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| One of many roadside gardens that we saw |
As we traveled up the western coast of Newfoundland past
Gros Morne to the town of St. Anthony, we began to see roadside
gardens. Even though we’d heard about the gardens from other travelers it was still a
surprise when they started popping up by the side of the road. As we drove through
an area that looked completely uninhabited we’d see a fenced plot of
vegetables—usually potatoes—just beyond the shoulder of the road. Who planted
them? Who tended them? No other travelers we had talked seemed to know. When we
questioned the young woman at the Visitors Center near St. Anthony she told us
that they were planted on “Crown Land” or land that’s owned by the government.
As she explained it to us, that land can be used free of charge and is
available to anyone.
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| Fishing Point B&B, which was the childhood home of the owner |
At the B&Bs we stayed at in St. Anthony we had a chance
to talk at length with local people. Peggy and Trudy, who worked at one B&B,
were happy to chat with us and tell us what life in that part of Newfoundland
is like. They said people leave their cars and houses unlocked. In fact, Peggy
said that people leave their cabins in the woods open so that if anyone needs
shelter during bad weather they can come in and make themselves at home. Peggy
added that if you want something that someone else has they’ll give it to you.
They both agreed that people there have little interest in owning land. In the
fishing culture, land is just something you have to take care of.
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| Our view of the sunset from the deck of Fishing Point B&B in St. Anthony |
For generations, people on the part of the coast of
Newfoundland where we were have depended on fishing for a livelihood. We
learned that the fishermen built their houses right on the water for easy access
to their boats and had no use for land because everything they did was tied to
the water.
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| Cod drying on tables outside |
Cod was THE fish in Newfoundland and Labrador. We saw cod
being dried in the traditional way outside in the sun. We were told that the
dried cod was like cardboard but when it was soaked in water it puffed back up.
Even now the Cod Moratorium from the 1990s is a painful topic to the people
there. Families literally lost their livelihood overnight and had to find new
ways of making a living. Today estimates of the cod numbers are all over the
place—some say there are still no cod, others that the cod numbers have
increased significantly. In either case there are strict limits on the time
period and quotas that the fishermen can fish for cod for even their own use.
We were told that Gaelic speakers in Ireland who refused to
give up their language were sent to Newfoundland to survive or perish on their
own. Today the Canadian government sometimes relocates those living on islands off
the Newfoundland coast because it’s too expensive for the government to provide
services and utilities to such tiny groups of people.
Indeed, most of the communities we were in were very small
and populated with a few families who had lived there for generations. Everyone we talked to seemed to live surrounded by various family members. It was interesting to hear that some of the old customs
continue today including the tradition of costumed Mummers visiting
village houses
at Christmas.
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| Yes, this is the size of a town in northern Newfoundland |
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| Perched on the rocks overlooking Goose Cove |
During our stay in
St. Anthony we hiked up the trail at Goose Cove for a spectacular panoramic view
of the cove and the shore. What started
as a short climb to the crest of the hill turned into a multi-hour trek as we
kept hiking from one peak to the next, convinced that just one more peak would
take us to the very highest point overlooking the ocean. Fortunately, we’d come
prepared with backpacks and hiking boots. Unfortunately, we’d left all the gear
in the trunk of the car since we only planned on walking a short distance. Our
“short walk” turned into four hours of hiking through lush wildflowers
overlooking the ocean.
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| On the other side of this hill at Goose Cove is an 1800 foot cliff down to the ocean |
Winters are long and harsh in the area but are surprisingly a time that the people along the coast of Newfoundland
look forward to. That’s when they “Ski-doo” on their snowmobiles back into the
woods to their winter cabins and spend as much time as possible snowmobiling,
hunting, ice fishing, and cutting wood. The
winter storms can be swift and severe so when one hits, people must stay in
place. After an incident where kids were stranded at school overnight in St.
Anthony by a sudden storm, the school instituted a policy that students had
to take bedding to school to prepare for next storm. Due to climate change in the last few
years polar bears are beginning to show up occasionally, usually because they
get stranded on a chunk of thinner iceberg that breaks off early forcing them
to swim onto shore on Newfoundland where they are tranquilized and helicoptered out.
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| Photo opportunities are everywhere in Newfoundland |
We saw firsthand how friendly Newfoundlanders are one day in
St. Anthony when Russ was driving slowly down a street, preparing to pull into
a parking lot. Seeing the car behind us follow us into the lot, Russ jumped to
the conclusion that the guy was going to
give him grief for driving so slow. But no, the guy—who saw our Washington tags—just
rolled down his window and asked if we were lost, ready to take time out of his
day to give help to clueless strangers .
Despite the remoteness and harshness of the land, every
single person we talked to in Newfoundland said they loved living there and
wouldn’t live anywhere else.
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| Taking a break on our hike at Goose Cove |
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| Luckily for area seals the "Seal Flippers" are really fried dough |
