The Cable Station is a Provincial Historic Site in Heart’s Content. It’s on the east side of Route 80, in town across the road from the harbour. There is a parking area behind the museum.
The first successful transatlantic cable is a piece of world history that put Heart’s Content on the map.
Cable Station Monument Inscription:
The First Atlantic Telegraph Cable | 1858 to 1866
On August 5th 1858, The U.S.S. Niagara landed the first Atlantic telegraph cable at Bay Bulls Arm near this place. Inaugural messages were exchanged by Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan. But, shortly thereafter this cable failed.
On July 27th 1866. having surmounted great difficulties, an improved cable was laid between Valentia, Ireland and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland by the S.S. Great Eastern.
Plaque Inscription:
A permanent electrical communications link between the Old World and The New was initiated at this site with the landing of a transatlantic cable on July 27, 1866.
This achievement altered for all time personal, commercial, and political relations between peoples on the two sides of the ocean. Five more cables between Heart’s Content and Valentia, Ireland, were completed between 1866 and 1894. The station continued in operation until 1965.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
When you visit the Cable station you’ll learn some amazing history. Little Heart’s Content served as a major communications hub for almost a century. The museum shows the equipment. You can also get a window of how the staff lived and worked. Walk across the road from the museum and you can see what’s left of the actual transatlantic cable.
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