The place names Musket's Cove and Mosquito have been used since about the 1630s to refer to the area now called Bristol's Hope (Seary 1971: 63).

The community was renamed in 1904 to commemorate the 1617 outpost of that name, an offshoot of the John Guy colony established at Cupids, ten miles away, in 1610 (Dale 1981a).

Although some accounts have the original colony centred at present-day Harbour Grace, the Plantation itself was much larger and included the modern location.

According to the 1677 Newfoundland Census, there were two households with permanent residences in "Musketa" consisting of thirteen family members and twenty-three servants.

Possibly the settlement's most famous native-son was General Sir Henry Pynn, who fought under Wellington in the Peninsular War against Napoleon, and was the first native-born Newfoundlander to be knighted.