"I live in Bug Town" - Mapping out the heritage assets of Deer Lake

Before the Covid-19 lockdown, Heritage NL assisted the Town of Deer Lake with one of our People, Places, and Culture workshops, helping identify heritage assets in the community. The workshop involves people writing out recipe cards like the one above, noting things like placenames, historically interesting people, old shops and stores, or places where things used to happen. Then, we put them on a big paper map, and start to figure out clusters of places for future research and planning. I always love finding out some of the local informal neighbourhood names which you would never know if you didn't live there (like Bug Town!).

Since then, I've started to put some of that information on a Google Map, and have been compiling a list of names of people (past and present) who are of cultural or historical interest.  This is a very preliminary list, with a lot of gaps in it. If you have information on any of these people, or have suggestions for other Deer Lake people who should be included, email dale@heritagenl.ca or comment below.

Family Name	First Name	Notes
?	?	War Veteran Farmers
Ball	Ralph	Blacksmith
Barrett	?	Store owner
Basha	Mike
Basha	Frankie
Bearsley	?	Manager of Power House, wife was involved with Girl Guides possibly?
Bolos	Dan	Blacksmith
Brownie	?	farmer
Butt	Joe	Gas station
Chaulk	Bill	Bowater superintendant
Coish	Amos	Harness maker in the 1930s
Critch	?	Store owner
Critch	Becky	Store owner
Critch	Mose	Store owner
Dinney	Elias	worked as a carpenter on penstocks in early 1920s
Eddy	?	Store owner
Feltham	Abraham	original settler at Junction Brook, worked on Main Dam, farmer
Green(e?)	TM	First doctor
Hayden	Victor	had second operation in Deer Lake hospital - appendix
Hinton	?	Mrs.?
Hodder	Phil	Rec Centre named for him
Housell	Mamie	lives on Hancock's Road, housed moved from Junction Brook, daughter of Abe Feltham
Hruse (?)	?	teacher
Lung	Jim	Owner of first Chinese restaurant in Deer Lake, on Main Street
McDonald	?	Doctor, made house calls, after hour visits, no set office hours for patients
Morey	Melva	Grade 4 teacher
Morey	Doug	farmer
Nicols	?	Original settlers, farmers, fishing and hunting guides
Osmond	?	Store owner
Prowse	?	Had farm on Humber River near upper bridge
Reid	Alexander (Sandy)	towed houses from Junction Brook to Newtown in Deer Lake during the 1950s in preparation for the airport
Schwartz	Sam	Shop keeper, businessman. Job interview -you had to break the twine, if you broke it, you were hired
St. George	?	Hotel owner
Stuckless	?	Store owner, 5th Ave
Wight	Harold	Long time employee of Deer Lake Airport
Williams	?	Store owner

Living Heritage Podcast Ep046 Exploring Scotland’s Urban Past

Carol Stobie works with Scotland’s Urban Past - a five-year nationwide community engagement project about the history of Scotland’s towns and cities. It is a part of Historic Environment Scotland, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Scotland’s Urban Past’s project ideas stem from local communities, and the organization helps grow these ideas into full community-led projects by offering training, access to essential resources and project support. Carol is their Audience Development Officer, with an interest in storytelling, folklore, and cultural history. In this episode we discuss Carol’s trip to Newfoundland, her work with Scotland’s Urban Past, community engagement and development, community mapping, oral history, and archiving.

Listen on the Digital Archive:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/ich_oral/id/675/rec/1

Placenames and Mapping Memories in Cupids

Last night, the Cupids Historical Society and the ICH Office of HFNL held a well-attended and fun night to help the society map out placenames and locations of local historical interest. We heard fabulous stories about walking trials, spots which were fairy-haunted, kissing spots, where capelin would roll, the best places to pick blueberries, old barbershops, bonfire night, and where the boys from Cupids would lie in wait with rocks to throw at the boys from Brigus who would dare come courting the girls of Cupids!  We learned about The Arch, The Crawling Rock, the Tunnel, Newman's Point, The Bog Hole, and a host of other names. 

The Cupids Historical Society now has the work of compiling all this information as part of its on-going research. Thanks to Dale Russell-Fitzpatrick (Dale #1!) for inviting us, and the Cupids Legacy Centre for hosting!

If your community would like a similar workshop event in your town, give us a shout at 1-888-739-1892 x2, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

- Dale (aka Dale #2!)

Photos courtesy Dale Russell-Fitzpatrick and the Cupids Historical Society. 

Cupids Workshop - What's in a Name?

This Thursday, June 23rd, residents of Cupids will start to map out what their heritage means to them, with a little help from folklorist Dale Jarvis.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, our living heritage is rich and diverse. It includes historic buildings and places, ballad singing, snowshoe-making, accordion playing, knitting, mummers and jannies, berry picking, boat building, and much more. We tell stories, make clothes, build stages, shear sheep, and spin yarn. We have a complex knowledge of place, the seasons, and the movements and patterns of animals from moose to cod fish. If we lose these important parts of our living heritage, we will also lose important resources that can keep our communities going culturally, economically and socially. But where do we start?

Dale Jarvis, folklorist with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be leading a community conversation about historic places, trails, old stories, place names, traditions, and local knowledge.

Come for a cup of tea, and tell us what matters to you in Cupids. It will be a FREE and FUN community workshop with snacks and door prizes, sponsored by Cupids Historical Society Inc.

Thursday June 23rd
Legacy Hall, Cupids Legacy Centre
7:30-9:00pm

ICH @UVic Day 3 - Falcons, Fairies, and Layered Places

Today was Day 3 of the intangible cultural heritage class I'm teaching at UVic, and we had a treat for students today. After a talk about public program options ICH-related events, we focussed in on one of the elements listed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list -- Falconry, a living human heritage -- a trans-national element which was nominated by United Arab Emirates, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the Syrian Arab Republic.



Falconers Kristine and Alan Marshall paid us a visit (with gyrfalcons Khaleesi and Solstice) and they gave us an overview of the 4000 year living heritage of falconry, and how the tradition of falconry is faring today.

After lunch, we had a talk about Newfoundland fairy traditions, and I shared the Irish story of the Fairy Frog (a version of which is included in this recording).
Then it was back to work (with some colouring thrown in) with a asset map making exercise designed to show how one location could have multiple levels of meaning or be home to various intangible cultural heritage elements.
Tomorrow: it's a downhome Newfoundland Christmas (in Victoria BC, in September).

Johnny Poker - A Boat Hauling Song

I’m currently typing the notes from the Asset Mapping workshop Dale led in Champney’s West and I came across the song Johnny Poker.  It is noted as a traditional song that people would sing when they pulled boats up.  Sometimes people would pull back on the boat so they could hear the Johnny Poker song.

The version which is written in the notes is:
“To my jolly poker
We will start this heavy joker
Haul boy haul” [everybody pulls]

The notes say there are 4-5 versions of the song.  I did a quick search and came across a version by Stuffed Squid set to music.  I’ve added the video here and you can check out the page with the lyrics and some background information here.

Do you know a version of Johnny Poker? Let us know in the comments or send an email to terra@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Discovering the Discovery Trail

Asset mapping in Champney's West

Ready to map the living treasures of the community

It’s been a whirlwind two days of work here in Champney’sWest.  Dale and I headed out Thursday morning for a weekend of oral history interviews, asset mapping, and an oral history workshop.  On Thursday evening there was a public asset mapping workshop held in Champney’s West to see what heritage means to the people of the community.  There were three tables of locals with a moderator taking notes on the community’s cultural organization, creative cultural industries, spaces and facilities, festivals and events, cultural heritage sites, natural heritage and intangible cultural heritage. 

Discussing the community's cultural assets

Checking out the map of Champney West's living treasures

After the community brainstormed the important cultural assets of the community the residents received a recipe card and were asked to think of a living treasure in the community.  Living treasure just means someone in the community who is knowledgeable about a particular topic or skill and why they are important.  The residents then mapped these local treasures on a map of Champney’s West.  After the map was completed everyone enjoyed a little lunch and cup of tea before heading home for the evening.

Friday morning and afternoon Dale and I interviewed two older residents of the community brothers Ben and Roy Hiscock.  Both brothers were great storytellers and told stories about growing up in the community, local shipwrecks, memories from the Second World War, and jokes from local characters.  Be on the lookout for clips of these two interviews!

Checking out Elliston, the root cellar capital of the world!

Don Johnson and I outside one of Ellison's many root cellars

Between the interviews with Ben and Roy we also headed out to Elliston to talk with Don Johnson from Tourism Elliston to do a short interview on root cellars in the root cellar capital of the world.  Don showed us a couple of cellars and explained their importance to the community in the past and to the present community.  He explained their upcoming festivals and took us out to see the puffin site and the new sealers memorial.  

The Sealers Memorial in Elliston

Puffin site in Elliston

After a lovely supper at the Bonavista Social Club we were back in Champney’s West for the first coffee house of the season.  It was a great evening with live music, jokes, stories and another small lunch.  After lunch we were in for a special treat as local characters Martha and Bertha put on a skit.  They discussed the “h’asset mapping” and the ‘eritage of the community.  They even mentioned the out of town folklorist who wrote a book on mummering.  This is when it got interesting as Bertha bet Martha he couldn't even mummer.  Let’s just say a nice bit of dress up and dancing ensued!  Check out the pictures below!

Local fiddler

Martha, Dale Jarvis and Bertha

Plankin er down!

Thanks to Champney’s West for a great two days!  Today we've got a couple more interviews and an oral history workshop in Port Union.

-Terra

What, and where, is our heritage? Help map Champney’s West heritage.

Thursday, June 11th, 2015 
7pm – 9 pm
Recreation Hall, Jack’s Hill
Champney’s West

This June, residents of Champney’s West will start to map out what their heritage means to them, with a little help from folklorist Dale Jarvis.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, our living heritage is rich and diverse. It includes ballad singing, snowshoe-making, accordion playing, knitting, Christmas mummering, berry picking, boat building, and much more. We tell stories, make clothes, shear sheep, and spin yarn. We have a complex knowledge of place, the seasons, and the movements and patterns of animals from moose to cod fish. If we lose these important parts of our living heritage (what we call Intangible Cultural Heritage or ICH), we will also lose important resources that can keep our communities going culturally, economically and socially. But where do we start?

Communities decide which traditions are important to document. Sometimes these traditions are threatened; sometimes particular elders or tradition-bearers will be highlighted. Other communities may record important traditions of everyday life. One first step is "asset mapping" - the process of collecting, recording, and analyzing local information in order to describe the cultural resources, networks, links and patterns of the community. Cultural asset mapping provides an inventory of key cultural resources that can be utilized for future development in the community.

Dale Jarvis, the ICH Development Officer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be leading a community conversation about historic places, trails, old stories, place names, traditions, and local knowledge. Come for a cup of tea, and tell us what matters to you in Champney’s West. It will be a free and fun community workshop, sponsored by the Champney's West Heritage Group Inc.

For more info, contact: 

Shelly Blackmore, Heritage Coordinator
Champney's West Heritage Group
Ph (709)464-2173 Email - cwcdo@bellaliant.com
Website - www.champneysisland.net