The community of Merasheen in Placentia Bay was originally settled by the French, who in the 1700’s had a military settlement in this region. Remnants of a French cemetery still remain today.Merasheen is a corruption of the French “Mer au Chien”, which roughly translated, means sea dog. It is but one of hundreds of Newfoundland communities that were resettled in the 1950’s – 1970’s. The government of the day, then led by Joseph R. Smallwood, decided not to provide these smaller communities with electricity, schools, roads, and health care, and subsequently offered to pay for their move to larger centers. While their physical community has disappeared, the spirit of the people lives on. Their descendents have a reunion every five years to keep that spirit alive.
