July 18, 2024 – Bonavista Peninsula, Eastern Newfoundland Coast (continued)

We next drove to Elliston, the root cellar capital of the world.  Before refrigeration and electricity came to rural communities, root cellars kept food from freezing in the winter and spoiling in the summer.  There are over 100 root cellars in this area still in working condition.  Inside, this cellar was very cool on this warm day.

We were very moved by this sculpture and the story behind it.

At age 16, Albert John Crewe of Elliston couldn’t wait to go sealing.  This was the last thing his mother, Mary, wanted.  Her husband, Ruben, had already survived the SS Greenland sealing disaster.  Mary was insistent that he not go sealing again.  But Albert John was determined to go.  And, to protect him, Ruben went too.  On March 31, 1914, Mary woke to a vision that confirmed her worst fears.  As depicted in the sculpture by Morgan MacDonald at the Sealers Memorial, Albert John had died in Ruben’s arms on the ice.  The father protecting his son until they both perished.

Elliston also has a puffin viewing site where you can get the closest view of puffins in all of North America.  This small island has a large puffin colony.

We were able to get some great pictures of these cute little birds.  We were told that Atlantic puffins are smaller than the puffins we saw in Alaska.

There is a shop by the puffin colony that sells these cute puffin chairs and all kinds of puffin souvenirs. 

We think this big puffin chair would look great on our front patio, but it is too big to carry in the motorhome.

We ate lunch on chairs overlooking these two fish flakes.  The fish flake is one of the most recognized of all structures used in the production of Newfoundland salt cod.  After they were gutted, split and laid in salt for several days, the fish had to be dried.  The fish flake was a wood platform upon which the salted cod were laid to give them maximum exposure to air and sunlight.  There were two types of flakes – hand flakes which were built close to the ground and broad flakes, like these which were elevated on poles.  After walking around the fish flakes, we treated ourselves to some ice cream.

On our way back to the campground, we stopped in Port Rexton at the Port Rexton Brewing Co.

They had a patio where we could take the dogs and enjoy some adult beverages.

 

Another long but great day in Newfoundland.