On a recent camping trip to the New-Wes-Valley area, I visited the Lumsden United Church Cemetery and came across the headstone of William Tuff, son of William and Susanah Tuff, who died 9th of October 1847 aged 28 years. What caught my attention with this headstone was that it's made of cast iron. I have seen one other cast iron marker, at Bethany United in Carbonear, and a small sheet metal marker in St. James Cemetery, also in Carbonear.
In a 2012 ICH Newsletter article, Patrick Carroll wrote about the tin monuments in Bonavista Bay, which you can read about here. There are also a few interesting zinc (or white bronze) grave markers in St. John's. The hollow zinc markers have an distinctive blue-gray colour that is easily recognized once you know what to look for.
The zinc or White Bronze grave marker of Isabell and S.H. Parsons at the General Protestant Cemetery in St. John's
Do you know of any others metal grave markers around the province? Do you have a relative whose grave is marked with one? Do you know anything about the makers of these headstones, particularly the cast iron ones?
The St. John’s Local Immigration Partnership and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) are looking for old stories from new residents as part of a project to collect and share the diversity of oral traditions that exist within the region.
The goal is to create a showcase of traditional stories and folktales from around the world. The project will end with the creation of written booklet of world folktales. The booklet will be made available online, printed, and shared through key organizations and at community events.
What kind of stories do you want? We are looking for folktales, legends, myths, stories of saints and miracles, ghost stories, fables or stories of talking animals, or traditional children’s tales -- any story that has been passed down by word of mouth.
Who can share a story? If you come from away, and know an old story, we want to hear it! Storytellers could be recent refugees, temporary foreign workers, international students, newly arrived professionals or economic migrants, or could be well-established immigrants who have long since made St. John’s their home.
What if I’m worried about my English? Don’t worry! We’ll work with you to edit it your story into a final form that makes you happy!
How can I share a story? Stories can be submitted in written form, or participants can sit down with a collector and record a spoken version of their story.
On a recent trip to Spaniard’s Bay for the Oral History Roadship Judy Symonds brought out some papers she had recently found while cleaning out her mother’s belongings. There was an old newspaper clipping from 1950 as well as a small recipe book. Although I didn’t have a chance to scan all the recipes I had a look through the book and scanned a couple of pages. The recipes inside were reminiscent of the time with white layer cake, salads with fruits like bananas and pineapple topped with sliced eggs, and fruit cake filled with raisins, sultanas, cherries, and almonds.
Among the recipes for shortbread and cakes was a recipe for Chop Suey which includes mince meat, tinned tomato soup, rice, macaroni, onion, boiling water, and fat pork. These ingredients seem to resemble Newfoundland’s version of goulash which typically consists of minced meat***, and macaroni in a tomato sauce with variable vegetables such as onions, bell peppers, and occasionally mushrooms more than a Chinese meal. After a quick internet search and a discussion with a friend from New England it seems like the chop suey recipe is a version of American chop suey which is a pasta dish resembling Newfoundland goulash with macaroni, ground beef, onions, and peppers in a tomato based sauce. It is interesting that the recipe showed up in a handwritten notebook in Newfoundland. I would love to know the background behind the recipe, where she found it, and why Judy’s mother kept the recipe.
The origin of chop suey itself is a hotly debated topic with folks arguing it is an American Chinese creation and others saying it was a Chinese dish which was adapted to the available American groceries and particularly vegetables. If you want to learn more about the Chinese community in Newfoundland and their expression of Chineseness check out Dr. Mu Li’s thesis “Wanderers between Cultural Boundaries: Exploring the Individual Expressions of Chineseness in Newfoundland”.
Share your stories and knowledge of food with the hashtag #FoodwaysFriday.
Tell us your favourite recipe and let us know the origin story!
***Judy Symonds emailed to clarify that the minced meat in the recipe simply means ground meat.
In September 2016 researcher Terra Barrett spent a week in Grand Falls-Windsor collecting stories and memories of Main Street, Windsor. This was part of the Merchants and Memories project which was a partnership between the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society. The Society wanted to focus on Windsor to celebrate the diverse community that grew up on Main Street across from the train station. This podcast is a selection of memories about Main Street which take the listener back to the heyday of the shopping district of Windsor. Take a listen to learn more about fights at the pool hall, movies at the Vogue Theatre, people watching at the train station, and shopping at Riff’s and Cohen’s.
If you talk to enough people about the way St. John’s used to be, a few reoccurring stories begin to emerge. Some of these stories describe the advent of new machinery in the downtown. For instance, the allure of the first escalator in St. John’s, at Woolworth’s department store, is an oft-cited memory. As the story goes, crowds of people showed up in the store for the sole purpose of riding the escalator. Lynn Anne Hollett also recalled the stir caused by an early TV set, which could be gazed at through the window of Great Eastern Oil on Water Street. Though no sound could be heard through the glass, there were usually "about four deep there of people watching that black and white TV." However, while escalators and TVs are all around us these days, other contraptions of downtown St. John’s have (perhaps wisely) fallen out of favour. One of these contraptions is the shoe store x-ray machine, otherwise known as a “fluoroscope”:
Wayne Guzzwell, who went on to become a CBC producer,
and who later oversaw the Cabot 500 celebrations in 1997, the 50th Anniversary of Confederation Gala, and the Vikings 1000 Islendingur arrival ceremony, shared his memories of the gadget during our interview:
Wayne: I wanted to go to the
Royal Stores because the Royal Stores had this neat machine that—you put your
new shoes on, you’d stand up to the machine, and you put your feet in the
machine, and then there was a scope, and you’d look down, and it was an x-ray
machine. And you could see your toes inside the shoe. So you could see if there
was enough room for your feet. So, you know, our feet were probably massively
radiated by the x-rays, but I thought I was Superman at the time, because I
could see my feet through the shoes. And that was a really neat aspect of the
Royal Stores, that x-ray machine. And that’s the only thing I would buy at the
Royal Stores, or my family would buy, was shoes, and it was because of the
x-ray machine.
Lynn Anne Hollett also brought up the x-ray machine
during our interview, saying that "at least once a week you'd get away with it":
Lynn Anne: It
was a big thing. Can you imagine what we were exposed to at that particular
time? I mean, it was just like if you go over there now and put your foot into
a sizer and say, “Okay, we’re going to do an x-ray right here, right now.” And
I mean, you’d go down there for play. I mean, at least once a week you’d get
away with it, to get down there and have an x-ray done of your foot. [laughs]
Those poor salesmen. I don’t know how they fared, or how long they lived after
that particular thing.
Andrea:
So
the salesmen would have to administer the x-ray?
Lynn
Anne: Yeah! Yeah, right? No lead aprons or anything then,
no, definitely not.
Andrea:
So
that was a big thing for kids, mostly?
Lynn Anne: Oh
yeah, and adults! I mean, can you imagine? They can tell the exact size of my
foot because I’m getting an x-ray. Wonderful!
Andrea:
Do
you think the appeal was mostly seeing your bones?
Lynn Anne: Yes,
of course! And it was new, and it was amazing. Like, “That’s my foot!” I mean,
what doctor ever showed you an x-ray if you ever had one as a child? None! You
know, as they sat smoking in their examining room. But you know, who knew that
radiation was a problem or that it existed? You know, nobody.
These exciting (but in all likelihood, highly regrettable) machines certainly drummed up business for the shoe stores during their heyday (around the 1950s), but by the 1970s, they had largely been banned.
"Tales from Afar: Old Stories from New Residents" New project to share traditional stories which have come from away. St. John’s, NL For immediate release
The St. John’s Local Immigration Partnership and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) are looking for old stories from new residents as part of a project to collect and share the diversity of oral traditions that exist within the region, and to create a showcase of traditional stories and folktales from around the world.
“When European settlers first arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador, they brought stories from their old countries,” says foundation folklorist Dale Jarvis. “That is part of the reason we have such a unique oral tradition here in the province with our stories of fairies and superstitions. But that process didn’t stop; new people coming here are bringing their own traditional stories as well, and adding the richness of our local lore.”
Jarvis believes that sharing folktales can highlight the commonalities between cultures, and help build a common understanding between people by bridging cultural, political and religious divides.
“Sharing the stories we grew up with is a way of bringing people together,” Jarvis says.
Jarvis, a group of researchers with the foundation, and the St. John’s Local Immigration Partnership are embarking on a pilot project called “Tales From Afar: Old Stories from New Residents”
Project organizers are looking for folktales, legends, myths, stories of saints and miracles, ghost stories, fables, or traditional children’s tales -- any story that has been passed down by word of mouth.
Participants could be newcomers in the truest sense of the word - recent refugees, temporary foreign workers, international students, newly arrived professionals or economic migrants, or could be well-established immigrants who have long since made St. John’s their home.
“If someone knows a story, and wants to share it, we want to hear it!” says Jarvis. “We will work with participants to edit and polish the stories once they are collected.”
“Tales From Afar: Old Stories from New Residents” will culminate in the creation of written booklet of world folktales. The booklet will be made available online, printed, and shared through key organizations and at community events.
To share a story, email ich@heritagefoundation.ca or call 1-888-739-1892 x2. Stories can be submitted in written form, or participants can sit down with a collector and tell their story in spoken form.
Partners:
City of St. John’s Local Immigration PartnershipThe Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) is a multi-stakeholder partnership designed to help address key immigrant issues, encourage broader stakeholder collaboration and promote St. John’s as a welcoming community. Building a welcoming community in this sense means fostering the conditions where social connections can be made between people, namely between newcomers to Canada and Canadian-born residents.
Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, Heritage Foundation of NLThe ICH Office works to safeguard and sustain the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador for present and future generations everywhere, as a vital part of the identities of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and as a valuable collection of unique knowledge and customs. This is achieved through initiatives that celebrate, record, disseminate, and promote our living heritage and help to build bridges between diverse cultural groups within and outside Newfoundland and Labrador.
For more information, contact:
Dale Jarvis
Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
PO Box 5171, St. John's, Newfoundland,
Canada A1C 5V5
Phone: 709-739-1892 ext 2
E-mail: ich@heritagefoundation.ca
A House in Freshwater, Conception Bay that has since been demolished. Photograph taken in January 1995 and is part of the slide collection of the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation.
Dianne Carr of the Spaniard's Bay Heritage Society. Photo by Terra Barrett.
On Tuesday July 31st, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Dianne Carr about her memories of charms and cures from Spaniard's Bay, Newfoundland. One of the stories Dianne told me was about her sister Jeanette and how she had her warts charmed as a child. Listen to the clip below to learn more about how a local woman charmed the warts away!
If you have any stories about folk charms, and cures, or practical recipes for things like soap, toothpaste, or wallpaper paste me know at terra@heritagefoundation.ca or call Terra at 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5.
"My Grandmother, Mary Jane Gosse, had a ‘cure’ for migraine headaches. I’m familiar with it having been her patient several times. The treatment was this. A dark green cabbage leaf was soaked in strong vinegar, place on your forehead and carefully tied on with a sock, nothing else, and kept there until the headache was gone. My guess is that the stinging of the strong vinegar hurt more and the headache was soon forgotten."
- Wesley Gosse, Stories and Stuff Spaniards Bay, page 31. March 2007.
Don MacLean grew up on Cape Breton Island and attended St. Francis Xavier University and Memorial University. He retired in 2015 after a 32 year career as a fisheries biologist with the Inland Fisheries Division of the Nova Scotia Dept. of Fisheries and Aquaculture. He has written professionally since 1999, and his columns and articles on sport fishing, natural history and traditional crafts have appeared in a variety of newspapers and magazines. He is the author of two books, Discover Nova Scotia Sportfishing and A Little Thing I Tied Myself-Stories of Atlantic Canadian Fly Tiers. Don and his wife Judy live in Pictou, Nova Scotia.
In this podcast, we discuss Don’s new book project on traditional arts and crafts, the history and regional variations of fly-tying, the resurgence and vitality of craft traditions, and Don’s quest to find a tin kettle maker.
Cyril Pinsent reading out some of his story from "The Goats of New Perlican" booklet.
Several people who were interviewed for the booklet surround Cyril on stage.
On Saturday, July 8th, while the rest of our office was busy with Great Fire celebrations in St. John's, I headed to New Perlican for their Heritage Day celebrations. The day was a celebration of all things heritage and included a couple of speeches and presentations as well as display boards on family genealogy, occupational folklore, significant buildings, and events in the community.
As part of New Perlican's Heritage Day we also launched "Goats of New Perlican". This is the first booklet in the Oral History Roadshow series. The booklet focuses on local memories and stories around the goats of New Perlican from their many uses to their stubborn nature.
New Perlican Heritage Day displays.
The roadshow is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the HFNL made possible with assistance from the New Horizons for Seniors program. The Oral History Night Roadshow will see researchers travel from community to community, hosting a series of Oral History Nights, open-mic storytelling sessions led and inspired by seniors in that community.
The launch was a great success with approximately a hundred people turning out to celebrate New Perlican's heritage! Heritage New Perlican is currently selling the print copies of "The Goats of New Perlican" or you can check out the free PDF here!
Heritage Day audience.
If you would like to know more information about how your community can get involved in the Oral History Roadshow call Terra at 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5 or email terra@heritagefoundation.ca or Dale ex. 2 and ich@heritagefoundation.ca
People at the 1962 St. John's Regatta. Identified (l to r): Theresa, Edna Tucker, Delcie, Jake Tucker, Jimmy King, Al Squires, and Syl. Photograph courtesy of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives (Allen and Pearl Squires Fonds).
1962 St. John's Regatta. Photograph courtesy of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives (Allen and Pearl Squires Fonds)
1962 St. John's Archives. Photograph courtesy of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives (Allen and Pearl Squires Fonds)
What's your earliest or favourite memory of the St. John's Regatta? Do you compete, watch the races, play the games, eat the food, or take in every aspect?
"Like I said, it was family. And we used to go around delivering, and we had keys to their houses, and if the driver went there and they weren’t home, we just opened the doors and went in. If there was ice cream or anything frozen, we’d put that in the fridge, leave the rest of the stuff there and go on. It was just a different atmosphere altogether, you know.”
After our interview, Ed showed me several intriguing artefacts that he’s held onto over the years:
This is a bottle of pre-confederate tonic wine, which Ed estimates as being “80, 90 years old now, it’s got to be.” Before confederation, W.J. Murphy’s was permitted to sell wine, but the Canadians opted to outlaw such practices “because the liquor store took over.” As Ed remembers it, “The liquor store went around to all the stores and collected these bottles of wine and liquor that weren’t already sold, but Dad said to himself, ‘They’re not getting that liquor.’ So we took all the cases.” Ed drinks the tonic wine very sporadically, and has kept many bottles since that time. He opened up a bottle on his 60th birthday, thinking it might taste like vinegar, but instead found that “Harvey’s Bristol Cream has nothing on it. A little shot of it like that, and you can feel the blood in your body starting to curl.”
Here, Ed is holding a pair of wooden skates that his grandmother used to skate across the St. John’s harbour. At first, I registered this fact with some astonishment—could people have truly skated across the Narrows?—but Ed appeared unswervingly confident:
Ed: And I’m going to show you now a pair of wooden skates that my grandmother used to skate on the harbour. And you might say this, “Now, how can you use a pair of wooden skates on the harbour?” It was homemade, they were homemade here in Newfoundland, and she’d hook them onto her boots. Whichever way the wind was going, you’d give her a push and the wind would take her, and she’d go down the harbour. So then she had to come back on her own, but these were used on the harbour. Andrea: So was that considered a risky thing to do? Ed: No, no, they walked across the harbour, oh yes—back then at the time, loads of them. Even when I was going to school, I can remember ice in the harbour. And you could, if you wanted to, jump the ice and so on. Andrea: Could you skate to Fort Amherst? Ed: Oh yes. Like I said, because back then it froze. Later on we more or less got slab ice, you know, because things warmed up.
Finally, Ed showed me this set of silver kettles, which his family rescued from the Great Fire of 1892, and kept safe in their Bannerman Park makeshift lodgings. According to Ed, many people grabbed ahold of their kettles when the fire first broke out.
Participants describing types of poultices to Dale Jarvis.
On Wednesday July 26th, Dale, Andrea (McGuire), and I went out to Spaniard's Bay for the Folk Cures and Practical Magic Oral History night. The event took place at the Wesley Gosse United Church in Spaniard's Bay where 22 people came out to share stories of cures, charms, and recipes for ailments such as warts, arthritis, cuts, colds, freckles, etc.
The Cures and Practical Magic Night is part of the foundation’s Oral History Roadshow. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the HFNL made possible with assistance from the New Horizons for Seniors program. The Oral History Night Roadshow will see researchers travel from community to community, hosting a series of Oral History Nights, open-mic storytelling sessions led and inspired by seniors in that community.
Andrea taking notes on the cures and charms.
We discussed recipes for bread poultices used to draw out splinters, and to cool burns and mustard poultices which would be spread over the chest for a cold. Several people remembered Aunt Eminy Barrett who would charm warts but wouldn't accept thanks for the work. Shelly Bowring went to see Aunt Eminy as a child and hasn't had a wart since. Shelly also shared her own knowledge of using a wedding band to make the sign of a cross to remove a sty, or using a needle and thread to divine whether or not someone would have children and the amount and sex of the children.
Shelly Bowring and her daughter Courtney Bowring.
Midwives and midwifery were discussed and there were stories of babies being thrown in the snow or dunked in hot and cold water until they were able to catch their breath. Two woman at the event were delivered by midwives and there was a discussion of Anne Marie Sheppard from Trinity Bay who was said to have delivered over 1200 babies!
Sharing stories!
If one was nauseous during pregnancy a mixture of 2 tbsp cider vinegar, and 2 tbsp of honey mixed with water would settle the stomach. Cures for seasickness included a ginger drink or a cloth bag of salt worn around the neck. The bag of salt could also be used for car sickness.
When the crowd was asked about uses for vinegar they repeated the second verse of Jack and Jill. We were told brown paper and vinegar could cure headaches and bruises! Jack and Jill is a traditional English nursery rhyme dates back to the 18th century and there are several variations. The version repeated last night is as follows:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after
Up Jack got and home did trot,
As fast as he could caper;
And went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
If you want to learn more about vinegar and it's uses check out this blog post on the Folklore of Vinegar!
We finished off the evening with a cup of tea and some blueberry cake. This is a just a small sample of the stories we heard in Spaniard's Bay. We will be doing some follow up interviews and are hoping to produce a booklet of practical magic. If you would like to learn more keep your eye on the blog, our Facebook, and Twitter! If you know any cures or charms reach out by phone to Terra at 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5 or terra@heritagefoundation.ca or Andrea ex. 7, mcguire@heritagefoundation.ca
The Heart's Content Cable Station was constructed in 1876 by J.J. Southcott, a prominent St John's architect. The station was required to support the operation of the first transatlantic cable that connected Europe and North America.
The building has a rich history within the community, as many locals remember working at the station or knew someone who did. Bob Balsom recalls a story about a young couple who once visited the station:
The building has been designated a Provincial Historic Site, and has been transformed into a public museum.
If you have a memory of a historic place that you would like to share please contact Katie via email katherine@heritagefoundation.ca or via telephone (709) 739-1892 ext. 7.
We've posted here and here about the ongoing cemetery conservation project underway at St. James Anglican Church in Carbonear, one of the Foundation's Registered Heritage Structures. You can read about the designation of the building here.
This Saturday, July 29th, 2017, from 9am-12pm, the cemetery committee is organizing a cemetery bee! Volunteers are invited to come help with some of the brush clearance, and to assist with opening up the historic formal entrance pathway to the churchyard, which has become overgrown over the years. The plan is to be able to have the pathway cleared back by the end of the summer, and to re-open on the historic iron gates which have been shut for some time. Members of the cemetery committee will be on site to talk about the church, the cemetery project, and what they've uncovered so far, and I'll be there to answer your questions about graveyards, tombstone symbolism, and the do's and don'ts of cleaning up your own historic cemeteries and churchyards. We might even be able to offer you a cup of tea!
This is an outdoor, hands-on activity, so please have appropriate clothing, workboots, gloves, hats, sunblock, bug spray, etc. If you have your own loppers/pruning shears/secateurs, bring them along. Just curious, and want to see what we are up to? Come for a chat!
The church is located at 13 Bond Street, Carbonear [click here for map] with plenty of parking to the north side of the church hall. See you in Carbonear on Saturday morning!
Dr. Lisa Daly has been working in the heritage sector since 2001, first with the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, then Parks Canada, and now as a tour guide and museum coordinator. She holds a B.A. in archaeology from MUN, a M.Sc. in forensic and biological anthropology from Bournemouth University, and holds her Ph.D. in archaeology from MUN. Her study focus is aviation in Newfoundland and Labrador. Up to now, most of her academic work has focused on World War II aviation in Gander, Goose Bay and Stephenville, but she has also done some work on pre- and post-war aviation history in the province.
In this podcast, we talk about how Lisa got her start as the Plane Crash Girl, consider the many “firsts” of Newfoundland aviation history, and discuss the condition and appropriate stewardship of plane crash sites. We also chat about the flights of the Hindenburg over Newfoundland, and reflect on recent theories surrounding the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Follow her work on Twitter @planecrashgirl or her blog, www.planecrashgirl.ca.
I recently scanned a booklet titled "Ghost Stories and Legends" that was produced by the Lower Trinity South Development Association. Because of our recent work on The Goats of New Perlican the following story peaked our interest:
Great Balls of Fire
One evening as Mr. Ryan was returning home from New Perlican with a sac of flour for his mother, he stopped on Spicer's Lungers between Turk's Cove and New Perlican to allow his goats to take a drink. Out of the corner of their eye the goats noticed a small light, almost like a ball of fire, approach from out of nowhere. Leo soon realized what had caused the goats to become restless. He saw this light as it came closer and got smaller when it neared him. The fire ball crossed the road and suddenly disappeared out of sight. The two goats began to run and when they reached home they were shivering with fear. It has been said that this ball of fire is a spirit who watches over the people of the community. It is not known whether the spirit is good or bad.
In looking through images I recently scanned at the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation, there are many buildings that were on the verge of demolition. The 35mm slides taken from 1993-1996 include many boarded up homes, stores, stages, and sheds that are no longer part of the Baccalieu Trail landscape. This building in Hant's Harbour is an exception.
In 1999 the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador designated the Custard Head Fishing Premises as a Registered Heritage Structure. Built by Joseph Francis in 1909, it is a perfect example of traditional, vernacular outbuilding construction.
To see what the fishing premises looks like today, and read more about the structure, visit the Heritage Foundation website.
My name is Andrea McGuire, and I am a folklore MA student at Memorial University. This summer, I am working in partnership with Conservation Corps NL and the Intangible Cultural Heritage office as the Cultural Conservation Intern. Throughout my degree, I have interviewed dozens of people about their stories and traditions (especially those related to hitchhiking, which was the subject of my master’s thesis). In this position, I am helping Dale with the Living Heritage Podcast, gathering folk tales for an upcoming project with the Local Immigration Partnership, and conducting a slew of oral history interviews.
So far, most of these interviews have centered on memories of old St. John’s. Upon returning to St. John’s in 1975 (after dwelling in such places as Toronto and Australia), interviewee Barry Whelan likened the city to “that old flannel shirt you love to wear when you’re sooky.” Having lived downtown for the past nine years (with no compulsion to stray further afield), I can definitely relate to this sentiment. But what is it about the city as it was and its modern iteration that remains the same, other than this continuity of sooky attachment? It can be fun to imagine historical features overlaying the modern landscape—the apparition of a horse, the humming of the streetcars—but how do these versions of St. John’s fit together?
Since beginning this job, I have learned a great deal about the city and the way things used to be. Some memories are easy to relate to—interviewee Madge Noseworthy, who was born in the Battery in 1931, offered vivid recollections of picking blueberries on Signal Hill, saying, “I remember you’d go off berry picking and when you’d come back, your mouth’d be blue from eating the berries, you know? But they were gorgeous to eat!” (Madge later mentioned her distaste for store-bought blueberries: “Even in cookies, they’re not nice.”) Blueberry picking on Signal Hill has certainly stood the test of time. But other historical details seem impossibly far away, almost of another place—horses carrying freight from the harbour up the hills; a downtown replete with “four or five theatres that everybody knew,” where, as Barry Whelan remembered it, “the real thing to do was bring all your comic books to the movie on Saturday afternoon … you went all around the place and everyone went crazy trading comics”; people ice-skating, somehow, across the Narrows; and the sight of horse troughs in the streets (complete with low-hanging watering troughs for dogs, since horses weren’t the only thirsty animals on the block).
The last watering trough for dogs and horses in St. John’s, situated in Bowring Park.
July 8th marked the 125th anniversary of the 1892 Great Fire, and the ICH office all kept busy with a number of commemorative activities. My task was to mind archival photographs of the city in ruins, which were displayed in the Bannerman Park pool house. Over the weekend, history buffs and swimmers alike wandered into the room, and many visitors spoke about their ancestors’ brush with the fire. Until this weekend, I was unaware that thousands of citizens camped in Bannerman Park for months in the wake of the disaster. Since then, however, the fire of 1892 (and subsequent mass camp-out) has come up repeatedly in my interviews with long-term residents. It seems clear that the fire is firmly lodged in the city’s collective memory.
On May 29, 2017 as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Daphne Gillingham about growing up in St. John's including her memories of her time in school, her first job at as a cook at cub camp, and her memories of the holidays.
Daphne Gillingham was born in St. John's in August 1938 and grew up in St. John's. She shared her memories of growing up in St. John's in the 1940s and 1950s. One of the things which stood out in Daphne's memory was Valentine's Day. In this clip Daphne describes the difference between Valentine's day when she was a child and how it is celebrated today. If you would like to listen to the full interview you can head to Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been researching the Gordon G. Pike Railway Museum and Park. Erected in 1881, this building was once the station for the Harbour Grace Railway. It is a small, one-story, hipped roof building located on Military Road in Harbour Grace.
I always enjoy hearing people's memories of places, but here on Friday afternoon, as suppertime approaches, one story, as told by Patrick Collins, stands out in particular: "I remember the train coming
down with a load of Mary Brown’s secret recipe. Aboard were boxfuls of secret recipe dough that
they use for the deep fried chicken at Mary Brown’s which is here in Harbour Grace.
And I remember that being quite secretive; the owner coming up and saying, 'make sure
none of those boxes are stolen.' There was a freight shed that was right next to
the station that is gone now and that was very securely looked after." I can imagine how exciting it must have been for the employees of the station, entrusted with protecting the sacred deep fried chicken formula that has become a staple to many Newfoundlanders. It must have been difficult to resist sneaking a peek of the secret recipe. If you or someone you know has a memory of the Harbour Grace Railway station, please contact Katie at katherine@heritagefoundation.ca or (709) 739-1892 ex. 7. -Katie Harvey
Eemaan Thind was born and raised in Punjab, India. Her family moved to Ontario during her last year of secondary school; she started her BSc. at McMaster University and then transferred to Physics at Memorial University in 2013, when her family moved to Newfoundland. A self-taught artist from a young age, Eemaan picked up the medium of henna body art in the summer of 2013 while participating in the Youth Ventures program, and received the provincial Youth Ventures award for Excellence in Product Design during the same summer. In April of 2017, she travelled to volunteer with the Gurmat Bhawan NGO in Punjab, where she worked with school children, held workshops on child sexual abuse, menstrual health and sex education, and provided free henna workshops for local women. She is pleased to offer a chance of experiencing this ancient art form right here on the Rock.
In this podcast, we talk about Eemaan’s evolution as a henna artist, the traditional uses of henna, and how to discern between real henna and commercialized henna (along with the safety risks of the latter). We also discuss Eeman’s experiences at Henna Con and her recent trip to India, and consider some ideas about henna and cultural appropriation.
Recently I worked on scanning 35mm slides for the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation. The slides are organized by community and were taken between 1993-1996. One thing I found interesting in looking at the slides is the boarded up buildings and whether they were demolished or saved. Do you know anything about the building in this image taken June 1994 in Bay Roberts?
UPDATE: This building has been identified as Charlie Sam and Jenny Parsons Grocery and Dry Goods Store, located in Running Brook, the east end of Bay Roberts. I would love to see a photo of the store in its prime.
As part of the Collective Memories project Dale and I headed out to Grand Falls-Windsor last week to help out with the town's first Memory Mug Up event. The mug up was held in the Classic Theatre on High Street and was part of the town's Salmon Festival activities. The event was organized by the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society and was a staged interview with six local community members.
Dale moderated the discussion which involved memories of horses and goats, tales of how to sneak in to the movie theatre with flattened nickels or fake tickets, stories of memorable local characters, the influence of strong woman, and memories about growing up in the community. The event was recorded and will be placed on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. Check out the video below for a taste of the event and stay tuned for more memories!
Have you ever made a bread poultice? Do you remember stories about a seventh son or daughter? Do you know the perfect mix for wallpaper paste? Have you had a wart charmed? The Heritage Foundation NL, in partnership with the Spaniard’s Bay Heritage Society, wants to know!
The Foundation will be hosting a Cures and Practical Magic Oral History Night at the Wesley Gosse United Church, Spaniard’s Bay on Wednesday, July 26th, 2017 at 7:00pm.
“We are looking for anyone with memories of cures, charms, or practical recipes such as soap or wallpaper paste, as well as midwives, and healers with memories of practicing medicine in the area,” says the foundation’s folklorist Dale Jarvis. “If you have memories of cures and recipes, we would love to hear from you."
The Cures and Practical Magic Night is part of the foundation’s Oral History Roadshow. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the HFNL made possible with assistance from the New Horizons for Seniors program. The Oral History Night Roadshow will see researchers travel from community to community, hosting a series of Oral History Nights, open-mic storytelling sessions led and inspired by seniors in that community.
Come for a cup of tea, share a memory or two about a cure, and bring some home recipes. The information gathered will be used alongside oral history interviews and archival research to create a booklet about folk cures and practical traditions in Spaniard’s Bay. If you have photos or old written recipes, bring them along.
For more information please contact Terra Barrett with the Heritage Foundation toll free at 1-888-739-1892 ext. 5 or email terra@heritagefoundation.ca.
This episode of Living Heritage is all about that controversial Scottish delicacy, haggis, the chieftain of the pudding race. And who better to guide us through the culinary history and folklore of haggis than Newfoundland’s own “Haggis Lady” Jennifer Whitfield? Jennifer was raised in Glasgow, lived there till she was 25, then boarded the second voyage of the QEII and sailed away to the new world. She moved to Newfoundland in 1976. She’s been making haggis since 1981, and has made haggis locally for the Burns Night supper, and ships her haggis across Canada.
In this delicious podcast, we talk about what exactly goes into a haggis, how she got started in the haggis-making business and how she became “The Haggis Lady,” what makes an excellent (or terrible) haggis, the folklore and mythology of the haggis, and her recent activities in mailing haggis to needy pudding lovers across North America.
Yesterday was Orangeman's Day in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the curious provincial holidays that some people get off work, and other people know nothing about. While the Heritage Foundation office was closed, I headed off to Carbonear for a meeting about a possible future oral history project, and a visit to St. James Anglican to meet with their committee about their cemetery cleanup project. We'd blogged about St. James Anglican before (read here) and today was the first day their student workers in place. So off I went to help them make a plan for removing brush, and to prioritize which sections of the cemetery they should work on first.
When I arrived, the students had already cleared away some of the brush from around the memorial stone for William Janes, work appropriate, perhaps, for Orangeman's Day. William Janes was killed in the notorious Harbour Grace Affray, and his marker reads:
On May 15, 2017, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Patricia Cumby about her memories of moving to Newfoundland from the UK, living in Heart's Content, and some of the trouble she got into as a child.
Patricia arrived in Gander in a snow storm and had to spend a couple of nights there before the family could make their way to Heart's Content where her father was stationed to work as a doctor. She told the story of getting fitted out for the Newfoundland winter and in this audio clip you can hear about her first adventure in Heart's Content - climbing the mizzen. Patricia explained the mizzen is a small hill in Heart's Content named because ships entering the community could see it from the mizzen-mast up in the crow's nest. Patricia's full interview can be found on Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative.
