Calvert is an unincorporated Canadian settlement in the Ferryland District of Newfoundland and Labrador, on the Irish loop, 72 kilometres south of the provincial capital St. John's. It is 7 kilometres south of Cape Broyle, and 3 kilometres north of Ferryland. The population in 2001 was 355, a decline of 17% since 1996.[1]
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Prior to January 30, 1922, Calvert was known as Caplin Bay, sometimes spelled Capelin Bay, said to be named for the large number of capelin that were fished by early settlers there. As several other Newfoundland communities had similar names (Capelin Cove, etc.), and in light of the necessities of the postal service, the Newfoundland Nomenclature Board, in the early 20th century, made efforts to reduce duplication of place names. It responded favourably to a petition collected by the parish priest of Ferryland, Father Alfred Maher, in 1922, to change the name of the settlement in honour of Sir George Calvert, First Baron Baltimore, and founder, in the early seventeenth century, of the Colony of Avalon at what is now nearby Ferryland.
Settlers were recorded at Cap(e)lin Bay, what is now Calvert, as early as the 1670s.
Loyola Sullivan, the former provincial Minister of Finance and Member of the House of Assembly for Ferryland District, and current Canadian Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation, is from Calvert.
A history of the town was written by Gerald Pocius, in a book titled "A Place to Belong: Community Order and Everyday Space in Calvert, Newfoundland".[2]