Main Brook is a fishing and lumbering community, located on the southwest shore of Hare Bay, can be found by following Route 430 (Viking Trail) to Route 432. English presence in the Main Brook area was likely predated by the Maritime Archaic Indians. The French also frequented the region from the 1500s. English settlers (particularly from Notre Dame Bay) began to trickle into the area by the 1800s, but not until the 1900s did substantial permanent English settlement occur. Family tradition holds that Main Brook was founded around 1920 when the Simms family moved there from St. Anthony.

By the time Main Brook first appeared in the 1935 Census it contained 60 people. Employment was almost exclusively in the forest industry. In the late 1940s, Bowater's, realizing the potential of the rich timber stands, moved in and constructed a company town. Five duplex apartment buildings were built, along with offices, machine and carpenter shops, two warehouses, a retail store, a garage, and a complete water system.

The experiment was so successful that the government appointed a town council -- a rare distinction, since only 11 councils were incorporated before Confederation. With the economy thriving, the population of Main Brook had jumped to 363 by 1951 and continued to increase into the 1960s. Roads were constructed and woods operations expanded. A pulpwood debarking operation further boosted employment. Then, in 1968 Bowater's closed their Main Brook operations, citing weak markets and advancing technology, and the one-industry town was devastated. In the 1980s attempts at economic diversification saw some residents returning to the fishery and to tourism. The construction of a shorter road link from Main Brook to the Trans-Canada Highway kindled new hope. Main Brook is home to the beautiful Tuckamore Lodge.