Englee is a picturesque fishing village, but as I said before, the fish plant closed down and there is not much to do in town. We had long discussions with our hostess at the B & B about the way of life. As we have driven around and seen the number of small isolated communities which have been devastated by the fishing moratorium on cod, we have wondered what the people do. I have imagined being a woman living in one of these charming villages. The houses are small, so you can only clean for so long, cook your meals, there are only small gardens to take care of, and then what? Our host nodded in agreement with me and said: “I’ve been there. There are many days when you wake up and wonder just what you are going to do”. The people of Newfoundland are very industrious; they have been used to working long hours in the fishing business; and now they are faced with no work, and nothing much to do. Many of them have moved to other provinces in Canada, notably Alberta. Many of them take seasonal work elsewhere: for example, some go over to Nova Scotia for tree planting, or to work in the hotels; and many stay in Newfoundland. There is a provincial government work program to provide the people with enough work hours for them to receive unemployment insurance. Many of the tourist projects have been completed that way, and the infrastructure is extensive and first rate. There are miles of boardwalk, for example, along the ocean, along hikes, and out to tourist sites. It makes walking around very easy. The lumber industry is another source of income, however, since the dispute with the States regarding a duty on lumber going into the US, this industry too is in jeopardy. Just as in Ontario, hospital waits are lengthy and people travel great distances for attention. There is something to be said for the old nursing system where nurses traveled around the province tending to the sick as best they could. The premier, Danny Williams is a business man and has done well by most people’s opinion for Newfoundland. He certainly has some challenges ahead of him, as do premiers in other provinces as well. But if history is any indicator, Newfoundland will come out ahead. It has unparalleled beauty, and determined, hard working people.
Despite the rain, we decided to investigate the “French Shore” and made a trip to Conche. The road getting there has historically been dirt but now the Newfoundland government is paving it. The first part of the road was quite a journey! The road is dug up and because it is so rocky here, you were literally driving over rocks. In fact, they were even blasting as we drove back at the end of the day, and we had to wait while the bulldozer and the power shovel cleared the road of rocks resulting from the blasting. When we arrived in the lazy fishing village, we quickly realized that the arduous journey had been well worth it. The views from the lookout points that we climbed to were outstanding. The beautifully secluded bays below the forested slopes were lined with pretty white houses, two or three churches, and fishing wharves.
We went into the interpretation centre for the French Shore Historical Society (http://www.frenchshore.com/) and followed the life of the French fishermen from the 1700s to 1904 when French fishing rights were officially given up. The French had been coming to the shores of Newfoundland to fish since the 1500s, but after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 The British only allowed them fishing rights and no colonization rights. The French would leave Brittany or Normandy in March/April and sail over to Newfoundland to fish during the summer, then come September, they would return home. They built their “rooms” in protected bays, but these were not permanent. However, they used to “hire” Irish and English people whom they picked up and brought over with them, to look after the fishing rooms during the winter months. These Irish and English being British were allowed to settle in Newfoundland. Hence the numerous fishing villages around the province, many of which were only accessible by water. In fact, the road into Conche was only built in the early 1970s. Over the years there have been a number of attempts by the Newfoundland government to “resettle” the Newfoundlanders to more accessible points. For example, close to Conche is SouthWest Crouse. Over on the far side of the Southwest Crouse Harbour, unaccessible by road, was the original village of Crouse. This was resettled a few years ago and the people literally abandoned their homes and moved in to SouthWest Crouse. I am assuming since the “resettlements” are government initiatives, that there must be some sponsorship for the relocated residents. I think 90% of the town has to agree to this. One of the heart rendering stories in the earlier times is about “les mousses” – the cabin boys. These were young boys about 8 to 12, some of them stowaways, some of them off the streets in France who worked on the boats. Apparently they were very badly treated and there were several movements in France to try and have this stopped.
We were also fortunate to see the tapestry that the ladies of Conche are working on. The idea came from a French artist, Jean Claude Roy and his wife Christina Roy. The project is to tell the story of the French Shore through the tapestry and was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry in France which tells the story of the Norman Conquest of England including various scenes in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The ladies have completed about 80 feet of the tapestry, and have estimated that it will be about 200 feet when complete sometime in 2010. They started out with 13 colours and have this year added another 8 colours. The Historical Society in Conche sends the information to Jean Claude and Christina Roy. Christina does the research and Jean Claude drew the design for the tapestry. They then e-mail the drawings with instructions to the ladies in Conche. Through the use of an overhead projector, the scenes are projected on to the cloth (which is manufactured in Scotland) and the ladies draw around the images to give them a template to stitch. It is a splendid work of art which has created employment for the ladies doing the sewing as well as telling the important story of the history of the area – and the enthusiasm and energy exhibited by the ladies is infectious! (Addition on June 13, 2010: How exciting! This morning I received a comment on this blog from Christina Roy. She writes: "I enjoyed reading about your travels, and you have done a good job describing the area for future visitors. The French Shore Tapestry is now completed - 216 feel long - and will be presented to the public for the first time in Conche on July 28, 2010. We anticipate a good deal of interest, and as people may come across your blog, I would like to alter a few small points. My husband, Jean Claude Roy, drew the design for the tapestry. He is both a French and a Canadian citizen. Neither of us had any prior connection with Conche. My husband I came up with the idea for this project while visiting the Bayeux Museum in France, and have been delightd to work in partnership with the French Shore Historical Society to bring it to reality. I carried out the research and wrote the story on which the designs were based. Many people assisted me with this - academics, writers, members of the communities and the French Shore Historical Society itself, and we would like to recognize their contributions. The tapestry will be on display in Conche every summer and we hope it attracts a lot of visitors. Thank you for the opportunity to make these comments." Christina - thank you for giving us the true story. It is indeed an amazing one.)
After a late lunch in a small grocery store, which was basically “help yourself”, we went out to see the site of a WWII plane crash. One of the planes being ferried to the UK which had taken off from Gander went down in the village of Conche on November 30, 1942, but all survived. A plaque tells the “thrilling” story of the crash and what happened over the hours before. It was determined that the plane was really not capable of long distance flights such as across the Atlantic and 2 other similar planes crashed in the Atlantic on the same day. The attempts by the pilot to deal with the problems that occurred, which included the plane icing, where unbelievably courageous. At one point he was flying along the top of the ocean to try and get enough warmth to defrost the plane. Eventually, the petrol ran out and he was able, after ejecting the navigator, to crash land the plane. Amazing. The pilot as it turns out was Robert E. Morrow, QC, a lawyer working in Place Ville Marie in Montreal.
Next it was on to Capt. Coublongue’s grave site. Nobody knows why he was buried out of town – maybe he was sick, maybe he was rich, any other ideas? This was the beginning of the hike out to the Dos de Cheval Archaeological Site. Here we met a young Quebec woman (Melissa) doing her PhD at Memorial University in St. John’s under the direction of Professor Peter Pope. They were digging up a French room which they think dated back to 1790. They were having some difficulty finding many artifacts from that era, but had all kinds of other evidence that the room existed. She showed us the boat ramp, the bread oven, the galleys, the foundations of a workshop, There was also a cross which she said had been restored by the French navy in the early 1930s. In order to record the locations of their finds, they had established a datum point on the site in the best position to get a good 360 degree view. Later they discovered a French cross buried under the datum point. Once established, the datum couldn’t be moved so they had to dig very gingerly around it to establish the cross. They had also discovered a body that had been given a Christian burial. Of course all the flesh was gone, but the bones were in good shape having been preserved by the pebbles in which the body was buried. It was all so interesting, and the excitement and enthusiasm of the diggers was once again infectious. Melissa made us feel as if we were right back there in the 1700/1800s, living the life of a French fisher.
We walked slowly back to town along the 2 km of boardwalk. We found our own body. Lying by the side of the boardwalk I noticed some bones and went over to examine them. I am pretty certain they were human. Probably someone buried at sea whose remains had floated ashore. They have found a beautiful resting place.
Before we got back to Englee, the rain started again. It had stopped some time during the day and the temperatures were up around 26/27C – so once again we lucked out with the weather.
Despite the rain, we decided to investigate the “French Shore” and made a trip to Conche. The road getting there has historically been dirt but now the Newfoundland government is paving it. The first part of the road was quite a journey! The road is dug up and because it is so rocky here, you were literally driving over rocks. In fact, they were even blasting as we drove back at the end of the day, and we had to wait while the bulldozer and the power shovel cleared the road of rocks resulting from the blasting. When we arrived in the lazy fishing village, we quickly realized that the arduous journey had been well worth it. The views from the lookout points that we climbed to were outstanding. The beautifully secluded bays below the forested slopes were lined with pretty white houses, two or three churches, and fishing wharves.
We went into the interpretation centre for the French Shore Historical Society (http://www.frenchshore.com/) and followed the life of the French fishermen from the 1700s to 1904 when French fishing rights were officially given up. The French had been coming to the shores of Newfoundland to fish since the 1500s, but after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 The British only allowed them fishing rights and no colonization rights. The French would leave Brittany or Normandy in March/April and sail over to Newfoundland to fish during the summer, then come September, they would return home. They built their “rooms” in protected bays, but these were not permanent. However, they used to “hire” Irish and English people whom they picked up and brought over with them, to look after the fishing rooms during the winter months. These Irish and English being British were allowed to settle in Newfoundland. Hence the numerous fishing villages around the province, many of which were only accessible by water. In fact, the road into Conche was only built in the early 1970s. Over the years there have been a number of attempts by the Newfoundland government to “resettle” the Newfoundlanders to more accessible points. For example, close to Conche is SouthWest Crouse. Over on the far side of the Southwest Crouse Harbour, unaccessible by road, was the original village of Crouse. This was resettled a few years ago and the people literally abandoned their homes and moved in to SouthWest Crouse. I am assuming since the “resettlements” are government initiatives, that there must be some sponsorship for the relocated residents. I think 90% of the town has to agree to this. One of the heart rendering stories in the earlier times is about “les mousses” – the cabin boys. These were young boys about 8 to 12, some of them stowaways, some of them off the streets in France who worked on the boats. Apparently they were very badly treated and there were several movements in France to try and have this stopped.
We were also fortunate to see the tapestry that the ladies of Conche are working on. The idea came from a French artist, Jean Claude Roy and his wife Christina Roy. The project is to tell the story of the French Shore through the tapestry and was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry in France which tells the story of the Norman Conquest of England including various scenes in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The ladies have completed about 80 feet of the tapestry, and have estimated that it will be about 200 feet when complete sometime in 2010. They started out with 13 colours and have this year added another 8 colours. The Historical Society in Conche sends the information to Jean Claude and Christina Roy. Christina does the research and Jean Claude drew the design for the tapestry. They then e-mail the drawings with instructions to the ladies in Conche. Through the use of an overhead projector, the scenes are projected on to the cloth (which is manufactured in Scotland) and the ladies draw around the images to give them a template to stitch. It is a splendid work of art which has created employment for the ladies doing the sewing as well as telling the important story of the history of the area – and the enthusiasm and energy exhibited by the ladies is infectious! (Addition on June 13, 2010: How exciting! This morning I received a comment on this blog from Christina Roy. She writes: "I enjoyed reading about your travels, and you have done a good job describing the area for future visitors. The French Shore Tapestry is now completed - 216 feel long - and will be presented to the public for the first time in Conche on July 28, 2010. We anticipate a good deal of interest, and as people may come across your blog, I would like to alter a few small points. My husband, Jean Claude Roy, drew the design for the tapestry. He is both a French and a Canadian citizen. Neither of us had any prior connection with Conche. My husband I came up with the idea for this project while visiting the Bayeux Museum in France, and have been delightd to work in partnership with the French Shore Historical Society to bring it to reality. I carried out the research and wrote the story on which the designs were based. Many people assisted me with this - academics, writers, members of the communities and the French Shore Historical Society itself, and we would like to recognize their contributions. The tapestry will be on display in Conche every summer and we hope it attracts a lot of visitors. Thank you for the opportunity to make these comments." Christina - thank you for giving us the true story. It is indeed an amazing one.)
After a late lunch in a small grocery store, which was basically “help yourself”, we went out to see the site of a WWII plane crash. One of the planes being ferried to the UK which had taken off from Gander went down in the village of Conche on November 30, 1942, but all survived. A plaque tells the “thrilling” story of the crash and what happened over the hours before. It was determined that the plane was really not capable of long distance flights such as across the Atlantic and 2 other similar planes crashed in the Atlantic on the same day. The attempts by the pilot to deal with the problems that occurred, which included the plane icing, where unbelievably courageous. At one point he was flying along the top of the ocean to try and get enough warmth to defrost the plane. Eventually, the petrol ran out and he was able, after ejecting the navigator, to crash land the plane. Amazing. The pilot as it turns out was Robert E. Morrow, QC, a lawyer working in Place Ville Marie in Montreal.
Next it was on to Capt. Coublongue’s grave site. Nobody knows why he was buried out of town – maybe he was sick, maybe he was rich, any other ideas? This was the beginning of the hike out to the Dos de Cheval Archaeological Site. Here we met a young Quebec woman (Melissa) doing her PhD at Memorial University in St. John’s under the direction of Professor Peter Pope. They were digging up a French room which they think dated back to 1790. They were having some difficulty finding many artifacts from that era, but had all kinds of other evidence that the room existed. She showed us the boat ramp, the bread oven, the galleys, the foundations of a workshop, There was also a cross which she said had been restored by the French navy in the early 1930s. In order to record the locations of their finds, they had established a datum point on the site in the best position to get a good 360 degree view. Later they discovered a French cross buried under the datum point. Once established, the datum couldn’t be moved so they had to dig very gingerly around it to establish the cross. They had also discovered a body that had been given a Christian burial. Of course all the flesh was gone, but the bones were in good shape having been preserved by the pebbles in which the body was buried. It was all so interesting, and the excitement and enthusiasm of the diggers was once again infectious. Melissa made us feel as if we were right back there in the 1700/1800s, living the life of a French fisher.
We walked slowly back to town along the 2 km of boardwalk. We found our own body. Lying by the side of the boardwalk I noticed some bones and went over to examine them. I am pretty certain they were human. Probably someone buried at sea whose remains had floated ashore. They have found a beautiful resting place.
Before we got back to Englee, the rain started again. It had stopped some time during the day and the temperatures were up around 26/27C – so once again we lucked out with the weather.
3 comments:
The tapestry in France was the Bayeux Tapestry, made to depict William the Conqueror's Invasion of England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Style of this resembles that tapestry.
Thank you for providing this information. I appreciate it.
I enjoyed reading about your travels, and you have done a good job describing the area for future visitors. The French Shore Tapestry is now completed - 216 feet long - and will be presented to the public for the first time in Conche on July 27th, 2010. We anticipate a good deal of interest, and as people may come across your blog, I would like to alter a few small points. My husband, Jean Claude Roy, drew the design for the tapestry. He is both a French and a Candian citizen. Neither of us had any prior connection with Conche. My husband and I came up with the idea for this project while visiting the Bayeux Museum in France, and have been delighted to work in partnership with the French Shore Historical Society to bring it to reality. I carried out the research and wrote the story on which the designs were based. Many people assisted me with this - academics, writers, members of the communities and the French Shore Historical Society itself, and we would like to recognize their contributions.
The tapestry will be on display in Conche every summer and we hope it attracts a lot of visitors.
Thanks you for the opportunity to make these comments.
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