A bustling port for the schooner fishery during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Schooner Cove was the location of a short-lived whaling factory established by the Newfoundland company Job Brothers in the early 1900s.

The cove has a rich history of occupation by prehistoric peoples. During the mid-1500s Basque whalers established a shore station there. A hiking trail leads to Schooner Cove from the main highway in L'Anse Au Loup.