Stephenville, NL

From Port Aux Basque we traveled 100 miles to Stephenville, where we parked our shiny rigs on a big concrete apron right next to the water. We were adjacent to the Airport for three days without any utilities. However, our holding tanks and solar panels sustained us. We had free days to drive around the peninsula and out to Cape St. George, but the rainy weather made taking photos a challenge. A unique experience resulted from our getting lost down a remote gravel road. We saw what appeared to be a friendly little home; Jerry went to the door with map in hand. A friendly lady with a big smile named Wanda insisted that we come in for a cup of tea. Her husband, Tom, was equally cordial and provided the directions we needed. In addition, we gained a lot of information about their life story to include the fact that Tom was a retired fisherman. Five years ago he underwent a double lung transplant in Toronto. He even showed us his huge scar that ran horizontally across his entire chest. “They opened me up like a Volkswagen,” said he. After about an hour we again ventured out into the rain after having a word of prayer with our delightful, Christian hosts. We promised to write to them. Wanda gave us a gift of a loaf of her homemade banana bread.

A couple of miles from Tom and Wanda’s home is a lovely old Catholic church, Our Lady of Mercy, which closed its doors forever during the peak of the child sexual abuse scandal perpetuated by the clergy. Apparently, many left the church during that time, as the local church was being asked to contribute to the victims, even though their church had no pedophile priests. What makes this building special is that it is the largest wooden structure in Newfoundland. Much of the marble inside is from Italy. The wooden alter weighs over a ton. Uniquely, the church was constructed by local parishioners who were fisherman and farmers—not carpenters. A foundation now provides the resources required to maintain the building. Special services such as weddings and funerals are still held there. Ironically, the Catholic Church wanted to raze this historic building, but miraculously the community rose up once more to make sure that did not happen. What a tragedy it would have been to have destroyed such a local work of local talent and art.

Our final night in Stephenville we attended a country rock presentation by a cast of mostly student performers. The program was held at the local Arts and Culture Center just a mile from where we were camped. The next morning we traveled on to the loveliest city we have seen thus far in Newfoundland, Corner Brook--population 20,000. We enjoyed a group luncheon at the famous old Tudor style Glynmill Inn (see top photo) coupled with a walk along the water. At Marble Mountain, we saw the 59 foot Heritage Tree. It is of cedar and imported from Victoria, BC. Its 60 images depict 1000 years of Newfoundland-Labrador history. Back in the 1700s, Capt. John Cook spent about three years in this area mapping the coastline. We visited a park named in his honor and watched a humorous student enactment.

Our favorite activity was a scenic coastal drive we took to Lark Harbor about 25 miles from the city. We observed little fishing-lobster villages along the way along with numerous boats—some of which looked to have been abandoned several years ago. An awesome waterfall gushed from the side of a mountain. We had lunch at Marlains, a quaint little seaside café that is famous for its chowder and delectable homemade desserts. We may forget many of the highpoints of our caravan, but we’ll always remember the glorious drive to Lark Harbor.