The Community by Frank Clarke   The community of Victoria is located in a river valley on the Avalon Peninsula near Carbonear, Conception Bay at Longitude 47' 45"N, Latitude 53' 15" W. For ages this valley was covered with great mixed forests including pine, a much needed commodity used to make ship's spars, flakes, build houses and other sundry uses. It has pristine ponds and an extensive river system. The community probably began as a "winterhouse" for people from Freshwater (1614), Crocker's Cove (1675) and Carbonear (1614). It has been noted that wood on the sea coast of the Avalon Peninsula had been harvested or destroyed by fire since early settlement began in the 1600s. It was still desperately needed by the fishers to build boats, erect stages and flakes, to use to build their houses and to provide firewood, flakes, gaffs and killicks.   If one examines topographical maps, the area that was eventually named Victoria must have been frequented at this time. Wood was available in large quantities in Carbonear Valley and what was to become Victoria Valley. Nowhere around the coast from Spout Cove to Carbonear was there a supply of wood large enough to satisfy the needs of the coastal communities. The forests near these communities had long since been denundated and ravished by fire.   We do not know for sure when Crocker's Cove was first settled but it is known that the Clark(e)'s who came from Dorset, Devon or Poole lived there as early as 1675. There is some speculation that they may have come by way of Trinity though this has not been confirmed. The community stood near Carbonear but was identified as a separate village for more than three hundred years. Crocker's Cove, believed to have been named for its first settler, a man named Crocker who came from Devon, is quite old and is shown on maps of Newfoundland as early as 1675. The Plantation Book reveals that by 1775 there were about 60 houses there. More than likely it was about this time that some settlers looked to the valley north of them. This large valley was approximately five miles long and about two miles wide with a large river system. As well there was an abundance of wood used as fuel, building material and for use in the fishing trade. There was so much overcrowding due to subdivision of family property at Crocker's Cove that there was little land available for cultivation. This may have led to some of them clearing land in the Victoria valley to set crops in during the summer. Since it was only about a mile from Crocker's Cove they could easily walk into the valley in the morning and return at the end of the day. More than likely they used the trail between Carbonear and Heart's Content that had been used for centuries.   Though Victoria lies inland, it is within walking distance of Carbonear first mentioned in connection with raids by pirates in 1614. It is also near Freshwater, first recorded in a journal kept by Abbe Jean Baudouin who accompanied Le Moyne d'Iberville on his expedition to Newfoundland in 1696 and was called "Fraishe ouatre." Salmon Cove that is east of the community was settled as early as 1680, and appeared on French and English maps as "crique de saumon" or the French translation of Salmon Cove. These communities depended on the fishery and had very little wood. Since the residents of Salmon Cove, Freshwater and Carbonear needed wood for homes, boats and flakes they went up the Big Brook that runs through Victoria, on some maps called Salmon Cove River, to gather wood that was very plentiful in the valley. Constant use over the years led to what was to become the Salmon Cove Road, the Carbonear Road, the Fisherman's Road and the Heart's Content Road. This fact has led many to infer that Victoria is much older than was earlier believed.   If one examines the early road system on the Avalon Peninsula, a path clearly existed between Heart's Content and Carbonear as early as the late 1600s. It is known that the French, particularly d'Iberville, crossed from Trinity Bay to raid the Conception Bay villages by way of the Heart's Content path to Carbonear. We know for certain that Carbonear was attacked more than once by the French in the late 1600s. It is easy to speculate that these paths were first established by Newfoundland's native people. (See Ingeborg Marshall, A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk, 1996)   The best evidence that there was a path through Victoria to Heart's Content comes from the journals of Abbe Beaudoin who was chaplain to d'Iberville. Writing in his journal of February 9, 1697 he writes. "We went to New Perlican... Next day we departed for Carbonniere through the woods. It was a bad trail, always water leg high, it not being very cold at this time." This entry indicates that there was a trail but it was very primitive. On February 28, the chaplain wrote. " We departed for Heart's Content with the English prisoners, after having burnt almost all Carbonniere. On March 1, d'Iberville left orders to take all prisoners,...to Bay Booulle Havre... and to leave M. Boisbrant at Harve Content with a detachment, who were to keep watch on what went on near Carbonniere." This leads to further proof that a path to Carbonear was well established.   The Abbe's journal further states: "April 13, Boisbrant, who left in the fort at Heart's Content with 20 men, going constantly to Carbonear, left that fort and fired it." The dairy concluded by saying: "April 18, an Irishman escaped on the ice from Carbonniere Island and came through the woods to Heart's Content" Thus we can establish that there was frequent travel through Victoria Valley to Trinity Bay since 1697.   Other evidence is available about early travel and settlement. Marriage records from the Methodist Church at the Newfoundland Archives show that many people who were married in the Methodist Church at Carbonear stated that they lived on the Heart's Content Road. In fact the first reference to Victoria's original name was Heart's Content Road. Parish records also show that people lived on Swansea Road, Beaver Pond, and Job's Pond as early as 1858.