The Memory Store: The root cellar - that is built heritage...

The video for this week's the Memory Store was filmed in Elliston, NL inside one of the many root cellars found in the community. In this clip Don Johnson with Tourism Elliston describes different types of root cellars and how cellars are a form of green energy which keeps vegetables fresh without refrigeration.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Click here for more information about the root cellar's history and architecture.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

~Terra Barrett



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#NLHeritage Road Trip

Heart's Content Graveyard

My name is Terra Barrett and I have worked with the Heritage Foundation for the last two summers. I am back again working with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office on a new project called Collective Memories. Stay tuned for more information about this project in the coming weeks as I will be updated the blog with updates about the work of the ICH Office over the summer.

Dale, Andrea, and Michael in the graveyard

This past weekend Dale Jarvis, Andrea O’Brien, Michael Philpott, and I headed out of St. John’s for a heritage road trip with stops in Heart’s Content and New Perlican. Our first stop on Friday afternoon was the Heart’s Content graveyard where the community is looking to do some work. We had a look at the graves and the state of the grounds and discussed the possibilities of a clean up or workshop in the graveyard. After reviewing the graveyard we had a supper of hot turkey sandwiches, fish, chips, and milkshakes at Legge’s and headed on to New Perlican.

Community members at the People, Places, and Traditions workshop.

Important places in the community.

Mapping their heritage.

New Perlican’s heritage committee asked the Heritage Foundation to come out and help the committee prioritize their community heritage to do list. On Friday evening we hosted a People, Places, and Traditions workshop in order to get the people of the community thinking about the assets in their community. We had three tables set up with large maps of New Perlican and had each table focus on either the people, places, or tradition in the community.

People in the community.

Important traditions.

Reviewing the maps.

Everyone contributed ideas and wrote out their descriptions on recipe card which were then placed on the large maps. In the end we ended up with three community maps one with the important people in the community such as past lighthouse keepers and bread bakers, one with places like the sitting rock and local swimming holes, and one with traditional nicknames in the community and the tradition of using goats to haul wood from the woods. We placed these maps around the room and had a discussion of what had been identified.

Brainstorming.

Prioritizing.

Saturday we were back in New Perlican for a prioritizing session with the community's heritage committee. We whittled their wish list from twenty odd items to three major project to focus on over the next few years. After lunch we walked through the harbour in order to see where most of their work was focused. It was a productive weekend and I am looking forward to seeing where the committee takes their projects over the next few years.
~Terra

Walk to the New Perlican Harbour.

Do you want a People, Places, and Traditions Workshop in your community? Or want some advice on where to go next?  We’d love to help! Contact the Intangible Culture Heritage office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador for more ideas or assistance.

ich@heritagefoundation.ca

1-888-739-1892

~Terra Barrett

Living Heritage Podcast Ep041 The power of storytelling, with Dennis Flynn

Dennis is a freelance writer/photographer/storyteller and a native of Colliers, Conception Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2003, he received a National Writing Award of Excellence from the Canadian Community Newspapers Association. His photographs and articles have been featured in various museums, magazines, books, newspapers, websites, and other publications. Dennis enjoys gathering and sharing stories and images that celebrate Newfoundland and Labrador’s unique people, unusual places, and the particular insights, and local humour.

In this podcast we talk about giant squid, lobster raffles, connection to place, grandfathers, hunting the wren, writing, the Hindenburg,  Dennis's life-long love of tales, and the power that storytelling has for us all.

Recorded on 3 March 2016

photo courtesy Dennis Flynn (www.dennisflynn.ca)

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The Living Heritage Podcast 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.

Folklore Photo - Help identify this Spaniard's Bay landmark.

I got an email yesterday with the attached photo taken Saturday, 7 May 2016, asking if I knew anything about this structure. It is a cairn of stones near Spaniard's Bay, located on the ridge straight back from the Harbour Grace marina (does this make it more Harbour Grace South? or Bryant's Cove?)

I have a bit of a weak spot for cairns and marks, and have written a blog post about the American Man in Cupids, which can be found about a 20 minute drive from Spaniard's Bay.  This one seems a bit different, more square in shape than the round cairn of rocks that is the American Man.

So, Conception Bay people: if you know anything about this collection of stones, let me know. What is it called? Who built it? How old is it? What was it used for?

Comment below, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

photo courtesy Paul Brazil.

Get ready, New Perlican! A People, Places, and Traditions Workshop with Dale Jarvis

People, Places, and Traditions Workshop
This Friday, May 13th, residents of New Perlican 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 New Perlican. It will be a FREE and FUN community workshop, sponsored by Heritage New Perlican.

May 13th 7 p.m. Friday
Veteran’s Memorial Community Center
Town of New Perlican Boardroom

Living Heritage Podcast Ep040 A Brief History of Knitting in Canada

Shirley Scott, or “Shirl the Purl”, is a handknitter with a special love for history. A librarian by profession, Shirl wrote a book about the history of knitting in Canada called Canada Knits: Craft and Comfort in a Northern Land. Originally from New Brunswick, Shirl has made her home in Newfoundland for the past ten years. Why did she move here? A taste for penitential exile is one possible explanation. Her love of history, hand knitting, and North Atlantic culture is perhaps a better one. In Newfoundland she has found shared interests, deep friendships, and much food for the soul. Shirley talks about how she learned to knit, the history of knitting in Canada, her time researching for her book, and Newfoundland trigger mitts.

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The Living Heritage Podcast 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.

The Memory Store: The plans for the house were a wedding gift in the 1800s...

This week’s Memory Store video is filmed in Captain Blackmore’s Heritage Manor in Port Union, NL. Gary Blackmore, owner and operator of the manor, describes the building and architecture of the manor and the generations of Blackmore family who have lived there.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Living Heritage Podcast Ep039 Winston Fiander remembering life in Coomb’s Cove

Remembering life in Coomb’s Cove, with Winston Fiander
Living Heritage Podcast Episode 039

Winston Fiander was born in 1940 in Coomb's Cove, Fortune Bay. He attended Memorial University and graduated with a BA Ed in 1966. He has worked in New Brunswick as a training specialist and later held senior positions in human resource management. He returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1999 and has been engaged in various community development initiatives. Currently, Winston is a member of the Fisheries Communities Alliance of NL, the Board of Directors of the Church by the Sea Incorporated, and past-Chair of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Heritage Committee.

On this episode we talk about Winston’s boyhood growing up in Coomb’s Cove, his time spent on his father’s schooner, Peddler Joe, and what the community did on Sundays. 

Recorded on 2 March 2016

Photo: Taken by Craig Fiander, date unknown. Original caption reads,
"I don't remember when I took this photo, but it was quite sometime ago.
The smoke is coming from what's left of Tom Vallis old house."

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The Living Heritage Podcast 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.

Step Dance Project Event and Call for Dancers

SHOW YOUR STEPS:
A NL Step Dance Project Event and Call for Dancers

The NL Step Dance Project is proud to present two connected events on April 27th, 2016, a dance discussion and workshop for invited tradition bearers at The Crow’s Nest at 7PM, and a public session of dance and music held at Folk Night at The Ship at 9PM. In partnership with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, DanceNL, and the NL Folk Arts Society, the NL Step Dance Project is seeking to both highlight and come to a better understanding of this vital and less-practiced tradition of freeform, solo dancing in Newfoundland.

Who in your family pulls out the freestyle solo moves at kitchen parties, weddings, or community concerts? At the trad session on a Sunday afternoon? When the toe tapping music starts up, who’s light on their feet and stays close to the floor? Join us at The Crow’s Nest at 7PM April 27th for a meal, a step, and a story or two, all as part of a collaborative effort with dancers and communities to understand how this tradition is performed and passed on. We are not just looking for ‘professionals’ or trained dancers, but rather anyone who can feel the music in their feet – from those who just do a step or two from time to time, to those unstoppable older dancers still showing their steps with the help of a chair.

After the Crow’s Nest, we’ll all make our way down to The Ship Pub at 9PM for Folk Night. Open to the public, Folk Night on April 27th will be a traditional session with a twist, featuring Newfoundland music and lively step dance for only $5 at the door. All are welcome to get up and show a few steps as the music plays. With tunes from Allan Ricketts and other local musicians, this is an evening not to be missed! Presented as part of Dance Week 2016, in cooperation with DanceNL and the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society, this event will also feature a brief step dance lesson, for those members of the public who want to get a little closer to the floor themselves.

Anyone interested in sharing their “old­time” step moves and dance stories with the NL Step Dance Project on the 27th will receive an honorarium and travel expenses for their involvement. Get in touch with us for more information. We are looking for dancers from St. John’s and beyond, and would love to hear from people off the Avalon. If you can’t make the April event but want to share your steps and stories, we would love to hear from you anyway.

The NL Step Dance Project is lead by Kristin Harris Walsh (step dancer/researcher) in partnership with Dale Jarvis at the Intangible Cultural Heritage office. This project is funded by the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and is part of a larger project documenting and comparing the dance histories of three step dance forms from Ontario, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland.

For more information on the events or participating as a tradition-bearer:
Call: (709) 765­0468 (Jane Rutherford)

Email: nlstepdanceproject@gmail.com
Visit or message: www.facebook.com/NLstepdanceproject

Photo: Heritage Corner, GFW Advertiser