Argentia bunkers
argentia · The Cape Shore
The US Navy/Army base is gone. The bunkers and Battery 282 guns are still on the hill above the ferry.
Naval Station / NAS Argentia and Fort McAndrew were the big WWII US base (Destroyers-for-Bases 1940–41). Batteries 281/282 (1942) — 6-inch guns, earth-covered bunkers. Battery 282 still has guns, Registered Heritage Structure 2005. Underground command bunker near Marquis/Charter (often mis-called a hospital). Ammo 'igloos' in the hills. HiddenNewfoundland and Pursuit of Adventure document access from Hwy 102 / Marine Atlantic road. Not a museum with hours — leftover military landscape next to the Argentia ferry terminal. Skipper: adventure day off the boat, then Placentia/Castle Hill, not a hotel in the bunker.
The story they tell
Yarn that the underground bunker was a 100-bed hospital. Local correction: command and control for the batteries. Geocache copy still repeats the hospital story.
How to get there
Argentia, at the end of Route 100 about 43 km south of Whitbourne and the Trans-Canada; the old base roads and Battery 282 sit about 100 m off Highway 102 (Charter Avenue) beside the Marine Atlantic ferry terminal.
Mind yourself
Leftover military landscape, not a museum: unlit tunnels, fouled air and unstable structures. Underground access is no longer recommended (poor air quality) — stay outside, respect fences and the working ferry terminal.
Some story
