Melancholy
We have one last place we really want to visit before leaving the Bonavista Peninsula so once again we are grateful for the use of Bob’s car. Elliston is just ten minutes away and holds many points of interest including the Puffin Viewing Site and Sealers Memorial and Interpretation Centre. It is also known as the Root Cellar Capital of the World.
Zephyr’s engine wakes us before 7:00 so we are up and preparing for our day. Don’s wife arrived last night so they are taking advantage of this weekend’s food fishery and going out for cod. (Fingers crossed we have fresh cod for supper, too)
I sort the last of the laundry and start that chore early. The campers do not have access to the laundry on weekends so I have the facilities to myself.
First stop for today’s little road trip is the barber for Harald.
First of about ten root cellars we see but records show there are 130 in the small town. This traditional form of food storage was used mainly for carrots, potatoes and turnip. Cut into small hills, the natural humidity keeps things cool in summer and prevents freezing in the winter. Apparently half of these are still being used today.
The Sealer’s Memorial honours the crews of the SS Newfoundland and the SS Southern Cross. Two hundred and fifty-four sealers died in March 1914 when poor communications left the sealers to freeze, stranded on the ice. The Southern Cross sank in the same storm.
In 2014, to mark 100 years since the Great Sealing Disaster, this bronze statue was unveiled, “depicting the huddled figures of Reuben and Albert John Crewe, a father and son who froze to death in a grim embrace.” (CBC News) The men were poorly clothed, to today’s standards and carried only their gaff hooks. Men were eager to join the sealing expeditions as this supported their winter livelihood before they could fish again in the spring.
We found the scene inspiring - this is a real story and a large part of Newfoundland’s history. We recall 1914 is also the year many of Newfoundland’s small communities lost their men to war.
The “Home From the Sea” memorial site also includes a rock slab about eight feet high by ten feet wide. The names of all 254 sealers and sailors lost that day are engraved, covering both sides of the stone.
The John C Crosbie Sealers Interpretation Centre is just a short drive away. It is a quiet place. There is a short video playing and other than that, the only sound is the foot steps of the two other people walking the self-guided tour ahead of us.
“Where the sea gives, where the sea takes away”. The centre is a memorial to those lost in the greatest sealing tragedy in Newfoundland’s history but also brings home the “enormity of the risks faced by people who look to the sea for their livelihood.”
We are again reminded of the missing seven fishermen from New-Wes-Valley - the search continues as their families begin to lose hope.
Photo courtesy of The Rooms, Provincial Archives.
Our tour leaves us in the quiet of the Elliot Art Gallery where we can linger and ponder the scenes before us, for as long as we wish.
It is recommended we lunch at Nanny’s Root Cellar Kitchen. This is the converted Orange Hall where the bodies of the sealers were brought after recovery from the storm. A somber place for lunch but seems fitting to end our tour of Elliston.
The puffins took a backseat today, but we still made the short walk to the point for another look.
Back at the wharf Don presents us with a bag of filleted cod which Harald barbecues for our late supper. We must leave tomorrow when the weather and wind are preferable for our journey back west.
The Bonavista Peninsula has indeed been a destination that exceeded our expectations. There is still more we have not seen, trails not walked, historic sites not visited - we will have to return another time.