TINY TOWNS.
Day 112 – The low last night was 52 degrees. This morning it was cloudy and windy. Although it’s not supposed to rain today, it’s not supposed to be sunny either; but we are going on another drive because most of the rest of the week, it’s supposed to rain all day almost every day.
Today we took every road, paved or not, off Route 414 (the road that ends at La Scie where we are camping). We started at the village closest to La Scie. It had a very nicely paved road – oh happy day. At the end of that road was the tiny village, Shoe Cove. The road went downhill to the end at the very small harbor.
We have a story to tell: We got out of the Honda to take pictures. It was very windy and the sea was kicking up a bit. Several small fishing boats had come into the harbor to be pulled out of the rough water. The harbor was so small and the area leading to the boat ramp was so narrow that it was taking two or more people to pull in each boat. It was pretty hazardous. A young man came down to the harbor, not dressed like a fisherman, and he helped pull a boat in while we were standing there. When that boat was safely on land, two more boats were lined up to come in, and more fishermen had come to the wharf to help. The non-fisherman came over to us and said, “You are from New York, eh? I saw your plates. Far from home, eh?” We chatted with him a little, then he told us that he was born and raised in the village of Shoe Cove. That his parents still lived there, and he had to leave to find work and moved to Ontario, but he came back to see his parents and Shoe Cove every summer for a visit. We said, “You must see lots of changes here since you were growing up.” And he said, “Oh yes, every year he sees changes.” I immediately thought he meant that more and more people were moving in and the village was changing due to that growth. I said as much, and he said that, “No, people were leaving, the population was shrinking.” Why were they leaving, we asked; and he said that the only work here is fishing and people like his family did well originally. But now with the government quotas on the number of fish that can be caught, and when you are allowed to fish, the families aren’t able to earn enough money. He said his dad is 72 years old now and has retired, and he motioned around him and said, “But these fishermen here may have to find other work somewhere else, or retire if they can. And their children are all leaving to get work elsewhere.” He said, “He believes that within 30 years the town will be abandoned.”
Feeling a bit sad, we continued our drive to the next tiny village. And this one was really tiny, basically abandoned already. Tilt Cove was at the end of a dirt road. A formerly thriving gold mining town, the current year-round population is 4 – two families. Several other homes/cottages are also in Tilt Cove and are used for summer or vacation homes. The tiny town had a group of homes that were in various stages of disrepair that appeared to be what was left of the main section of the town. Even the old playground was falling apart. The area itself was very lovely with a little circular lake or pond that had formed from a stream that fed into the sea. The former mining area was right by the village.
We returned to Route 414 and continued heading west. A beautiful young Moose crossed the highway in front of us and stayed by the side of the road long enough for us to get a good picture. Awesome!
We turned off on the next road which took us first to Harbour Round, then to Brent’s Cove. Both villages were pretty and nestled around separate coves.
Next was the very bumpy dirt road to Snooks Arm and Round Harbour. The road did not get better when we got to Snooks Arm, in fact it got worse. We could tell it was once a thriving town, but now it was on the way to abandonment. Obviously, the road from the 414 to both villages was no longer being maintained in any way. We could BARELY get into the village. It was at a great cove, but the wharf and the Harbour Authority Building were closed. We think the closing of the village was currently ongoing because it looked like a few people were still living there. Sad.
The other village off this bumpy dirt road was Round Harbour. We started down this side road but couldn’t get very far. This village had already gone by the wayside. At the entrance to the road was a sled in the bushes by a wood pile. This is a perfect example of what you see all over Newfoundland. Even in the summer, there are piles of wood by the side of the roads, usually numbered as to who the owner is, and often you will find a trailer or a sled (or both) for the hauling of the cut wood back to the home for the winter.
Back on Route 414 continuing to head west, our next side road led us to Nipper’s Harbour, a village that seemed to be doing well. About 2/3 of this road was gravel/dirt but it was well-maintained and not difficult to drive on. The remaining third of the road closer to the village was paved. The road went almost straight downhill to the sea. There were older small homes and cottages on either side of the road. The rocky cliffs came down to ocean with waves crashing against them. Off to one side was a fishing harbor that appeared to be doing well.
The next side road took us to the charming villages of Woodstock and Pacquet. (Yes, even Newfoundland has a Woodstock.) Both were similar with lovely coves/small bays and active harbors, and colorful fishing stages, and plenty of rocks, hills and cliffs. By this time we were becoming familiar with some of the vehicles with tourists like us, cruising slowly thru the towns, gawking at the scenery. LOL. The Newfoundlanders don’t seem to mind; they all just smile and wave at everyone, including each other.
The final village on our drive was Ming’s Bight, a still-active gold mining town not far from the intersection of Route 414 and 410. (Route 410 is the highway that travels north from the Trans Canada Highway to the end of the Baie Verte peninsula and back south to the TCH. Fleur de Lys is the village we visited yesterday at the north end of the peninsula.) The road to Ming’s Bight was scenic with tall hills covered with spruce trees on both sides of the road. We felt dwarfed in comparison. Ming’s Bight, at the end of the road, was a beautiful village, a little bigger than the others, and the hills came right down to the water’s edge, Some of the tops of the hills had been mined, It was a wonder that mining trucks and equipment could get up there. But the village seemed peaceful and thriving.
We drove back to La Scie, ready to relax in the RV. It had remained cloudy all day and the wind gusts had increased. Tonight and tomorrow will be rainy and very windy, or so the weather predicts. More campers had come in. Everyone was hunkering down. Most likely, we’ll spend tomorrow indoors with the kitties. None of us have a problem with that!