In our last episode of Postcards from Newfoundland, we traveled from St. John’s to Merritt’s Harbour. This week, we resume with a ferry ride from the aptly-named community of Farewell to Fogo Island.
We found evidence of Fogo Island’s strong ties with fishing and the ocean everywhere—rustic fishing stages and colorful fishing sheds dot the shoreline. You can even find neglected lobster traps seemingly staged for the perfect photo.
There are many reasons to visit Fogo Island but the main draw for me was the Shorefast organization. As explained on their website, “Shorefast is a Canadian registered charity established in 2004 by Zita Cobb and two of her siblings, Alan and Anthony Cobb, from Fogo Island … Since the beginning, the charity’s goal has been to build economic and cultural resilience on Fogo Island, a 400 year-old outport fishing community critically impacted by the decline of the cod fishery and the related moratorium established in 1992. Today, Shorefast’s activities include a holistic set of initiatives and businesses based on Fogo Island that hold relevance to community economic development. Its practices are aimed at unleashing the power of place and building new models of place-based economic development.”
Fogo Island Inn, an exclusive, high-end inn, is the economic engine that enables Shorefast’s full portfolio of initiatives. As described on their website “A stimulating relief from the numbing uniformity of modern times, the award-winning Inn is built on the principles of sustainability and respect for nature and culture. The Inn is a community asset, and 100% of operating surpluses are reinvested into the community to help secure a sustainable and resilient future for Fogo Island.”
We visited three of Shorefast’s initiatives including The Storehouse restaurant, Growlers Ice Cream shop and Punt Premises. I was impressed to learn from The Storehouse menu that it is “a non-tipping restaurant … Our team members are paid a higher hourly wage and participate in a bonus program.” Hats off to The Storehouse for ensuring their service staff are paid a fair and consistent income instead of expecting them to bear the uncertainty of the standard tipping model.
The Punt Premises, as we learned from Manager Katherine Deborah Hann, showcase punts (small, flat-bottomed boats) and the skills required to make them. Special thanks to Katherine for the warm welcome and enthusiastic explanations!
“The premises is a set of restored heritage buildings that serves as an interactive cultural interpretation center that encourages visitor interaction with the historical and cultural assets of the inshore fishery. Consisting of restored heritage buildings, the site serves as a community gathering space, boatbuilding education centre and offers punts for people to row in the harbour.” says Wikipedia.
We also visited a few artists in their studios and galleries including one of my favorites—Adam Young. It was such a pleasure to meet the artist and view his joyful work in person. As noted on the jacket of The Art of Adam Young book, “Highlighting the last ten years of Adam Young’s artistic work in Newfoundland and Labrador, this book features over 100 paintings and sketches based on the artist’s representation and vision of the Atlantic coast. Inspiration for Young’s work comes from the stark beauty of the landscape and architecture and the warmth of the people who live here.” Shown below are his works Spring Colors #3 (cover), Fences (left page) and Fish Plant (right page).
After our intriguing visit to Fogo Island, we headed over to Newfoundland’s west coast to visit Gros Morne National Park. Several people told me Gros Morne was not to be missed and they were right! We stayed in Rocky Harbour where we were surrounded by spectacular views.
Trails from nearby Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse lead you through a tuckamore forest to the Yellow Rocks coastal environment.
Western Brook Pond, a must-see in Gros Morne, is best viewed from a water tour boat. The glacier-carved inlet is surrounded by majestic mountains sprinkled with splendid waterfalls.
We also visited the Tablelands where you can walk on rocks that were once part of the Earth’s mantle. As explained by Parks Canada, “Half a billion years in the making – formed deep in the middle layer of the Earth, … [is] the mantle. It was thrust up as ancient continents collided, building the Appalachian Mountain chain and assembling a supercontinent called Pangea!
More than 400 million years of those towering mountains eroding were needed to reveal what we see today: a surreal barren, orange landscape — the Earth’s inner soul: the mantle – exposed to you the way few have seen it.”
A pair of Parks Canada red chairs were perfectly placed for visitors to relax while enjoying the view. The iconic red Adirondack chairs can be found in special spots throughout Canada’s National Parks and National Historic Sites. You may recall me raving about these red chairs in the previous blog post, Best Seat in the Park.
We spotted quite a few Parks Canada red chairs during our Newfoundland road trip including this set at Cape Spear on our first day. Ironically, the view from these chairs was shrouded in fog. But if you look carefully, you should be able to see the Cape Spear lighthouse, off in the distance, between the two chairs.
This is the second mini-blog post in a short series about my recent trip to Newfoundland, Canada:
. Postcards from Newfoundland #1
. Postcards from Newfoundland #2 (this post).
Until next week,
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