Settled first by the Mi’kmaq of Newfoundland which used land on the "Neck" of the Harbour,[1][2] they were joined in the early 1800s,[3] by the English Dodge family[4] and by Irishman Thomas Hynes Sr.[1] European fishermen were first brought to the small community by English merchant family of Newman and Co. based in Harbour Breton, the firm of merchant John Gorman, and the Jersey firm of Nicholle and Co.[3][5] The town had a population of 117 in the Canada 2021 Census.

[3] In 1831, prominent Newfoundland fisherman Thomas Hynes, who defied the Bait Act, was born in English Harbour East.

[4] English Harbour East's steady growth in the mid to late 19th century coincided with the success of the cod and herring fishery in Fortune Bay.

[8] English Harbour East also significantly prospered in conjunction with the herring fishery and the sale of bait to United States traders.

[3] Road construction to connect English Harbour East to nearby Grand le Pierre for a distance of 6 miles[11] began in 1970[12] and completed shortly thereafter at an estimated cost of $200,000.

[15] Kearley would patrol around the town and visit various buildings and vacant houses to help deter vandalism in the program which was the first of its kind for the Burin Peninsula.

[16] In the first decade of the 21st Century, several fishing sheds from abandoned communities elsewhere in Newfoundland were moved to English Harbour East and restored.