Quidi Vidi is a neighbourhood in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (pronunciations vary, even amongst longtime residents, but "Kiddy Vidi" is the most common). The village is adjacent to Quidi Vidi Lake (where the Royal St. John's Regatta is held the first Wednesday in August, weather permitting). Quidi Vidi's harbour is known as "The Gut". Located in Quidi Vidi is the Quidi Vidi Battery Provincial Historic Site. The village is home to several small businesses. History From around 1600, fishermen arrived "each spring on the fishing ships from South Devon (Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Totnes, Dawlish, Torbay)" and "made their way" to Quidi Vidi, where they established fishing rooms. They then went home each fall. However, a few overwintered "to take care of the rooms and procure timber for construction and for fuel". Around the middle of that century some began staying permanently and houses were built, and these fishermen married and had families. However, "even as late as 1835, migratory men from southwest England and from southeast Ireland were still engaged in the cod fishery at Quidi Vidi". Batteries In 1762 the French constructed Quidi Vidi Battery. When the French left, it became part of the system of batteries defending St John's. A reconstruction of this site opened in 1967 and it was designated the Province's first Historic Site in 1974. However, since 2011 it has been closed to the public, because of "a lack of available parking and accessibility issues" and, according to a local radio station,is in a "state of disrepair, empty and overgrown". There was another battery, the Quidi Pass Battery, which was constructed by the British during the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, on a hill above both the village and the Lake. There is a sign marking this site. Mallard Cottage Mallard Cottage "built sometime between 1820 and 1840, ... was the home of the Mallard family who settled in Quidi Vidi at the beginning of the 19th century. With its low hipped-roof and two-room, central chimney plan, it is typical of houses built by the immigrants who came from southeast Ireland to Newfoundland in the first half of the 19th century". The cottage is recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada. The cottage was the home of the Mallards, a fishing family, until the 1980s. In 1985, the cottage became an antique shop. In 2011, the cottage was purchased and restored along guidelines