Saturday August 27 – Castle Hill Park and the Atlantic Charter

Castle Hill National Park

       

 After one of the worst storms we've experienced in the RV (even pulled in our slides!), we drove to the local tourism center and used their internet. We then drove up to the nearby Castle Hill National Park site,

Model of the French Fort on Castle Hill

where the remains of French Fort Royal is overlooks Placentia and Argentia Bay. Nice museum, with a short film on fort building.  A short climb to the ruins offers great sights of the region.  Additionally, Castle Hill has the best gift shop we've seen on the trip!

Becky and docent hold British flag

Argentia as seen from Fort Royal

 We met a docent while walking from the ruins, and he showed us the British flag and the French flag (all solid white!) from that time.

        Our goal for the day was to visit the site of the Atlantic Charter signing 75 years ago in August 1941, where a new monument had been put in place during celebrations earlier this year. Thought it would be a short drive-wrong! It's 16 miles off the highway on a one way road to the remote town of Ship Harbor, and the last mile and a half are gravel!

  Not many visitors visit the site-the guest book there (stored in a plastic container to shield it from the elements!)  showed the last visitor had been there a few days ago, and only 5 total in a week. What a beautiful vista though! 

Memorial plaque at the site

Becky at the Memorial Site

 It was here that Franklin Roosevelt on the cruiser Augusta and Winston Churchill, on the Prince of Wales battle cruiser, met for 4 days and hammered out the Atlantic Charter-the eventual basis for the UN Charter.  

 Photo left - Jim by the plaque along with wreaths from different organizations.  The US American Legion wreath is on the far left.

Looking out on the Bay where the ships anchored

We noticed driving along the roads many stacks of cut wood, used for heating homes here in Newfoundland.  They are everywhere on the island, and are usually just marked with a sign identifying the owners.  Apparently no one messes with anyone else's woodpile on the island!

Log piles along the highway

We then drove north to the Green River area, where the listed campground was full. They recommended a nearby seasonal RV park site, which was huge!  One spot was open, as a trailer had just left today. Must be 200 sites over at least two miles in the woods, and we walked a good deal of it in the evening. "Backside RV Park" isn't listed in the guidebooks, but was a great place to stay!