Monday, November 19, 2012
From cemeteries to Deadman's Cove - November's ICH Update
In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage update for Newfoundland and Labrador: we announce a half-day workshop on the art, archaeology, history and heritage of cemeteries; Dan Rubin brings us a report from the Pouch Cove Heritage Day; Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) board member Doug Wells recounts the history of Deadman's Cove, Harbour Breton; and HFNL's Lisa Wilson updates us on her work in the proposed Heart's Content Heritage District.
Contributors: Dale Jarvis, Dan Rubin, Doug Wells, Lisa Wilson
Download the newsletter in pdf
Friday, November 16, 2012
A Cable Staff House in Heart's Content
This past Thursday I had the chance to visit with Ed and Minnie--long-time residents of Heart's Content. They reside in a historic home in the heritage district where they have lived since 1968. They purchased this two storey Anglo-American style home to have more space for their family. It was in this same year that the cable company began shutting down its operation and the employees started leaving the community. Ed and Minnie have been the only owners of this house that have not been affiliated with Western Union. The house was originally built in 1882 as a staff house for company workers and previous to Ed and Minnie's ownership, it was the company superintendent who resided here. Ed and Minnie have kept many of its original features, such as the mantels for the two fireplaces, and the wooden banister that takes you to the spacious second level. The ceilings also have lovely moldings that are only ever in historic homes. Ed showed me other houses around town that once resembled their home, but have seen drastic alterations, such as the top story being removed. Indeed it is a community that has seen a great deal of change over the years, which is something that Ed and Minnie both talked about with me.
On a tour of the house, Ed showed me a very old icebox that he found in the shed out back when they moved in. He explained that these types of boxes were used to keep food cold before there was refrigeration. While restoring and adapting it to make this china cabinet, he found that the heavy wooden doors were insulated with horse hair. This piece was made in New York and brought to Newfoundland. Minnie mentioned that it is Ed's favorite piece of furniture in the house.
Ed and Minnie were wonderful people to visit--they both had many thoughts and memories to share. I learned about some of the buildings in the district, what community life was like in the past compared to now, and what they believe the community will be like in the future. The information they provided will be of great importance when we do some district mapping to highlight what makes this place unique. As they age, the house is getting to be a lot of work to maintain. They suspect that they will eventually have to move on, a reality for so many older people living in rural Newfoundland. We all hope that this heritage building continues to be cared for as the future unfolds.
-Lisa
Ed and Minnie in their lovely home. |
Ed and Minnie's place in Heart's Content--an Anglo-American style house built 1882, with a large beech tree in the front yard. |
On a tour of the house, Ed showed me a very old icebox that he found in the shed out back when they moved in. He explained that these types of boxes were used to keep food cold before there was refrigeration. While restoring and adapting it to make this china cabinet, he found that the heavy wooden doors were insulated with horse hair. This piece was made in New York and brought to Newfoundland. Minnie mentioned that it is Ed's favorite piece of furniture in the house.
Ed shows me his refurbished icebox. Note the thick, insulating door where the horse hair is. |
Another shot of Ed during our oral history interview (along with Minnie's hand as she views a map of Heart's Content.) |
-Lisa
Diamonds are for weavers
A few weeks ago the ICH office, in partnership with MUN's Folklore 6740 class, put off a craft workshop called Weaving in the Woods. Participants had the opportunity to make their own pillow top, an item traditionally made by men in the lumber camps to gift to wives or girlfriends, and mothers. Since the workshop I have been contacted by people who wish to share their pillow top memories and pictures.
Loretta Weeks got in touch and shared some pictures of her pillow top, which she also knew as a cushion cover. Her father, John Weeks, of Broad Cove (now Duntara) made the pillow top while working for the American army.
Weeks notes, "my father worked on the pillow top in Fort Chimo in northern Quebec, this was when Fort Chimo was just a small settlement. He was working on communications towers for the American army. I was told that he finished the top when he came home for a break in the winter."
According to Weeks' description, the pillow top was mostly likely made between 1941 and 1945, when Fort Chimo (now Kuujjuaq) was used by the American military as an air force base.
This was not a common craft in Duntatra and the only pillow tops Weeks knows of are the few her father made. But her father was a very creative man and tried his hand at many activities such as furniture making, boat building, upholstery and carpentry (he built his own home in Duntara). He also made wheelbarrows and truckleys.
"Dad could also knit and no woman could darn a vamp like him! He could upholster anything and could sew covers for the old daybeds and chesterfields better than anyone could ever buy."
Weeks' father loved diamond patterns, "there are diamonds on the front door lintel and frame on our house in Duntara. I have a table back home with a marquetry top that has inlaid diamond patterns on it and there is also a wooden box he made with diamonds inlaid in the design."
Weeks' father passed away May 2, 2011 after a brief illness, at the age of 88. Today Weeks holds on to her father's pillow top, with its unique diamond pattern, as a reminder of him and his handiwork.
"He was quite the character in a quiet, soft-spoken way. This pillow top is the only one we have from him adventures of working away all those years."
Loretta Weeks got in touch and shared some pictures of her pillow top, which she also knew as a cushion cover. Her father, John Weeks, of Broad Cove (now Duntara) made the pillow top while working for the American army.
Weeks notes, "my father worked on the pillow top in Fort Chimo in northern Quebec, this was when Fort Chimo was just a small settlement. He was working on communications towers for the American army. I was told that he finished the top when he came home for a break in the winter."
This was not a common craft in Duntatra and the only pillow tops Weeks knows of are the few her father made. But her father was a very creative man and tried his hand at many activities such as furniture making, boat building, upholstery and carpentry (he built his own home in Duntara). He also made wheelbarrows and truckleys.
"Dad could also knit and no woman could darn a vamp like him! He could upholster anything and could sew covers for the old daybeds and chesterfields better than anyone could ever buy."
Weeks' father loved diamond patterns, "there are diamonds on the front door lintel and frame on our house in Duntara. I have a table back home with a marquetry top that has inlaid diamond patterns on it and there is also a wooden box he made with diamonds inlaid in the design."
Weeks' father passed away May 2, 2011 after a brief illness, at the age of 88. Today Weeks holds on to her father's pillow top, with its unique diamond pattern, as a reminder of him and his handiwork.
"He was quite the character in a quiet, soft-spoken way. This pillow top is the only one we have from him adventures of working away all those years."
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Memories of Lych Gates in Newfoundland - gateways for the dead
This undated photograph shows an unidentified woman standing in front of the lych gate, the entranceway to the grounds of the Alexander Chapel of All Souls, located on Coster Street in Bonavista.
The elaborately beamed lych gate is a feature typical of Anglican churchyards. Traditionally, it was the sheltered point at which the coffin was set down at a funeral to await the clergyman's arrival. In some instances, a portion of the burial service was performed while the coffin rested inside the gate. A common feature in English churchyards, the concept of the lych gate was transplanted to North America. "Lych" is a form of the Anglo-Saxon word "līc" meaning body or corpse.
Once common, the only surviving Newfoundland example I know of is in Bonavista. The original lych gate was constructed circa 1899 and was financed by the Church of England Women's Association of Bonavista (1).
One S. Rees of Bonavista, in a letter dated Dec. 7, 1893 to the St. John's Evening Telegram, noted,
Dear Sir, - on Monday the 4th inst., there was no small stir here among the members of the C.E. Sewing Class, and one would naturally ask the cause. But a poster would apprise of the fact that a “sale of work,” under the auspices of the above ladies, was about about to take place; its object, to provide funds to provide a lych gate for the new cemetery. At about 6.40 p.m. the doors were open to purchasers, and when I arrived a few minutes later - considering inclemency of weather - quite A Crowd Had Gathered.
According to the author, the amount raised, $76, "was far above expectation" (2).
The Anglican Cemetery on Forest Road in St. John's also had a lych gate, which was torn down at some point in the second half of the 20th century. It is shown on aerial photographs from 1961, but was removed afterwards. According to HNFL Executive Director George Chalker, it was removed possibly to allow motorized hearses access to the cemetery.
If you have memories, or photographs, of lych gates in Newfoundland, I'd love to hear from you. You can call me at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca
- Dale Jarvis
The Anglican Cemetery on Forest Road in St. John's also had a lych gate, which was torn down at some point in the second half of the 20th century. It is shown on aerial photographs from 1961, but was removed afterwards. According to HNFL Executive Director George Chalker, it was removed possibly to allow motorized hearses access to the cemetery.
If you have memories, or photographs, of lych gates in Newfoundland, I'd love to hear from you. You can call me at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca
- Dale Jarvis
(1) Simms, Gavin. "Gateway to yesterday: Anglican Chapel recreates long lost entranceway." The Packet, November 20, 2008.
(2) Rees, S. "Pleasant Social Event At Bonavista. Sale of Work by the Church of England Sewing Class - Object: a Lych Gate for the New Cemetery." Evening Telegram (St. John’s, NL) 1893-12-16
UPDATE - 17 March 2014:
You can read or download the final version of this research at Lych Gates in Newfoundland
(2) Rees, S. "Pleasant Social Event At Bonavista. Sale of Work by the Church of England Sewing Class - Object: a Lych Gate for the New Cemetery." Evening Telegram (St. John’s, NL) 1893-12-16
UPDATE - 17 March 2014:
You can read or download the final version of this research at Lych Gates in Newfoundland
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Art, Archaeology, History and Heritage of Graveyards
1pm - 5pm
Johnson Geo Centre Celestial Gallery
175 Signal Hill Road, St. John’s
Cemeteries throughout Newfoundland and Labrador are revered as special, sacred places.They occupy both emotional and physical space in our communities. Cemeteries are also expressions of our spiritual beliefs and cultural values, as well as rich repositories of genealogical and community history. This half-day workshop offered by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador looks at the history, folklore and conservation of historic graveyards in the province, and will give opportunities for participants to ask questions of the experts.
Moderator: Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer, Heritage Foundation of NL
Art and Archaeology Session
Gerald Pocius, MUN Folklore - Reading Newfoundland Gravestones
Martha Drake, Provincial Archaeology - Archaeology and the Portugal Cove Cemetery
Melanie Tucker, The Rooms Archive - Stone Pics Database
Conservation and Heritage Session
Andrea O’Brien, Heritage Foundation of NL - Cemeteries and Municipal Heritage Designation
Lisa Wilson, Heritage Foundation of NL - Port Royal Restoration Project
Annie McEwen, Folklorist - Headstone Rubbings and Maker’s Marks
Cost to participants:
$40.00 for the day, includes break
To register, contact Lisa at:
1-888-739-1892 ext 3
lisa@heritagefoundation.ca
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Making Memory Maps
On Saturday November 10th, the ICH team at the Heritage Foundation put on a Memory Map Workshop facilitated by visual artist Marlene Creates. We had a good turnout with around 20 participants ranging from Memorial University students and faculty to community organization representatives and other people who have an interest in mapping projects.
Marlene first talked about some of her previous mapping work, including an excursion to Labrador to make memory maps with elders, as well as projects which involved asking community members to give awards to special places in their towns. After setting a foundation for how memory maps are made and how they can be useful tools in learning more about a community, she asked the participants to make a map of their own. We all sat down with paper, pencils and pencil crayons to draw a map from memory of a place that we feel closely connected to. One of Marlene's techniques that I found quite useful is to put tracing paper over a foundation map in order to create layers with specific themes. For example, on tracing paper above my memory map, I indicated where all of the vanished buildings once stood in my Mother's hometown. Other layers that I could have chosen to add include green spaces/trees, waterways and footpaths. Doing such layers asks the map maker to think about the space and visualize what it looks like (or looked like in the past) and how it makes use of space. My map, along with all the others made on that day, became a celebration of our special places, both past and present, from very personal perspectives.
http://www.marlenecreates.ca/ .
-Lisa
Marlene first talked about some of her previous mapping work, including an excursion to Labrador to make memory maps with elders, as well as projects which involved asking community members to give awards to special places in their towns. After setting a foundation for how memory maps are made and how they can be useful tools in learning more about a community, she asked the participants to make a map of their own. We all sat down with paper, pencils and pencil crayons to draw a map from memory of a place that we feel closely connected to. One of Marlene's techniques that I found quite useful is to put tracing paper over a foundation map in order to create layers with specific themes. For example, on tracing paper above my memory map, I indicated where all of the vanished buildings once stood in my Mother's hometown. Other layers that I could have chosen to add include green spaces/trees, waterways and footpaths. Doing such layers asks the map maker to think about the space and visualize what it looks like (or looked like in the past) and how it makes use of space. My map, along with all the others made on that day, became a celebration of our special places, both past and present, from very personal perspectives.
Marlene Creates giving a talk on making memory maps. |
Workshop participant working on the foundational layer of her memory map. |
Workshop participants working on their personal memory maps. |
-Lisa
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Mizzen Heritage Society Visit, Heart's Content
Yesterday I traveled to Heart's Content to spend some time with members of the town's Mizzen Heritage Society. This group of individuals have a vested interested in the heritage structures within their community. With their help, the Heart's Content Town Council has submitted an application to the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador to have an officially designated heritage district in their community. In the proposed district there are 18 buildings of historic interest, many of which are connected to the cable companies that once operated in Heart's Content. The Mizzen men discussed the proposal with me, and offered some historic background on some of the heritage buildings the are within the district. Over the next few months I will be making many trips to Heart's Content to visit not only the Mizzen Heritage group, but members of the town council and greater community too. Ultimately, I hope to figure out how I can help the Heart's Content heritage district be as successful as possible, as both a provincial point of interest as well as a tool for local community-building initiatives.
Here are John, Bob, and Claude (L to R) of the Mizzen Heritage Society standing in the town hall conference room. They told me all about what they do as a society, what some of their successful campaigns have been, and what some of their future plans are. They also gave me a sneak peek inside of some of the heritage buildings within the district (see below). I look forward to collaborating with them in the coming months.
The above photograph shows the interior of the Methodist School House (c.1919) in Heart's Content. It is now owned by the Mizzen Heritage Society who have converted it into a community museum. The amazing tiled floor is likely from when it was used by the Masonic Order from the 1940s-1960s.
This model, on display in the community museum, depicts the historic Anglican Church that once stood in Heart's Content. Sadly this building was lost in a fire in the mid-1980s-- a tragic event that has not been forgotten. While the town still misses this beautiful structure, community members have found ways to celebrate it and keep it in the collective memory.
On my next Heart's Content excursion I hope to speak with some of the owners of heritage buildings within the district -- stay tuned!
-Lisa
Here are John, Bob, and Claude (L to R) of the Mizzen Heritage Society standing in the town hall conference room. They told me all about what they do as a society, what some of their successful campaigns have been, and what some of their future plans are. They also gave me a sneak peek inside of some of the heritage buildings within the district (see below). I look forward to collaborating with them in the coming months.
The above photograph shows the interior of the Methodist School House (c.1919) in Heart's Content. It is now owned by the Mizzen Heritage Society who have converted it into a community museum. The amazing tiled floor is likely from when it was used by the Masonic Order from the 1940s-1960s.
This model, on display in the community museum, depicts the historic Anglican Church that once stood in Heart's Content. Sadly this building was lost in a fire in the mid-1980s-- a tragic event that has not been forgotten. While the town still misses this beautiful structure, community members have found ways to celebrate it and keep it in the collective memory.
On my next Heart's Content excursion I hope to speak with some of the owners of heritage buildings within the district -- stay tuned!
-Lisa
Monday, November 5, 2012
Weaving in the Woods
This past Saturday the ICH office, in partnership Memorial University's Folklore 6740 graduate class, put off a pillow top making workshop.
Pillow tops are woven with wool on wooden frames and were traditionally crafted by Newfoundland lumber camp workers to be gifted to their wives, girlfriends or mothers. They are sewn onto pillows, used as throws, pot holders or place mats.
Today this handcrafted tradition is being carried on by Elizabeth Murphy of the Burin Peninsula. She grew up in a house where crafting pillow tops was a winter pastime and learned to make them from her parents in the early 1960s. This is a skill which she has gone on to teach for several years and we were fortunate to have her lead this workshop. The event was a great success and everyone who participated walked away with a lovely pillow top and the skills they require to continue this traditional Newfoundland craft.
If you have any pillow top memories please contact Nicole Penney with the ICH office. We are actively collecting information about this interesting Newfoundland craft. Nicole can be reached at (709) 739-1892 ex. 6 or via email at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca.
Photographs courtesy of: Christina Robarts
Pillow tops are woven with wool on wooden frames and were traditionally crafted by Newfoundland lumber camp workers to be gifted to their wives, girlfriends or mothers. They are sewn onto pillows, used as throws, pot holders or place mats.
Today this handcrafted tradition is being carried on by Elizabeth Murphy of the Burin Peninsula. She grew up in a house where crafting pillow tops was a winter pastime and learned to make them from her parents in the early 1960s. This is a skill which she has gone on to teach for several years and we were fortunate to have her lead this workshop. The event was a great success and everyone who participated walked away with a lovely pillow top and the skills they require to continue this traditional Newfoundland craft.
The beginning step of making a pillow top is layering the wool on the wooden frame. |
Raelene Thomas |
Jillian Gould teaches Folklore 6740 and partnered with the ICH office on this project |
Elizabeth Murphy instructing Jenny Taroff, a student in the Folklore 6740 class |
Caitlin Bethune of the Folklore 6740 class (blue hat/shirt) works alongside a workshop participant |
After layering the wool the next step is to tie off the back. We were shown by Murphy how to use fish net twine and a twine needle for this step. |
Raymond Russell, who made a pillow top while working in the lumber camps in 1958, helps his daughter, Arlene Penney, with her pillow top. |
Murphy (back) looks over some of the workshop participants as they weave their pillow tops. |
Dale Jarvis and Nicole Penney, of the ICH office, cut their pillow tops to form the pom poms |
Shamus MacDonald, of the Folklore 6740 class, tries his hand at cutting wool. |
The very last step is to steam the wool in order to fluff up the pom poms |
A close up on the pom poms |
Two of our participants showing off their finished pillow tops. |
If you have any pillow top memories please contact Nicole Penney with the ICH office. We are actively collecting information about this interesting Newfoundland craft. Nicole can be reached at (709) 739-1892 ex. 6 or via email at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca.
Photographs courtesy of: Christina Robarts
Making Memory Maps Workshop with Marlene Creates
Memory maps are subjective drawings based on personal experience in, and perception of, a specific lived place. This is a device Marlene Creates has used in her teaching and in her own artwork for over 30 years. Drawing memory maps can help you remember, record, interpret, investigate, and communicate both present and lost attributes of local places and everyday life –– ones not normally registered in the larger historical record. This is an excellent device to stimulate conversation for anyone doing oral history research.
Marlene will show examples from her own works based on memory maps that were drawn for her by elders in various areas of the province: Inuit and Settlers in Nain and Hopedale, Mushuau Innu in Davis Inlet, and her own elderly relatives in Lewisporte and Joe Batt’s Arm, as well as from some of the multi-disciplinary place-based projects she has done with other adults and over 2,000 schoolchildren in the province.
About the instructor
Marlene Creates is an environmental artist and poet who lives in Portugal Cove. She was born in Montreal and in 1985 she moved to Newfoundland, the home of her maternal ancestors who were from Lewisporte and Fogo Island. Her artwork, spanning more than three decades, has been an exploration of the relationship between human experience, memory, language and the land, and the impact they have on each other. Since the 1970s her work has been exhibited in over 300 solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally. She has been a guest lecturer at over 150 institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Glasgow School of Art, the University of Oxford, the University of Kent at Canterbury, the University of Hartford, and many Canadian universities. This year, she was a plenary speaker at Space + Memory = Place, the biennial conference of the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada.
Workshop Details
Saturday, 10 November 2012, 1pm-4pm
MMAP Gallery (Old Art Gallery Space)
Arts and Culture Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Workshop fee: $20
Pre-registration required.
Contact Nicole at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca or call 709-739-1892 ext 6
Materials list for the participants to bring:
- plain HB pencil
- colour pencils
- white art eraser
- glue stick
image credit: Memory map of Freake land in Joe Batt's Arm drawn by Bert Freake for Marlene Creates, 1989; excerpt from where my great-grandmother was born, in the series Places of Presence: Newfoundland kin and ancestral land, 1989-1991.
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