From See Two See: June 10, 2019

We had only a vague plan of where we were going and what we would see today. All we knew was that we were going to start by heading out to Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site. This is North America’s most easterly point.

The lighthouse gives one a glimpse of what it would be like to live in a lighthouse fulltime (This one operated until the 1955).  There are artifacts that date back to 1836. For over 100 years the same family tended the light which burned whale oil originally. I envisioned what it would be like to carry water and supplies up the hill to the house. 

We walked up over 220 stairs to get from the parking lot to the house in gusts of winds that were 70-80 kph.  The lighthouse keepers wouldn’t have the stairs but definitely would have had the wind.  Not sure what kind of road there would have been, though there must have been one as there didn’t seem to be anywhere a boat could have docked.   There are remains of fortifications built during WW2.

It is kind of appropriate that from Cape Spear what you would see (if you could)  would be Ireland as this route is called the Irish Loop. It recognizes the 400 plus years of Irish history in Newfoundland.  I think I read somewhere that this is where the Irish people would have landed when they immigrated.  We continued down this loop visiting many of the small towns.  We thought about taking a boat trip out to the Witless Bay ecological reserve. It is home to millions of seabirds that come to here to nest and raise there young. Rain and wind deterred us so we kept on to Ferryland.

Ferryland, founded in 1621 by Lord Baltimore, is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. He called it the Colony of Avalon. There are active archeological digs in the area unearthing  cobblestone streets and foundations of houses built in the 17th century. We had hoped to go to the lighthouse about a  2 km walk for a picnic lunch but it is only open Wednesday-Sunday.

Instead we stopped at the Tetley Tea House for a wonderful soup and chowder and yummy bread pudding with caramel sauce.  The Tea House is one section of a large building that can hold up to 800 and we leaned that a non-profit group who run the restaurant run a dinner theater in the summer (all local actors) as well as cater to events. The building itself is well over 100 years old.

It has housed virtually everything from fish markets, to the local hardware, grocery store, dentist, doctor and anything else a community needs over a 100 plus years. The money they raise keeps up the building. The lady who runs the restaurant (Madeline) is originally from the community. She spent years in Niagara Falls and makes regular trips to Alberta to visit family. She even knows where Smoky Lake (Greg’s home town) is.

All in all a great day, despite the wind and showers. We managed to see 22 icebergs and a whale, meet some very interesting people and marvel over beautiful scenery.

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