- Where
- North Atlantic, off Newfoundland’s north-east coast
across Hamilton Sound - Coordinates
- 49.66° N
54.18° W - Area
- 237.71 km², about 25 by 14 km
(Wikipedia) - Status
- One town since 2011
the Town of Fogo Island - Getting there
- Provincial ferry from Farewell
under an hour - Best visited
- May to September; icebergs May to June
The ferry nosed in among bare rocky islets to a harbour of red and white wooden houses, a great dark knob of rock standing over the town. I climbed it by a long wooden stair, sheltered at first, then fully exposed. From the top there was only cold blue sea. A hand-painted sign announced the world’s corner, right there, so I settled into it.
The short answer
Fogo Island is the largest of the offshore islands of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: about 25 kilometres long and 14 wide, 237.71 square kilometres, off the north-east coast of the island of Newfoundland, across Hamilton Sound from Musgrave Harbour and just east of the Change Islands, Wikipedia records. On 1 March 2011 its communities, including Fogo, Joe Batt’s Arm–Barr’d Islands–Shoal Bay, Seldom–Little Seldom and Tilting, were joined into a single Town of Fogo Island. Its name is one of the oldest on the Newfoundland coast; one theory derives it from the Portuguese fogo, “fire”, and Wikipedia lists several explanations without settling on one.
Why it's worth knowing
An outport that refused to leave. The Beothuk used the island for hundreds of years, hunting seals and salmon, before Irish and English settlers came; by 1750 Fogo was a thriving part of the West Country fishery, and the settlers came to concentrate on drying cod, Wikipedia records. The Beothuk became extinct as a people in the late 1820s. In the 1950s Fogo Islanders defeated the Smallwood government’s plans to resettle them, and in 1967 they made 27 films with Memorial University’s Fred Earle and the National Film Board’s Colin Low about their own problems and future, the “Fogo Process” of community media. Since the northern cod fishery closed in 1992, crab, lobster, tourism and cultural industries have kept the island going.
A corner of the flat earth. Brimstone Head, a rock headland above the village of Fogo, has a trail and a stair to its summit, where a sign names it one of the four corners of the earth. The claim belongs to the Flat Earth Society of Canada, a satirical society founded by academics at the University of New Brunswick in the 1970s, whose list also includes the Bermuda Triangle, Papua New Guinea and the Greek island of Hydra, Newfoundland Quarterly and travel writers report; the society’s revival in 2003 led to a Museum of the Flat Earth at Shoal Bay on the island.
The field notes
Tilting
Tilting, on the island’s east end, was settled by Irish families from the 1750s and was a predominantly Irish, Catholic community by the 1780s, Wikipedia records. It is a Registered Heritage District of Newfoundland and Labrador and a National Cultural Landscape District of Canada, for its houses, fish stages and fenced gardens and for traditions such as taking sheep to Pigeon Island each summer to graze.
Ice from Greenland
The Labrador Current carries icebergs south along this coast, a stretch called Iceberg Alley, and they are usually seen off Fogo Island from late April to June, best in May and early June, travel writers report. The island has seven hiking trails, Brimstone Head and Lion’s Den among them, and town-owned museums including the Marine Interpretation Centre and the Fishermen’s Union Trading Company store at Seldom, Wikipedia records.
The town of Fogo in July, seen from the top of Brimstone Head, 2008.
Photograph: Rodney Boyd · Public domain
Tilting harbour, its houses and fishing stages around the cove, June 2012.
Photograph: SemanticsDavid · Tilting, Fogo Island · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped
An iceberg drifting past the island’s rocky shore, June 2016.
Photograph: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble · Iceberg (29440252354) · CC BY 2.0
Brimstone Head, oil sketch by Frederic Edwin Church, 1859.
Painting: Frederic Edwin Church (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum) · Public domain · cropped
- Check the ferry board every morning, and book your crossing back before you need it.
- Climb the big rock above the harbour toward evening, and dress for a different season at the top.
- Carry this very list up to the corner. Neither of us dropped off the edge, to our mutual relief.
- The small fenced gardens by the houses are kept by families. Enjoy them over the fence, from the road.
- In late spring, watch the sea for ice. It drifts slowly; wait for it.
Brimstone Head. The dark rock headland above the village of Fogo, climbed by a trail and a long wooden stair, at whose summit a sign declares it one of the four corners of the flat earth, by the reckoning of the satirical Flat Earth Society of Canada. The rock itself makes no claim. It is climbed on foot from the village.
Tally, in the marginEveryone assured me the sign at the top was a joke, and I am sure they are right. Still, in that wind, at that height, I held the rail all the same, in case the edge was nearer than advertised.
Getting there
How to get there. By road across Newfoundland to Farewell, then by the provincial ferry across to Fogo Island, a crossing of under an hour by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2026 two-vessel summer schedule; some sailings call at the Change Islands. The province posts daily ferry status on its Marine Services board. The nearest airport is at Gander.
When to go. May to September. Icebergs are most often seen in May and early June; summer is best for walking. The ferry has had breakdowns in recent years: the MV Veteran was out of service from October for months awaiting parts while the MV Legionnaire covered the route, regional press reported, so check the board before you travel.
What to arrange ahead. A bed on the island, which is limited, and a car or arranged transport, as the communities are spread across it; reserve ferry space for a car in summer where reservations are offered.
Safety. The State Department has Canada at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 5 June 2026 in its feed, read 5 October 2026). The hazards here are the place’s own: cold water, strong wind on exposed headlands and stairs, and fog. Medical care on the island is limited: Wikipedia notes that when its last physician was due to leave in 2022, the nearest care was a six-hour round trip by ferry, weather permitting.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Fogo Island?
Fogo Island is off the north-east coast of the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, across Hamilton Sound from Musgrave Harbour. It is the province’s largest offshore island, about 25 by 14 kilometres. It is not Fogo in Cabo Verde.
How do you get to Fogo Island?
By road to Farewell, Newfoundland, then by the provincial ferry to Fogo Island, a crossing of under an hour; some sailings call at the Change Islands. The province posts daily ferry status on its Marine Services board.
Is Brimstone Head really a corner of the earth?
Only by a joke. The satirical Flat Earth Society of Canada, founded by academics at the University of New Brunswick in the 1970s, named Brimstone Head on Fogo Island one of the four corners of the flat earth; a sign at the summit says so, and the island has a Museum of the Flat Earth at Shoal Bay.
When can you see icebergs from Fogo Island?
Usually from late April to June, best in May and early June, when the Labrador Current carries icebergs from Greenland south along Newfoundland’s coast, a stretch known as Iceberg Alley.
What is the Fogo Process?
The Fogo Process is a model of community media begun on Fogo Island in 1967, when Memorial University’s Fred Earle and the National Film Board’s Colin Low made 27 films with islanders about their concerns, as part of the Challenge for Change programme.
What is Tilting on Fogo Island?
Tilting is a community at the east end of Fogo Island settled by Irish families from the 1750s. It is a Registered Heritage District of Newfoundland and Labrador and a National Cultural Landscape District of Canada, known for its houses, fish stages, fenced gardens and summer sheep grazing on Pigeon Island.
Why is it called Fogo Island?
No one knows for certain. Fogo Island appears on a map of 1606, and one theory takes the name from the Portuguese fogo, fire, given by early fishing crews; Wikipedia lists forest fires, the fires of the Beothuk and the volcano of Fogo in Cabo Verde as possible reasons.
Who lived on Fogo Island before Europeans?
The Beothuk used Fogo Island for hundreds of years, hunting seals and salmon and travelling to the Funk Islands for birds’ eggs and feathers. Contact with European settlers ended around 1800, and the Beothuk became extinct as a people in the late 1820s.