We awoke to a beautiful day and headed on around the Burin Peninsula. Stop one was in Grand Banks at the Provincial Seamen’s Museum. Although the museum had had a fire, we were able to learn a lot about cod fishing by reading the signs surrounding the mural on the building.
In the mural, you will see a large sailing ship which is the schooner and a small boat which is called a “dory”. Using both vessels together made it possible to travel further, faster, and stay at sea longer. Each schooner could carry 6-12 dories. Schooners sailed to Grand Banks loaded with salt and bait. Once there, the dories were loaded into the water and the two man crew used long lines of baited hooks called “trawls” to catch the cod. When the dories were filled, they returned to the schooner and the fish were gutted, split and stored in the cargo hold between layers of salt to preserve it during the voyage home. When the schooner arrived at home port, its cargo of salted fish was preserved by being dried in the sun, which required good weather and back-breaking labor. After shaking to remove excess salt, the split fish were spread outside on wooden forms called “flakes”. Women who were primarily responsible for this job, worked from daylight to dusk, laying out the fish and turning them so they wouldn’t get sunburned while keeping them from moisture and rot. The trade schooners carried the dried salt fish to markets in Spain, Portugal, France and all over the West Indies. They returned with rum, sugar, molasses and manufactured goods.
When fish were plentiful and prices high, fortunes were made for merchants and ship owners. In turn, they paid the dory men and shore workers in credit, not cash. The “truck” system was a complicated method of credit and debits. Merchants supplied fishermen and their families with provisions and gear on credit. At the end of the season, the value of the fish they had caught and processed was tallied. After their debts were paid, the balance was given in credit notes that could be redeemed for food, clothing and other goods at the merchant’s store. When the fishing was bad, there was no credit, just debt.
Further into town, we stopped to view the George C. Harris home, a merchant’s house near the waterfront.
Built in 1908 the Queen Anne style house has a widow’s walk where shore-bound women waited and watched, sometimes in vain, for their menfolk to return from trips to sea. This home was given to George C. Harris and his wife by his father for their wedding gift. The home was very nicely restored and our favorite rooms were Charlotte’s sitting room where she entertained her
women friends and of course, the widow’s walk where you could see the harbor and for miles around the town. 
Beside the house is the Mariner’s Memorial Garden which pays tribute to the thousands of mariners lost at sea who sailed from Grand Banks and parts along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.
The life sized bronze female figure represents and exemplifies the virtues and strength of character of thousands of Newfoundland wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters who have endured the loss of their men. 
The water and beach rocks shoreline contains the names of seamen who lost their lives while making a living on the sea.
We stopped to take a couple of pictures of other homes in Grand Banks
and
especially liked the B&B 
and the historic home. 
The roads are once again small and snake throughout the town. 
Further down the road in Fortune, we stopped to visit the Heritage House which was the home of George and Mary Lake.
This house was a turn-of-the-century house that depicts the way of life of a common working family. The small kitchen encompassed most of the downstairs with 
only a parlor as the other room on the first floor. The two-story building measuring 36 feet wide by 46 feet long was built in 1883 at a cost of approximately $92.50. It was definitely different from the large home in Grand Banks of the well-to-do merchant.
We took a walk down to the harbor area and viewed the fishing sheds which gave us a nostalgic
step back into the late 1800s.
Fortune is the gateway to France! At least it is the place to catch a ferry that will take you to the French owned island of St. Pierre. Since it was so late in the season and things were beginning to close up, we decided not to go over, especially since we would have had to spend at least two nights and their prices were even more expensive than here. Anyway, we contented ourselves with taking a picture of the islands from Point May.
While I was taking pictures of the island of St. Pierre, George happened to notice about 6 whales having a jolly old time playing and splashing out in the bay. We watched them for quite some time, however they weren’t close enough that we could get a picture. But we did feel privileged to see them as they are usually gone by this time of year.
The scenery was gorgeous as we watched rivers flow into ponds and ponds flow into the bays.
We even saw a cemetery laid out on a hillside on one of the points of land. 
Lawn was especially pretty with the rock wall at the entrance to the town.
St. Lawrence would be our last stop for this peninsula and we were definitely surprised when we pulled into the Miner’s Museum. They had a wonderful display on the fluorspar mines and a lot of history.
Until the establishment of the fluorspar mining industry, people of St. Lawrence lived and worked much like other people in the area. Through inshore fishing, small-scale farming, and other traditional activities, they survived on this rugged, remote coast just as their European ancestors had for centuries. In 1933, the St. Lawrence Corporation of Newfoundland, an American based company, entered into a deal with several local businessmen to mine and export a trial shipment of the area’s fluorspar deposits. The people of St. Lawrence, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were spurred on by the promise of steady paying work and invested many days of back-breaking, unpaid labor to get the mines up and working. The mines prospered and expanded and in 1939 “The Corporation” was joined by a second company, Newfoundland Fluorspar Limited. By the early 1940’s, the St. Lawrence mines had become a major enterprise, employing hundreds of people and creating numerous jobs. The introduction of mining and its expansion dramatically altered the economics of the town and altered the lives of the community. Many turned away from fishing and a traditional way of life and adopted the structural lifestyle dictated by the industrial schedule. The people of St. Lawrence paid a heavy price for this prosperity. By the 1950’s, many miners had died and others were yet to die from silicosis, an illness caused by exposure to heavy dust in the early mines. Soon after, it was discovered that a widespread evidence of cancer was due to radon gas in the mines. Over the decades, nearly 200 miners, the vast majority of them St. Lawrence residents, lost their lives to these diseases. The mines closed in 1978.
As if that wasn’t enough of a tragic story, there was another which was set on the stage of St. Lawrence. On February 15, 1942, the supply ship, U.S.S. Pollux and destroyer escorts, Wilkes and Truxton, sailed from the U.S. for the American Naval Base at Argentia, Newfoundland. The battle of the Atlantic was in its fourth year, German U boats had sunk hundreds of Allied Ships bound for Britain with supplies. Convoys sailed under blackout conditions and radio silence, communicating by signal lamp. Navigation was by dead reckoning – estimating position and time, speed and heading. Wilkes, the only ship with radar, expected to detect landfall at about 20 miles. Radar, then in its infancy, was understood by few and required frequent maintenance. Ice and weather conditions affected accuracy and reduced its maximum range of 30 miles. Predawn, February 18th, found the convoy battling high southeast winds in heavy seas, snow and sleet. At 4:09 a.m., in darkness and zero visibility, Wilkes ran aground at Lawn Head. Radar had failed to provide timely or accurate bearings. A minute later, the Truxton grounded at Chambers Cove; 8 minutes later, Pollux also grounded at Lawn Head.
After three hours, Wilkes was refloated. Heavy surf and the icy shore battered Pollux and Truxton to pieces. 203 died and 186 survived, largely due to the heroism displayed by the people of St. Lawrence and the neighboring communities, who braved the hurricane like conditions to drag the seamen out of the ocean and up the tall, ragged cliffs. The men were cared for by the villagers until they were able to return to the U.S. In appreciation for their care, the U. S. Government built a fully equipped hospital for the city of St. Lawrence, completed in 1956.
We were so enthralled with this story, we asked the museum where the cove was and if it was accessible.
The lady gave us a map and indicated we’d have to hike back to see it but that it wasn’t too far. So we headed out.
McKenzie came along with us and we must say that the hike alone was worth it.
We saw beautiful views of the ocean waves beating up against the boulders
and George and McKenzie found a little walkway down on the beach through the boulders. 
As we walked on further, we found some story boards that told us some additional information. A few of the sailors managed to climb up the cliffs and found a fisherman’s shack that was used to store hay. The first survivors, frozen and exhausted from the icy, crude-infested waters, hurricane force winds and sub zero temperatures found refuge in the hayshack. One of the men headed out to seek help and ended up at the mines where the townspeople immediately rallied, sent word to nearby communities, set up a makeshift hospital and rushed back to the cove to start the rescue operation. Note the dark areas on the shack.
These were made when the sailors slid down the icy hill and tar from their crude oil saturated clothes spattered on the sides of the hayshack.
In the mural, you will see a large sailing ship which is the schooner and a small boat which is called a “dory”. Using both vessels together made it possible to travel further, faster, and stay at sea longer. Each schooner could carry 6-12 dories. Schooners sailed to Grand Banks loaded with salt and bait. Once there, the dories were loaded into the water and the two man crew used long lines of baited hooks called “trawls” to catch the cod. When the dories were filled, they returned to the schooner and the fish were gutted, split and stored in the cargo hold between layers of salt to preserve it during the voyage home. When the schooner arrived at home port, its cargo of salted fish was preserved by being dried in the sun, which required good weather and back-breaking labor. After shaking to remove excess salt, the split fish were spread outside on wooden forms called “flakes”. Women who were primarily responsible for this job, worked from daylight to dusk, laying out the fish and turning them so they wouldn’t get sunburned while keeping them from moisture and rot. The trade schooners carried the dried salt fish to markets in Spain, Portugal, France and all over the West Indies. They returned with rum, sugar, molasses and manufactured goods.When fish were plentiful and prices high, fortunes were made for merchants and ship owners. In turn, they paid the dory men and shore workers in credit, not cash. The “truck” system was a complicated method of credit and debits. Merchants supplied fishermen and their families with provisions and gear on credit. At the end of the season, the value of the fish they had caught and processed was tallied. After their debts were paid, the balance was given in credit notes that could be redeemed for food, clothing and other goods at the merchant’s store. When the fishing was bad, there was no credit, just debt.
Further into town, we stopped to view the George C. Harris home, a merchant’s house near the waterfront.
Built in 1908 the Queen Anne style house has a widow’s walk where shore-bound women waited and watched, sometimes in vain, for their menfolk to return from trips to sea. This home was given to George C. Harris and his wife by his father for their wedding gift. The home was very nicely restored and our favorite rooms were Charlotte’s sitting room where she entertained her women friends and of course, the widow’s walk where you could see the harbor and for miles around the town. Beside the house is the Mariner’s Memorial Garden which pays tribute to the thousands of mariners lost at sea who sailed from Grand Banks and parts along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.
The life sized bronze female figure represents and exemplifies the virtues and strength of character of thousands of Newfoundland wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters who have endured the loss of their men. The water and beach rocks shoreline contains the names of seamen who lost their lives while making a living on the sea.We stopped to take a couple of pictures of other homes in Grand Banks
and especially liked the B&B and the historic home. The roads are once again small and snake throughout the town. Further down the road in Fortune, we stopped to visit the Heritage House which was the home of George and Mary Lake.
This house was a turn-of-the-century house that depicts the way of life of a common working family. The small kitchen encompassed most of the downstairs with only a parlor as the other room on the first floor. The two-story building measuring 36 feet wide by 46 feet long was built in 1883 at a cost of approximately $92.50. It was definitely different from the large home in Grand Banks of the well-to-do merchant.We took a walk down to the harbor area and viewed the fishing sheds which gave us a nostalgic
step back into the late 1800s.Fortune is the gateway to France! At least it is the place to catch a ferry that will take you to the French owned island of St. Pierre. Since it was so late in the season and things were beginning to close up, we decided not to go over, especially since we would have had to spend at least two nights and their prices were even more expensive than here. Anyway, we contented ourselves with taking a picture of the islands from Point May.
While I was taking pictures of the island of St. Pierre, George happened to notice about 6 whales having a jolly old time playing and splashing out in the bay. We watched them for quite some time, however they weren’t close enough that we could get a picture. But we did feel privileged to see them as they are usually gone by this time of year.
The scenery was gorgeous as we watched rivers flow into ponds and ponds flow into the bays.
We even saw a cemetery laid out on a hillside on one of the points of land. Lawn was especially pretty with the rock wall at the entrance to the town.St. Lawrence would be our last stop for this peninsula and we were definitely surprised when we pulled into the Miner’s Museum. They had a wonderful display on the fluorspar mines and a lot of history.
Until the establishment of the fluorspar mining industry, people of St. Lawrence lived and worked much like other people in the area. Through inshore fishing, small-scale farming, and other traditional activities, they survived on this rugged, remote coast just as their European ancestors had for centuries. In 1933, the St. Lawrence Corporation of Newfoundland, an American based company, entered into a deal with several local businessmen to mine and export a trial shipment of the area’s fluorspar deposits. The people of St. Lawrence, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were spurred on by the promise of steady paying work and invested many days of back-breaking, unpaid labor to get the mines up and working. The mines prospered and expanded and in 1939 “The Corporation” was joined by a second company, Newfoundland Fluorspar Limited. By the early 1940’s, the St. Lawrence mines had become a major enterprise, employing hundreds of people and creating numerous jobs. The introduction of mining and its expansion dramatically altered the economics of the town and altered the lives of the community. Many turned away from fishing and a traditional way of life and adopted the structural lifestyle dictated by the industrial schedule. The people of St. Lawrence paid a heavy price for this prosperity. By the 1950’s, many miners had died and others were yet to die from silicosis, an illness caused by exposure to heavy dust in the early mines. Soon after, it was discovered that a widespread evidence of cancer was due to radon gas in the mines. Over the decades, nearly 200 miners, the vast majority of them St. Lawrence residents, lost their lives to these diseases. The mines closed in 1978.As if that wasn’t enough of a tragic story, there was another which was set on the stage of St. Lawrence. On February 15, 1942, the supply ship, U.S.S. Pollux and destroyer escorts, Wilkes and Truxton, sailed from the U.S. for the American Naval Base at Argentia, Newfoundland. The battle of the Atlantic was in its fourth year, German U boats had sunk hundreds of Allied Ships bound for Britain with supplies. Convoys sailed under blackout conditions and radio silence, communicating by signal lamp. Navigation was by dead reckoning – estimating position and time, speed and heading. Wilkes, the only ship with radar, expected to detect landfall at about 20 miles. Radar, then in its infancy, was understood by few and required frequent maintenance. Ice and weather conditions affected accuracy and reduced its maximum range of 30 miles. Predawn, February 18th, found the convoy battling high southeast winds in heavy seas, snow and sleet. At 4:09 a.m., in darkness and zero visibility, Wilkes ran aground at Lawn Head. Radar had failed to provide timely or accurate bearings. A minute later, the Truxton grounded at Chambers Cove; 8 minutes later, Pollux also grounded at Lawn Head.
After three hours, Wilkes was refloated. Heavy surf and the icy shore battered Pollux and Truxton to pieces. 203 died and 186 survived, largely due to the heroism displayed by the people of St. Lawrence and the neighboring communities, who braved the hurricane like conditions to drag the seamen out of the ocean and up the tall, ragged cliffs. The men were cared for by the villagers until they were able to return to the U.S. In appreciation for their care, the U. S. Government built a fully equipped hospital for the city of St. Lawrence, completed in 1956.
We were so enthralled with this story, we asked the museum where the cove was and if it was accessible.
The lady gave us a map and indicated we’d have to hike back to see it but that it wasn’t too far. So we headed out. McKenzie came along with us and we must say that the hike alone was worth it. We saw beautiful views of the ocean waves beating up against the boulders and George and McKenzie found a little walkway down on the beach through the boulders. As we walked on further, we found some story boards that told us some additional information. A few of the sailors managed to climb up the cliffs and found a fisherman’s shack that was used to store hay. The first survivors, frozen and exhausted from the icy, crude-infested waters, hurricane force winds and sub zero temperatures found refuge in the hayshack. One of the men headed out to seek help and ended up at the mines where the townspeople immediately rallied, sent word to nearby communities, set up a makeshift hospital and rushed back to the cove to start the rescue operation. Note the dark areas on the shack.
These were made when the sailors slid down the icy hill and tar from their crude oil saturated clothes spattered on the sides of the hayshack.When looking at the site where the ships ran aground, it makes you wonder how anyone could have managed to scale these tall cliffs.
On the way back into town, we noticed a group of boats situated out in the middle of the harbor. We weren’t sure what they were doing but we thought it might be some of the local men who wanted to get away from their wives for a bit for a little nip.
We didn’t see any bars or pubs in the village, so this seemed like a good idea.
Another site in St. Lawrence was the umbrella tree. No one seems to know why it has grown this way, but it provides a neat place for a picnic.
The last stop was at the Echoes of Valour which was dedicated to victims of the mining industry in St. Lawrence and to the sailors who tragically died in the U.S.S. Truxton and U.S.S. Pollux disaster on February 18, 1942 at Chambers Cove and Lawn Head and to the remembrance of the valiant men who fought and died in the World Wars.
This pretty much completes our tour of the Heritage Run Trail on the Burin Peninsula. Tomorrow we will head over to the Discovery Trail on the Bonavista Peninsula to see what we run into there.
On the way back into town, we noticed a group of boats situated out in the middle of the harbor. We weren’t sure what they were doing but we thought it might be some of the local men who wanted to get away from their wives for a bit for a little nip.
We didn’t see any bars or pubs in the village, so this seemed like a good idea.Another site in St. Lawrence was the umbrella tree. No one seems to know why it has grown this way, but it provides a neat place for a picnic.
The last stop was at the Echoes of Valour which was dedicated to victims of the mining industry in St. Lawrence and to the sailors who tragically died in the U.S.S. Truxton and U.S.S. Pollux disaster on February 18, 1942 at Chambers Cove and Lawn Head and to the remembrance of the valiant men who fought and died in the World Wars.
This pretty much completes our tour of the Heritage Run Trail on the Burin Peninsula. Tomorrow we will head over to the Discovery Trail on the Bonavista Peninsula to see what we run into there.
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