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Perched high atop Spectacle Head, the American Man has watched over the waters of Bay de Grave and Conception Bay for at least a century. The circular rock cairn is a well-known landmark in Cupids. However, it is not the only rock cairn of its kind in Newfoundland and Labrador. Others can be spotted in Placentia Bay, Burnt Islands, on the Great Northern Peninsula, and on the coast of Labrador.¹
But where did the idea for these rock cairns come from, and who built them?
Oral tradition sometimes attributes them to surveyors mapping the coastlines of Newfoundland and Labrador. One legend about the Spectacle Head American Man suggests that it was constructed as a memorial to an American man who who fell to his death from the hill, though there is little evidence to support this. A more compelling explanation is that cairns and other landmarks were used in groups of two or three by fishermen, to aid their navigation. Aligning them in a particular way allowed navigators to pinpoint dangerous underwater rocks or treacherous waters (or find fishing grounds). The American Man is used by local fishermen to locate The Chimney fishing ground in Bay de Grave to this day. But the former purpose would have been particular helpful, in some weather conditions, before the lighthouse was built at Goat's Cove (1916).²
Theories abound about the unique name of the cairn, as well. It may have been named for the poor gentleman who met an untimely end on Spectacle Head. Or it was chosen to reflect the tradition of American fishermen in Labrador, who erected similar cairns to mark the most desirable fishing grounds. An even more likely explanation is that the name is a corruption of "marking man" — and like Noder Cove on Burnt Head, the local dialect influenced a transition in name and pronunciation. We may never have a definitive answer.
² Dale Jarvis, "Folklore Photo: The Cupids American Man circa 1930," ICH Blog, February 4, 2014. http://www.ichblog.ca/2014/02/folklore-photo-cupids-american-man.html.