We like to tell the story of the Whiteley family and how the existing Bonne Esperance House Heritage Inn came to be.

Bonne Esperance is what the four identical houses at 16, 18, 20 and 22 Gower Street used to be called which did not happen by chance. Captain William Henry Whiteley and his family once owned the properties and they were named after the family's much loved island of Bonne Esperance, located off the coast of Labrador. This island, the family called Bony (rhymes with pony) was the location of the family business, 'Whitely Fishery'.

The William H. Whiteley family of Bonne Esperance can be traced back to Yorkshire England and Boston. In 1847 at the age of 13, Whiteley came to Labrador from Boston with his widowed mother and her new husband, James Buckle. In 1859 while on a trip to England, to claim the estate of his great uncle, William met and married Louisa Ann Thompson of London. His bride almost immediately christened him Bossy, a nickname that stuck with him for the rest of his life. When the newly wed couple returned to Labrador, they settled on the island of Bonne Esperance. A family history speculates Bossy bought the island with his inheritance of 427 pounds. Up until the winter of 1863-64, the Whiteley's and their 12 children lived year round on Bonne Esperance. When the Labrador mission started school and church service nearby at St. Paul's, they decided to build a winter home there. In the summer, they returned to the fishing post of Bonne Esperance.