We are back home on Pender having flown out of St. Johns the morning of the day Hurricane Fiona hit the Atlantic provinces. Apart from having a 5:00 am flight, our trip was relatively painless.
We traversed part of the trail to get to our B and B in New Perlican (which apparently is older than Old Perlican) and on our first morning there we headed north to finish the job. Several towns were on our way but the main target was Bay de Verde and Blunden House. The house was built in the late 1890s which makes it pretty new in BDV terms as the first European visitors to the area came in the 1500s. It is a good example of the merchant class of housing with one section for family and the other for servants. It is now a great museum and the friendly staff of locals shared lots of interesting stories. They even served tea and scones at the end of the visit.
There were several outbuildings that are being converted to additional displays. Dianne peeked in one and found a chap working on setting up a display of
The area was first visited by the Portuguese in the 1500s. First settled in 1600s. Churches and Blundon House (bottom right) date from 1890s.
tools. He said he was retired but working harder now than before. Since he had been brought up in BDV he had lots of local knowledge and was happy to share. One of the most interesting stories involved the Spring Well located halfway up a fairly steep hill. It was the source of water for many people even into the 1950s.
There were several places where we could have gone for a hike. Lots of viewpoints. One thing that was in short supply was restaurants but we did find one towards the end of our drive and had a nice lunch and an interesting chat with the staff. Part of the return trip was through Hearts Content where we had seen the Cable Museum on our way to New Perlican. But that is part of tomorrows adventure. Tonight we have PB and J sandwiches and a brief stroll around New Perlican.
We passed through Winterton on our way to BDV the day before but you do have to drive on the same roads from time to time. This is just up the road from our B and B. Quite a place.
We wondered why there seemed to be so many cemeteries and graveyards in NL. Then we realized they had over 500 years of European settlement where out in BC we have barely 150.
We had seen another wooden boat museum in Twillingate but we thought this one was even better. The display boards were so informative and very easy to read; great quality work. The two boat museums are related. They offer courses in how to build your own wooden boat and all kinds of related activities.
Not to be confused with Hearts Desire and Hearts Delight which are further down the road, Hearts Content is where the cable came ashore in 1866. It seemed a bit bizarre to me considering where this town is located on the Avalon Peninsula but it was explained in one of the displays that this was one of the few harbours where the Great Eastern, the ship laying the cable, could turn around. The Great Eastern was the largest ship of its time and is a story in itself. I had read about it years ago but wasnt aware of where it laid the cable. I found the whole thing very interesting. The building is much as it was originally and the which became Western Union, was used until 1965.
Most of the new houses have vinyl siding. We were told vinyl is final. After seeing houses like this one, we knew what they meant.
Many interesting photo ops appear along this route. The books describe the trail ending at the town of Dildo. All jokes aside, it is a very picturesque town. We had lunch at the Dildo Brewery which had been to us by our B and B hosts. The drive back gave us a chance to take some photos that we had missed on the way south. The bad news is that our route tomorrow will take us back down this stretch of highway. The good news is that it is worth it.
After passing through Dildo again, we crossed the TCH and headed to the southwestern mini peninsula.
