Attractions

Opened in 1901, the Court House on Duckworth Street is an impressive Victorian-era stone building made with local granite and sandstone. The stonework was cleaned in 1988 and the neo-Romanesque Court House today looks very much as it did in 1901. The so-called Court House Steps, which lie adjacent to the Court House on its eastern side and provide a pedestrian connection between Water Street and Duckworth Street, are on a site that in the 19th century was a produce market and public gallows. Newfoundland's last public hanging occurred there in January 1835, when John Flood was hung for robbing the St. John's-Portugal Cove stagecoach.