Raleigh is a fishing village in Ha Ha Bay, on the northern tip of Newfoundland. For many years the community was also known as Ha Ha Bay (or Ha Ha). It is speculated that the name is from the archaic French haha (a type of boundary or fence that could not be seen until closely approached). Certainly this name is descriptive of the way that Burnt Island (in fact a peninsula, which divides Ha Ha Bay and Pistolet Bay) appears from the sea to be unconnected to the adjacent land. The present name was adopted in 1914 in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Raleigh was known to French migratory fishermen at Quirpon in the eighteenth century and probably to Basque fishermen before that time. English settlement probably dates from the mid-1800s, when the area was being frequented by fishing crews out of Harbour Grace and other Conception Bay ports. The first known permanent settlers were William and Emily (Green) Parmiter who were married there in 1871. The population was 21 in 1874 and 34 in 1891. Others came to the area for the summer fishery and lived elsewhere in the winters -- in Pistolet Bay or at their home ports in Conception Bay.

Early in the twentieth century the number of permanent inhabitants grew to 108 in 1921 and 184 in 1935; both by a natural increase in the relatively young population and by the arrival of settlers from nearby communities such as Quirpon and Cook's Harbour and from Conception Bay. By 1921 there were 33 boats fishing from Raleigh. Some people were also involved in sealing, lumbering and subsistence agriculture. As the community became more settled, a school, church and other services were established. By the 1950s the population was several hundred people. Pistolet Bay All Grade School served the area until 1984 when grades 10-12 were bused to St. Anthony. In 2007, the school was permanently closed with all students being transported to St. Anthony.