundland) is the drink most visitors encounter, typically as part of a ceremonial 'screeching-in' that the bars offer to mainlanders. The ritual is performative but the rum is real.