What Did You Do with Sawdust in Whiteway?

Whiteway, a community around Trinity Bay, was once home to two sawmills run by two different local families. The Drovers, who lived to the North of the brook which powered their mill, had a shingle mill which they established soon after arriving in Whiteway in the 19th century. The Burgess mill (pictured below) was established many decades after the Drover mill, in 1919. In both cases, milling provided some supplementary income to declining fishing wages and prospects. 

Beyond making Whiteway a great place to get lumber and shingles, these two mills also changed Whiteway’s landscape by producing mountains of sawdust through the milling process. The Drovers mill produced so much sawdust, in fact, that locals today highlight an area on the western portion of the north bank of the brook their mill was powered by as being the historic location of the ‘Drover’s Sawdust Pile.’ Similarly, members of the Burgess family recall a mount of sawdust being put between the house and mill until the mid 1920’s, when a garage was built. After that period, sawdust was piled behind the sawmill.

Far from being useless, sawdust is a very versatile material because of its insulating properties. In the case of Whiteway, the abundance of sawdust made it an easy material to use to help preserve ice after the winter. Some of the Burgess family today even recall that in the winter, blocks of ice were cut from Jimmy Rowe’s Pond and buried in sawdust. The ice was used to preserve salmon which had been caught out in the bay, which was later sold to the Harnum's in Hearts Delight, Cramm's in Green’s Harbour, and the Moores in Carbonear. Saws used to cut ice from Jimmy Rowe’s pond remain in the Burgess sawmill to this day. As Bob Burgess writes,

‘Once the ponds froze over, the horse and sled would be driven across the pond in the morning, logs would be hauled out before lunch time, lunch was eaten and our uncles would change out of sweat-filled clothes, then head back across the pond to bring out more wood. This continued until the pond ice broke up in the spring.’

Below, you can see a painted wood carving of the Burgess family collecting ice to be stored in sawdust. Today, the piles of sawdust that were once around Whiteway are gone, and the mills have fallen out of use, but the legacies of the Drover and Burgess milling enterprises continue to be featured in local historic accounts.

Call for online papers and presentations: Folklore and Crisis. #FolkloreThursday

The Folklore Studies Association of Canada will hold this year's annual meeting online! The meeting will take place between June 2 and 7. Specific dates and technologies will be communicated shortly.

The theme of the conference is “Folklore and Crisis.” We invite applicants to reflect on creative responses to situations of difficulty and distress. Creativity, a key characteristic of folklore, often comes into play at such times. The current pandemic, for example, continuously affects our daily lives, prompting us to create vernacular mechanisms to cope with new fearful realities, resist inequalities, fill gaps in institutional knowledge, maintain a sense of normalcy, and build future plans. Creative impulses range from traditional practices revived during lockdowns to emergent health beliefs and conspiracy theories. Folklorists also face the need for creative innovations. During the pandemic, scholars have had to adjust their methodologies, research questions, and knowledge dissemination trajectories. Likewise, public folklorists and practitioners have developed alternative platforms and strategies for museums, archives, government organizations, arts institutions, and businesses.

We invite academic and practice-based paper proposals on all manifestations of folklore and folklife that address crisis and creative responses to it. How can folklorists, as well as the individuals and groups we study, shed light on the nuances of human experiences at times of difficulty, discomfort, or danger? In the case of the current pandemic, what implications do the new realities have for our field in both academic and public spheres? Proposals for panels, discussion sessions, and individual papers related to other themes in the disciplines of ethnology and folklore are welcome.

We especially encourage proposals from graduate students. Given the nature of the virtual format, this is an affordable chance to present at a national conference. We also intend to create virtual opportunities for networking.

Please send abstracts of 150 words, in English or French, to Dr. Mariya Lesiv (mlesiv@mun.ca) by March 1, 2021.

All accepted presenters must be paid-up members of FSAC/ACEF for 2021. To join or renew your membership, visit https://www.acef-fsac.ulaval.ca/en/join.

Historic Paint Colours, Heritage Palettes, Red Ochre Paint, and Jellybean Row!

Two-tone house in Hickman's Harbour, Random Island, late 1990s. 

In the early days, the colour palette used on Newfoundland and Labrador buildings was much more limited than today. Colours available were those that could be made from natural materials such as minerals (for example, red and yellow ochre, zinc white or lime white wash) or plant dyes. In the first half of the 19th century many wooden buildings, particularly in rural parts of Newfoundland and Labrador were either unpainted, whitewashed, or covered with red ochre paint comprising powdered ochre mixed with seal or fish oil. Evidence of red ochre paint has been found in the archaeological remains of the province’s earliest known residential building constructed in 1610 at the Cupids Cove Plantation. 

In the 19th century the houses of the wealthier residents sometimes employed a different colour for trimwork while most houses were a single colour.  Until well into the 20th century, houses in many outport communities were white with a coloured trim.  Fishing structures such as stages and storehouses were generally either white, red ochre or brown or not painted at all, although there were always exceptions to the rule in terms of colour. 

In the early 20th century, pre-mixed paints became available, particularly with the establishment of the paint division of Standard Manufacturing in St. John’s in 1907. After World War II, a much broader range of colours became available around the province, the product of modern industrial paint production processes. The 1970s and '80s saw the beginning of a significant expansion of the colour palette, particularly in St. John’s. The St. John’s Heritage Foundation played a significant role in the revitalization of the old downtown residential neighbourhoods during this period.  The foundation encouraged livelier colour schemes with one or more accent colours for exterior trims and mouldings

Heritage Paints

Historic paint colours in Newfoundland and Labrador
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q9sG2zmR2lM3ixsznf542E9WDgjy7Zok/view?usp=sharing

Historic Paint Chart from Templetons
https://heritagefoundation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/nl-historic-paint.pdf

Shane O'Dea on heritage paint schemes:
http://www.ichblog.ca/2016/03/an-oral-history-of-heritage.html

Red Ochre and Lime Whitewash
http://www.ichblog.ca/2019/01/looking-for-people-who-remember-making.html

Making red ochre paint
http://www.ichblog.ca/2016/05/fisheriesfriday-red-ochre-and-lime.html

Way more on red ochre than you would ever want to know
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hp8ndU8-K6a99KARGh0WNjiG4Io-6KJf5PLuNPk5Qlk/edit

Paint in Twillingate
http://www.ichblog.ca/2014/05/folklore-photo-painting-jenkins-house.html

Jelly Bean Row Colours

The Jelly Bean Palette
https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/trip-ideas/travel-stories/the-jelly-bean-palette

Is the bay being bedazzled by Jellybean Row colours and losing its unique identity?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/jellybean-row-shift-1.4777383

Candy Coloured Homes
http://www.outdoorlifestylemagazine.com/2017/03/candy-coloured-homes/

Memories from Whiteway: Uncle Jesse's Cellar

Uncle Jesse’s cellar is a root cellar built into the size of a hill in Whiteway sometime in the 1930s, located just behind the Burgess Designated Heritage Property’s Cellar. In typical cellar fashion, it is not a very big building, but it is unique in the way that it is only partially underground. 

Like all root cellars across Newfoundland Uncle Jesse’s cellar would have been built to store vegetables over the winter. Unlike other root cellars, however, Uncle Jesse’s cellar was reused by the Burgess family over the years for a variety of reasons, and even featured some built in benches and furniture at one point. Ian Burgess recalls, for example, that Uncle Jesse would nap or lay down in his cellar during the summer months because:

‘He had some kind of consumption or issue with his lungs and found it difficult to breath so uh, on-uh, on-uh muggy summer days they-they had uh, y’know the uh-th’ fainting couch? Th-the the one with the rounded back? uh, uh, the s- the settee I guess you’d call it? Uh he had one of those put out there and he would go out there and uh, an get some relief on-uh, on warm days.’

Bob Burgess recalls this as well, saying that his Uncle Jesse had severe emphysema, and may have even lost a lung to his illness at one point. Bob also informed us that, because of its second use as a resting place for Uncle Jesse, the cellar was actually quite cabin-like in his youth, around the 1970s. 

More generally, Uncle Jesse and his wife were known around the community for always having a household full of young people. While they did not have any biological children themselves, the couple took in a few kids over the years who lived with them for a period of time. Bob Burgess recalls that there was always a ‘jeer’ of kids around his Aunt and Uncle’s house. He told us, more specifically:

‘I remember being it in - in it - as a cabin. Right? Like it had a roof and all that kind of stuff, and um… Just being in there...and, y’know, th-the boys were hanging out, my brother - older brother - was there and all that kind of stuff yeah I remember being in there….It’s not very big. Its was tight quarters right? yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. And there was...uh, my memory is foggy about it, but it was just a series of benches and maybe even bunks somehow in there, right, but uh, yeah, I can remember being in there.’

Both Bob and Ian Burgess also recall that there was a musical component to their time in Whiteway with their Uncle and his kids. Bob recalls that they were often singing and playing guitar, and Ian told us:

‘I can remember them playing guitar and I still play the same chords that-uh junior taught me[….] And down on the-uh, down on the, near the beach of the drum going down uh, to there, I can remember them playing there for some guys who came over from-uh, they spent a couple weeks over here catching eels in the brook. And I can remember Junior and Ches down there playing for them.’

Today, the cellar, along with the rest of the Burgess Heritage Property, are still owned by members of the Burgess family. Uncle Jesse’s cellar, unfortunately, fell into disrepair after years of neglect, but has recently been renovated into a greenhouse, bringing it into a new phase of existence. While Uncle Jesse’s cellar is not a designated building, the stories attached to it are compelling and help illustrate to ways in which buildings evolve and are adapted or refit to suit the needs of the people who use them. 

Living Heritage Podcast Ep200 - Doughboys and Molasses, Oh!

We chat with folklorist Dr. Anna Kearney Guigné about the new CD - Doughboys and Molasses, Oh!, which offers listeners a fresh perspective on the musical heritage of the Gros Morne region on Newfoundland’s west coast. Available on disc and digital download, the album features 22 carefully restored tracks originally recorded from local singers by folk song researchers in the mid-20th century. 

Also included are four new performances specially commissioned for the compilation from musicians Anita Best, Matthew Byrne, Daniel Payne and Jim Payne. The accompanying booklet explores the stories of the songs, the singers and the collectors, as well as the role of singing in family and community life.

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Heritage Update for February 2021 - Sustainability, and Craft at Risk

In this edition of our newsletter: heritage and what the past has to teach us about a sustainable future; threats to the continued transmission of craft skills in Newfoundland and Labrador; and the history of the Burgess family of Whiteway, Trinity Bay; plus a link to our ongoing Fieldnotes series!

• Download the pdf version of the newsletter here

Community Development and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador

Boat building workshop, courtesy Wooden Boat Museum of NL

 

As part of Heritage NL's ongoing Fieldnotes series, this publication provides an overview of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) program developed by Heritage NL. It traces the early development of the program, and outlines the ICH Strategy and the shifting role of heritage work in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

It then provides an overview of two ongoing projects that explore, document, and encourage the continued safeguarding and sharing of ICH knowledge and skills: the Living Heritage Economy Case Study project, and the NL Heritage Craft at Risk project. 

Download the pdf version here

Heritage NL has two job postings: Executive Director and Training Coordinator

 Two new job postings with Heritage NL

Training Coordinator

Heritage NL seeks an individual to perform the role of Training Coordinator to help develop and deliver a series of modules and mentorships targeted to: a) individuals involved in the building trades who are interested in developing their knowledge of traditional building practices and restoration and; b) members of the public interested in developing knowledge and practice of traditional skills that are at risk of disappearing in the province. 

PDF of job ad - Deadline Feb 12, 2021

Executive Director

The position of Executive Director is responsible for the management of all staff, all reporting functions to the board and Provincial Government; budgeting and financial management, providing support to the board in its planning and policy making functions, and the implementation of all plans and policies. Heritage NL seeks a highly motivated individual with experience in organizational management and planning. Candidates should have demonstrated training, knowledge of, experience in, and a broad understanding of the heritage field and current thinking and issues relating to it. They should be comfortable working at the grass roots community level at the same time that they can work with senior government officials, community leaders, and decision-makers. Good facilitation skills are a definite asset as is recognized leadership in the heritage field.

PDF of job ad - Deadline Feb 24, 2021

Living Heritage Podcast Ep199 Growing up as a Lebanese Newfoundlander

Folklorist Wyatt H. Shibley interviews retired local politician Lorraine Michael about what it was like growing up with Lebanese roots in downtown St. John’s.

https://anchor.fm/living-heritage/episodes/Ep199-Growing-up-as-a-Lebanese-Newfoundlander-epl2lu

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

A history of the Lane/Heffern House in Salvage, Bonavista Bay

The Salvage Fisherman’s Museum (alternatively, the Lane/Heffern House) was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by Heritage NL March 20th, 2020 due to its historic and aesthetic value. Supposedly the oldest surviving home in the area, the museum building was constructed sometime in the mid 19th century by members of the Lane family who lived in Salvage by 1830.

Heritage NL has been working with the museum committee on documenting the history of the structure, which has proven to be more complicated than originally thought. It may be that the building was constructed in two phases, which would explain some of the quirks of the building itself.

You can download the full report in pdf format and get all the architectural gossip right here. 

Living Heritage on the Baccalieu Trail

It may have been "Stay Home Year" here in Newfoundland and Labrador, but that didn't stop the Living Heritage Podcast from exploring! In "Hidden Gems of the Baccalieu Trail," host Natalie Dignam takes you on an audio tour of the Baccalieu Trail region on the island of Newfoundland. Explore all the episodes in the series by clicking the pinpoints on the map.

Listen to Living Heritage Episode 198: Make Your Own Podcast. Natalie walks your through creating your first podcast!

Living Heritage Podcast Ep197 The Bowring Park Footbridge and Blanche Lemco Van Ginkel

In 2020, Heritage NL designated a concrete footbridge in Bowring Park as a Registered Heritage Structure, one of the first modernist structures in NL to be recognized as such. The bridge was designed in part by influential architect Blanche Lemco Van Ginkel, and it has been an object of fascination and study for Newfoundland architecture student Sarah Reid. Folklorist Dale Jarvis chats with Sarah about her interest in the footbridge, and shares some of the audio she recorded in conversation with Blanche Van Ginkel herself.

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Quick Reads in NL Vernacular Architecture: What is a Trunnel?

 

The photo above was taken underneath the Fisherman’s Museum in Salvage, Bonavista Bay, and shows the sill of the building, with a protruding trunnel. But what is a trunnel? 

A trunnel (also spelled treenail, trenail, or trennel) is a remnant of ancient building technologies which you can still see in some Newfoundland and Labrador historic buildings. A “treenail” is essentially that, a nail made from a tree: a peg or tenon.  Devine’s Folklore of Newfoundland defines it as “Corruption of trenail: a wooden peg, a foot or so long, used for fastening ships' timber, wharf sticks, etc.”

The use of wood as a fastener can be traced back over 7,000 years, and archaeologists have found traces of wood nails in the excavation of early European sites. When settlers arrived in Newfoundland, they brought their knowledge of trunnels with them, and used them in both house and ship building.  The Slade and Kelson Diaries, Trinity, for Monday 16th, April 1832, reports that a leak in the Caroline was found to have been caused by a “trunnel vacuum” - a hole left where a trunnel should have been driven in. 

Treenails are cut from a single piece of wood, and used so that the grain of the treenail runs perpendicular to the grain of the receiving wood. This adds structural strength to the joint. Hardwoods were preferred, and when they couldn't be found in Newfoundland, they were imported, as the P. & L. Tessier advertisement below, from the Evening Herald of 1892-06-22, demonstrates:

Salvage Fisherman's Museum - the mystery of the missing chimney

 

We've been doing some research in Salvage, helping out the volunteers at the Fisherman's Museum (the old Lane/Heffern House) to better understand the history of their structure.

Pictured above is the remains of what was once a large stone chimney/fireplace. What is visible is the back wall of the chimney, and if you look at the top of the photo, you can see hole where the fireplace used to be. There is a very heavy wooden beam that runs from wall to wall in front of the opening, which indicates how far out the fireplace once went. 

 

Above is a view of the back small bedroom, where you can see the outline of the original chimney, intruding into the floorspace of the room. It tapers upwards toward the ceiling.

Last week, we were able to explore the building more fully, and I was able to get up into the attic of the building. There, one can see the remains of the top of the original chimney:

In the photo above, you can see the remaining back wall of the chimney. A blower vent had been installed at one point, and is no longer connected.

We were also able to crawl under the house, where the remains of the original chimney foundation are still visible. These are large stones, measuring about 1.5m from the back wall of the house, and about 2m wide. 

Looking at the remains of the chimney help us better understand the history of the Lane/Heffern House. We suspect the building was rebuilt/expanded in the 1880s or early 1890s, and the chimney may have been removed at that point. The height of the chimney suggests that the roofline was much lower at one point, possibly with the house being only 1.5 storeys high. Other physical evidence in the building suggests it also occupied a small footprint, and would have been a roughly square building, likely with one room centred around the large gable-end walk-in or "inglenook" chimney.  Originally, it may have looked something like the image below, taken from D.C. Beard's "Shelters, Shacks, & Shanties" published in 1914:

There are still a lot of questions to answer about the history of the house, including when and how it was originally constructed, and when it was modified and why. Stay tuned! If you have any information about the building, or memories of it before it was a turned into a museum in the 1960s, email research@heritagenl.ca or comment below. 

Living Heritage Podcast Ep196 - Roger Tinney, furniture maker

 

Roger Tinney is a furniture maker based in Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Originally from Prince Edward Island, Roger inherited some of his skill as a carpenter from his father and grandfather, and then expanded his knowledge of furniture-making after moving to British Columbia. We chat about family origins, working with wood, finishes, and the importance of whimsey!

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Report on the 2020 Salvage People, Places, and Culture Workshop

Monday, 2 November 2020, the Town of Salvage hosted a “People, Places & Culture “Workshop, facilitated by Heritage NL. The event was attended by approximately 15-20 individuals from the community on the first night and 20-25 the following day, Tuesday, 3 November 2020, including some partner and governmental organizations.  

The workshop comprised two parts: I) a cultural mapping activity that considered the community’s tangible and intangible cultural assets and; II) a session to explore opportunities for protecting, safeguarding and developing these assets that included representation from stakeholders.  The latter activity involved the ranking of themes and clusters of cultural assets that emerged from the mapping session. 

This report is a summary of what was discussed, and includes a number of recommendations, resources, and links from HeritageNL.

You can view the full report here. 

Visiting the Burgess Property, Whiteway, Trinity Bay.

Burgess Fishing Stage

The Burgess Property is a collection of 6 buildings in Whiteway, NL, dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2020. Built and operated by an unbroken line of Burgess family members over six generations, the cluster of closely spaced buildings are part of a single family enterprise. Their continuity helps to imbue a sense of how the property was inhabited and operated for more than 100 years, and the diversity of buildings speaks to the variety of functions and income sources of outport family premises.

We visited the site yesterday, and are working with the Burgess family to document and better understand the history of the premises. Stay tuned for more info and photos on this group of structures in the weeks to come!

Burgess Dwelling House

Burgess Stable/Store (left) and sawmill (right)

Researcher looking for stories and memories of Nish Rumboldt, Newfoundland’s Pied Piper of song.

 Music has always been central to everyday life in Newfoundland and Labrador. From work songs to hymns, fiddle tunes to symphonies—music expression plays an important part in the cultural life of this province. Choral director Ignatius Rumboldt proved that folk and classical singing alike could be enjoyable and accessible for people across the province. Through his role as a choirmaster and music educator in the 1930s-1970s, he was essential to the creation of a choral music community that flourished in communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

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By Ellen Power

Ignatius “Nish” Rumboldt was born in 1916, one of seven children in a fishing family from Curling. Upon his mother’s death in 1921, the family split up and six year old Nish was sent with his brothers to the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s. Despite the upheaval, Nish thrived in the arts and music classes offered at the orphanage. His talent caught the eye of Basilica organist and local businessman Charles Hutton. Hutton mentored young Nish and helped him get advanced lessons in voice and music theory. Nish was only 15 years old when Hutton offered him the position of assistant organist at the Basilica in 1931. Hutton retired 5 years later and Nish took over his position as the chief organist and choirmaster. He held the post for the next 16 years. During this time, Nish organized choral and orchestral concerts for St. John’s audiences, to great acclaim. He also taught choirs at Catholic schools across the city and was an early supporter of the Kiwanis Music Festival competition.

Image: Nish Rumboldt (front row, far left) with the other MUN Extension Faculty, 1961. Photo courtesy of MUN Digital Archives Initiative

Nish Rumboldt is probably best known for his work in establishing choirs across the province in the 1950s and 1960s.  He was one of the first musical directors to add Newfoundland folk songs to the choral repertoire, first with the CJON Glee Club and then with MUN Extension choirs across Newfoundland and Labrador. His spirited interpretations of traditional Newfoundland songs were popular with choristers and audiences alike. Nish hoped hearing the music would inspire people to learn more about the province’s folk music traditions. “I used every opportunity I could,” he later recalled. “[I]f we were asked to sing at a government banquet and we had distinguished visitors, we’d sing a little of every type of music, but I’d be sure to finish up with Newfoundland music.”

Nish believed anyone could join a choir, as long as they were eager to learn. “I met a few people who couldn’t sing at the time but I never discouraged them,” he once said. “One chap came, give him a note and he’d sing anything but. And he became one of my soloists later.” One former soloist in a choir of Nish’s remembered his kindness to choir members. “He was so gentle with his singers,” she recalled.  “Even if they couldn't sing that well, he never put anybody down, he kind of lifted you up”.

 

Image: Nish Rumboldt conducts the MUN Glee Club in concert, c. 1960s-1970s. Photo courtesy of MUN Digital Archives Initiative

Nish Rumboldt was admired across the province for what one writer described as "the ability to transfer his verve and love of life to a choir and on to an audience." His work with choirs eventually resulted in his 1975 recognition as a Member of the Order of Canada. Nish retired in 1980, the same year he was awarded a honourary doctorate from Memorial University in recognition of his tireless work to promote choral music in the province. This work lives on, despite his death in 1994. The Department of Music, which owes its creation in part to Nish’s advocacy, now carries a scholarship in his name. And the active choral community in this province today certainly owes a debt to the lifelong efforts of Nish Rumboldt.

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Were you in one of Nish Rumboldt’s choirs, or did you work with him in the choral community? Share your stories, memories, and photos with us at commemorations@heritagenl.ca

Sources

Dunsmore, Douglas. "Nish Rumboldt: Newfoundland’s beloved Pied Piper of song." In Sharing The Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium I, St. John’s, NL, June 1997, 107-114. St. John’s, NL:  Memorial University.

Morgan, Bernice. “Ignatius Rumboldt—Mr. Music.” MUN Gazette, August 28, 1978.

Pathways. "Ignatius Rumboldt." Produced by MUN Extension Services. Aired 1983, on MUN Education Television Centre.  https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/extension/id/859/rec/1

The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Ignatius Rumboldt," by Paul Woodford and Betty Nygaard King, accessed Nov. 6, 2020, https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ignatius-rumboldt-emc

Woodford, Paul G. “Nish” Rumboldt: the life and contributions of Ignatius Rumboldt to music in Newfoundland. St. John’s, NL: Creative Publishers, 1984.

Help us out with this quick cemetery training survey!

Newfoundland and Labrador: Help us out with this quick 3-second survey - What part of cemetery conservation do you need to know more about? 

https://strawpoll.com/bybdzy5ka 

New Research into the mystery cannon of Harbour Main.

At a recent meeting of the Town of Harbour Main-Chapel’s Cove-Lakeview Heritage Committee, it was decided to investigate a local cannon on top of a hill whose origins, despite being a local landmark, are unclear.
 

Photo: Catherine Ann Kelly of Harbour Main (left), and
Maryssa Barras from HeritageNL (right) inspect the cannon, 25 November 2020

In order to find the story behind the cannon, we first need to figure out what type of cannon it is and when it dates to. By measuring key parts of the cannon and taking photos of visible features on the cannon we were able to compare our cannon with others to determine its calibre and likely dates of use.

There are a few key features that helped guide us in identifying the cannon. First, the cannon measures approximately 230cm, or 7½ft, long and the bore (the tube for the cannonball) measures 11cm, or 4.3in, in diameter. Based on these dimensions we can determine that this cannon is likely a 9lb gun - with 9lb referring to the caliber of the cannonballs it would have shot. 

 

Photo: A close-up image of a broken trunnion on the cannon,
as well as the chase astragal, the iron band to the right of the photo.

In terms of shape, the cannon has a tulip-shaped muzzle and a spherical button at its breech (back) end. Spaced across the cannon as well are raised bumps, called reinforce rings. Notably, this cannon has an extra ring in its center called a chase astragal which largely fell out of use after circa 1810. Based on these, and other, details, we believe the Harbour Main cannon is most likely an  Armstrong-Frederick pattern cannon, which was the primary British model produced between 1760/4 and 1792. This means the cannon was likely produced sometime in that time period, and that its arrival in Harbour Main must date to after 1760-1764.

Photo: Diagram of Armstrong Pattern 9 lb gun of 7 1/2 feet,
courtesy of Dr. A.R. Collins. 

Heritage NL is following up with these findings with the Town of Harbour Main-Chapel’s Cove-Lakeview Heritage Committee. We'll post more info as the story unfolds. The cannon is an archaeological object as defined under the Historic Resources Act, and so the Province has title to it as per section 11 of the Act. 

UPDATE: 1 December 2020

Our preliminary report on the Harbour Main cannon site is now up online! We've tentatively dated the cannon to the early 1760s. Read more at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yux28qVivjd37RlyUgM-O9DmTH2y3AaZHn31dmSso_Q/edit?usp=sharing

 

Living Heritage Podcast Ep195 Making Spruce Root Baskets

The weaving of traditional baskets using spruce roots is an Indigenous artform with a long and complex history. Renowned Mik'maq basket maker Anthony White, together with his son Danny, have been credited with reviving the tradition of Mi'kmaq spruce root basket weaving in Newfoundland. We look back at a 1981 recording of the Whites making baskets, and then features interviews with educator Eileen Murphy about the legacy of Mr. White, and with Jane Daly and her memories of her step-father, the west-coast basket maker Edward Young. 

Photo: A  round spruce root basket with diamond wrapped ears made by Anthony White of Bay St. George. Constructed c1960. Photo by Nicole Penney, 2012. 

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Do you have family roots in Salvage, Newfoundland? Help us map out traditional family neighbourhoods!

Maryssa in the Heritage NL ICH office has been working on some of the map information that came out of our recent Salvage workshop, and based on what we collected, she's drawn up the attached map, indicating which neighbourhoods families lived in, during the pre-Confederation period. 

This is a very rough draft of the map. What are your thoughts? Are there names missing, misspelled or in the wrong place? Are the neighbourhood breakdowns accurate, or should they be changed? 

Let us know! We'll take all your suggestions and make a more accurate version 2! Comment here, or email research@heritagenl.ca

Quick Reads in NL Vernacular Architecture: What is a Side Span?

The sheer weight of curing fish could cause the outer walls of a fish stage to bulge outwards, or even collapse over time. This necessitated an architectural innovation called a side span. A side span is similar in function to a buttress on a stone building and consisted of a wooden exterior brace on the side of a stage. Regarding the stages of Tilting, Fogo Island, folklorist Gerald Pocius writes,

According to Dan Greene, many stages in the past had a "side span" for support. This brace kept the side of the stage from breaking out when a large amount of salted fish was stored inside. These were essentially timbers that spanned out past the normal plane of the flooring, and braced diagonally on the wallplate to counteract any pressure. According to Dan, the typical sixty foot stage had three of these spans on each side. 

Above is a Tilting example, showing the side span on the Michael Greene Stage (photo credit: Heritage NL). 

For more on side spans, read the full article in our November 2020 "Heritage Update" newsletter. 

 

Researching the Burgess Registered Heritage Property, Whiteway

 

The Burgess Property in Whiteway, Trinity Bay, is a registered heritage property which has been passed down through 6 generations of the Burgess family. The property consists of 6 buildings each with buildings used their own distinct purpose. The diversity of the buildings used by the Burgess family speak to the diversified functions of outport life throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and the different sources of income families accessed to make a living.

The Burgess family history certainly reflects a diversity of trades undertaken on the property. While many of the Burgess men were listed simply as fishermen in early censuses, there is strong evidence suggesting that Charles Burgess initially came over to Whiteway as a sailmaker, and later evidence suggests that the family was involved in shipbuilding at a nearby dockyard in addition to fishing and logging. Notably, the women of the Burgess family also played important and diverse economic roles in the family. Naomi Burgess, for example, was an active midwife and Jane Mave Burgess participated in the Labrador fishery in the early 1900s, and continued to impress young boys with her cod-splitting skills well into her '70s.

Research into the Burgess Property is currently being conducted by HeritageNL as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Project, and is currently seeking community and family participants to share stories and memories about the Burgess Property in Whiteway. 

Elizabeth Burgess carrying water from Jimmy Rowe’s Pond, courtesy Burgess family.

If you have a memory of the Burgess family or property, comment below or email research@heritagenl.ca

Whiteway - What's in a name?

"Whiteway resident nibbles at his lunch." - Decks Awash photo collection

 

If you try searching for the early history of the town of Whiteway, in South Trinity Bay on the Baccalieu Trail, you might be hard-pressed to find anything prior to the 20th century about the town. Instead, you’re more likely to come across information on Witless Bay, or a great deal of information on Sir William Vallance Whiteway (1828-1908) who was a member of Parliament for Trinity and Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1873 to 1885, and again from 1889 to 1894. 

This is because prior to the turn of the century Whiteway was actually known as Witless Bay, Trinity Bay - and prior to that, it was known as Witler’s Bay. How and when exactly Witler’s Bay turned into Witless Bay isn’t clear, but in saying the words aloud its easy to see they sound very similar, so it isn’t hard to see how they eventually got mixed up. 

Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections (Coll - 026), Queen Elizabeth II Library,
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL.

By the early 1900s, confusion between Witless Bay, Trinity Bay, and the present-day Witless Bay just south of St.John’s became an issue. Whiteway was renamed after the former Prime Minister, the longstanding representative for Trinity Bay and a notable historic figure, around the time of his death in 1908.