Newfoundland is a large island located in the Atlantic Ocean on the far Eastern side of Canada. Because of time, we limited our visit to its Avalon Peninsula.
St. John’s
Our exploration started in the provincial capital of St. John’s because that’s where the International Airport took us. Considered the oldest English city in the Americas, St. John’s, because of its harbour and proximity to the fishing grounds, gained prominence as a commercial trading outpost during the 16th century. Ships from many countries still unload or load their wares at this busy international port city.
The city streets near the waterfront are filled with pubs, restaurants, and souvenir shops attracting tourists as well as businesses serving residents. While cross streets allow drivers to travel from street to street, pedestrians can walk a flight of stairs from one street to the next. Beyond the businesses lie residential districts, many featuring “biscuit box” homes of differing colors - red, yellow, blue, green, purple.
Because so many Irishmen settled on this part of the Island, we had been advised to visit at least one Irish pub to listen to the music. We stopped at one, but it didn’t have live music. The host directed us to another, which turned out to be British, not Irish, with a pop singer for the evening. Unable to make a second tour of the pub scene, we missed out on the popular Newfoundland Screech-In tradition. If one drinks Newfoundland rum in a pub and kisses a cod, he becomes an honorary Newfoundlander.
Signal Hill
We were in St. John’s on Discovery Day which recognizes John Cabot’s discovery of the island in 1497. On the parade grounds at Signal Hill, we watched a uniformed soldier and the mayor fire a canon in honor of the occasion.
Signal Hill, where the Cabot Tower, a castle-like structure built to commemorate the 400 anniversary of Cabot’s discovery, is also the site where Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless message in 1901.
Cape Spear
Not far from St. John’s is Cape Spear, the most eastern point in North America. If one travels to the site very early in the morning, he can be the first on the continent to see the sunrise. We were not the first that day. The days are long in the summer. While we were there, the sun rose around 5 a.m. and set around 9:30 p.m. In the winter time, the sun rises around 7:30 a.m. and sets by 6 p.m. It was also very cold, especially for summer, on our first few days. One night, the temperature dropped to 32 degrees.
Ferryland
Some 50 miles from St. John’s is the small town of Ferryland where the first Lord Baltimore, George Calvert, began the first English settlement in the Americas in 1621. Although he built one of the largest homes in the settlement, he only stayed one year. The next year, he moved his family to Virginia.
For the past 27 years, archeologists have been excavating this Avalon settlement site. Although they have been able to establish the location of buildings and houses in the settlement, they have discovered that the site had been settled, raided, and resettled several times. It continues as an active project with scientists still discovering china and pottery shards, beads, smoking pipes, buttons, rings daily. To date, the scientists have uncovered, categorized and displayed an average of 3,000 pieces of history a week.
The daily tours of the dig site include a replica of a traditional kitchen in Avalon in the 17th century. Here a docent explains daily life in the harsh conditions. The Colony of Avalon hosts, during the month of July, an annual Great Colonial Cook-Off featuring recipes that use only ingredients available in the area in the 17th century. Interested persons are invited to try the weekly recipe, photograph it and display it on the site’s Facebook page. A winner will be drawn at random from the participants. For more information, go to www.colonialcookoff.com.
Expression
Stay where you’re to ’til I comes where you’re at
Newfoundland saying which means: “Stay where you are until I get there.”
Recipe
Pottage of Cherries
I have not made this recipe, but the docent considered it one of her favorites. It testifies not only to the importance of bread in early days, especially in cold northern countries, but also to the fine art of bread making. Really good homemade bread is still popular in Newfoundland. It can easily be turned into a dessert. My grandmother often fried bread for breakfast and it truly is delicious on its own.
Pottage of Cherries (The docent’s favorite 2017 recipe based on a 17th century recipe)
Slices of white bread
Butter
Cherries, pitted
Sugar
Ginger
Cinnamon
White or Claret Wine
Fry the bread slices in butter until brown. Remove from skillet. Then, places cherries with sugar and spices into the same skillet. Add wine. Boil until cherries are done. Serve cherry sauce over the toast.
2018
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