The town has a small harbour, a hospital, and many recreational facilities, including a hockey rink, curling club, skatepark, tennis courts, a soccer pitch and softball field.

On the outskirts of town is Glassy Beach, which is known for its smooth pieces of broken glass that can be safely walked across in bare feet.

The Springdale area was first inhabited by aboriginal peoples, including the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq, and there is evidence to suggest that the Dorset and Maritime Archaic Indians also spent time there.

According to local lore, the heads of Captain Hall and his crewmen were found on top of wooden pikes stuck in the ground along the coast of the bay.

The first recorded European settler was Nicholas Peters who, in 1877, constructed a sawmill on Mill Island, near the mouth of Indian River, and approximately 200 metres off the shore of present-day Springdale.

This sawmill attracted other settlers, and buildings were soon constructed on the "mainland," across from Mill Island, in a sheltered area called Wolf Cove.