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| Day 36 - Bonavista, NL | ||
 We visited Port Union National Historic District of Canada. Port Union is the "Only Union Built Town" in North America and was founded by William Ford Coaker in 1916. Headquarters for the Fishermen's Protective Union (FPU) and FPU Trading Company; Fort Union had electricty in 1918 while parts of New York City remained in the dark. |
 Our first stop was The Factory, built in 1923. It was home to the controversial newspaper "The Fishermen's Advocate". The Factory is on the left and the housing for the managers of the company are on the right side. |
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 The woodworking shop is on the right and the store is on the left. |
 A scale used to weigh the dried cod. |
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 A linotype machine used to create the type for the press. |
 This is the Duplex Printing Press; a very advanced piece of equipment for its time. It could print on both sides of the paper and then put a fold into it as the paper exited out this end. |
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 We had two options for the morning; to take 1 hour hike (round trip) to the "Squirter" or take a guided tour around town. The housing on the right was for the union management and they were rented for $12 per month because they had both electricity and water. |
 We split up about half and half. It was a fairly easy hike on a mostly gravel path. |
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 The sea was fairly calm so we had to wait quite awhile for some action. |
 But finally we did see it "Squirt". Most of us refered to it as a "blow hole". Jim Hamp took this picture. |
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 Sue Schmidt did some berry picking and came up with these examples. Clockwise from the bottom are the Blackberry, the Juniper Berry and the Partridge Berry. |
 We had a couple of these small bridges and wooden paths to cross on the trail. Here Ann and Ed navigate across one of the bridges. |
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 These were the houses for the laborers and were rented for $8 per month because they had electricty but no running water. |
 There is not enough money available to renovate these houses so they are rapidly deteriorating. |
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 Many of us opted to pay for a lunch prepared by the local group that helps support the restoration of the district. |
 It was a delicious lunch consisting of salad, soup, a cod au gratin and dessert. Many of us took food home. |
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 This was a hoot. What does a tiny town in Newfoundland do to try to attact visitor? Well, Elliston has proclaimed itself as "The Root Cellar Capital of the World". |
 And so far anyway, nobody had disputed it. We stopped at the restored store to see a video about the town prior to viewing any root cellars. |
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 We visited these two root cellars buried in the side of a small knoll. |
 Not very exciting inside. Just a bin for potatoes and all rock construction. |
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 A walk out on a penisula to look for puffins gave us spectacular views. |
 The rock formations and the wave action painted postcard perfect scenes. |
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 The puffins were nesting on an island separated from the penisula so we could not get up to them. |
 But we could get these telephoto pictures, which will have to do for now. |
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 Since many of us saw the lighthouse in the rain yesterday, we took advantage of the sunshine to visit it again. |
 A barrel with a water container in the storage room. |
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 A guide cranks the mechanism to get the light turning. |
 These are kerosene lamps that are in matched pairs. The signature of this lighthouse was two white and one red flash every ?? minutes. |
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 While most of us were touring, Kelvin Hauta had his camera set on a tripod and got these two magnificent photos of a humpback whale breaching. |
 This is a very rare occurance indeed. |
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 Today we were all "Schreeched In". Schreech is a local rum which was originally the dregs at the bottom of the rum barrels from the West Indies received in trade for the less desireable cod that was sent to them. However, Screech became a "Newfie" favorite. |
 The "Town Crier " of our campground, Dr Chris Randall, asks: "Be you they who have traveled to reach these shores? Knew you that we would be here?" We campers replied: "We knew indeed you'd stay where you's to, till we came where you's at". |
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 "Take the morsels and gulch 'em down." (These were crackers with cooked cod britches) |
 "Take this Schreech and swallie her down. With your gullet on fire roar out the sound; bawl out if you must when burning starts." |
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 "Bring forth the King. The mighty Cod has reigned for long." |
 "Long may the mighty Cod reign." |
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 "Now show the Cod... |
 your faith and trust... |
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 lip lock the Cod.. |
 for now you must." |
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 "I now proclaim you Newfoundlanders. When again we meet I winks at you and again you nods acardin. Long May Your Big Jib Draw." |
 We finished with some "Newfie" songs while Barry used two 2x4 pieces in time with the music. |
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Click here for a Google map of above pictures. |
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