In order to get to the La Manche village, you have 2 options.
Stay at the LaManche Provincial Park and follow the East Coast Trail.
The second option is what day trippers do. Take HWY 10 south, past Tors Cove and The La Manche Provincial Park entrance. Drive on another kilometer and take your first left. Go down a gravel road for about a kilometer. At the end of the road is a gravel parking lot. The trail is at the far end. Weather conditions will determine the trails difficulty. Give yourself 30-45 minutes.
The harbour at La Manche is long and quite narrow. The sides are quite high. When you first come in to the site there are overgrown abandoned house foundations. A little further on your right is the most amazing swimming hole! To the right and further on is where most of the community was located, wherever they could put up a house.
La Manche was reputed to be one of the best fishing coves along the southern shore. It was first settled around 1840. The very difficult geography resulted in La Manche staying very small and isolated.
Around 1919 a school was built but closed after 1949 (confederation) because it did not have the required 11 students minimum.
During a 100 year span the population of La Manche ranged from 7 to 55. Income was obtained from fishing. Subsistence farming helped to put food on the table.
The cost of maintaining the road, particularly in the winter, led to pressure to relocate in the early 1960’s.
On January 25, 1966 the decision to relocate was made for the inhabitants. A powerful winter storm created a tsunami that destroyed the community. Surprisingly no deaths resulted from the storm.
The East Coast Trail runs through this community. In order to get to the other side of the harbour a suspension bridge has been built.
To get an idea of the conditions these people worked and lived in, go to the link below. There are 3 pages of photos.
Amazing Photos of La Manche Before the Storm
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