Yesterday was an administrative day; we had some engine problems with the RV, and spent the morning at a Mercedes dealer. We relaxed, read, and did laundry in the afternoon. Good day to do it-poured most of the day! Today, however, was gorgeous, and we took advantage of the beautiful morning to drive to Point Spear lighthouse, located at the most easterly point of North America.
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| Point Spear Lighthouse complex |
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| A long hike up! |
The lighthouse complex is way up on a hill, with a long climb from the parking lot to the gift shop/new lighthouse and another challenging one to the original lighthouse, built in the 1800's. The cliff's are really steep, as are the walkways up and down. On one of the cliffs, some guy decided to crawl out on a triangular rock with a 200+ foot drop with his significant other pleading not to. A gust of wind and it would be all over! After the hike up and down, we passed a coastal gun battery from WWII (never fired a shot) and made it to the most easterly point of North America.
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| WWII coastal gun site |
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| A long hike down! |
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| Most easterly point in North America |
The wooden stairway shown here led down from the lighthouse to the artillery battery, then down again to the photo op sign signifying the most easterly point of North America.
From Point Spear we drove into St. John's, the major city in Newfoundland. It was nice walking around, seeing the sights, and having lunch in a local shop called "Rockets" that specializes in desserts. St. John's is known for its nightlife and multiple bars, and also for a local rum based liquor called "skreech". We didn't try any.
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| A Skreech bar |
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| St. John's docks |
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| A local busker |
After lunch we drove over to the Railway Coastal Museum in the restored original
St. John’s train station.
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| Railway Coastal Museum |
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| Newfoundland Railroad map |
Nice displays of what once was a railroad that essentially mirrored the current TCH 1 from Port aux Basques to St. John’s. It was built and operated from 1898 thru 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada. Canadian National took over the routes, but finally suspended passenger service in 1969 after the completion of the highway. Freight service was terminated in 1988, and all tracks were removed. Interestingly, this was the longest narrow gauge railroad in North America when it operated, and had 906 miles of track.
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| Mail Car mockup |
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| Wayne & Noah Parsons |
There is a diesel locomotive and 2 passenger cars outside, and when we walked over to photograph them we encountered two utterly delightful individuals-Noah and Wayne Parsons. The Rev. Wayne Parsons is an Anglican Priest, and Noah is his 10-year old son out for a day trip. Wayne has served in many parishes in the Province, particularly in Labrador. He is currently serving near St. Johns where he attended Seminary. Wayne is one of those folks who should be an Ambassador for the local Visitor and Convention Bureau, as he regaled us for some time about what a wonderful place Newfoundland is and what we should see and do. He even led us up to our next visitation point, "The Rooms." It was a wonderful encounter!
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| The Rooms |
Our final stop for the day before retrieving the RV was the magnificent modern museum of Newfoundland and Labrador known as “The Rooms”. The Museum has four stories, and has an all-encompassing collection of Provincial Archives, an Art Gallery, and a Museum dedicated to explaining in photos, models, displays and artifacts the story of the Province and its people.
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| An Auk skeleton |
There are numerous displays and
models/skeletons of the wildlife of the Province, and Becky’s favorite was the
skeleton of the now extinct AUK.
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| Newfoundland Regiment boot camp |
The most fascinating section to Jim was the
entire floor dedicated to the WWI experiences of the Newfoundland Regiment, and
how it’s demise at the Battle of the Somme changed forever the
history and character of Newfoundland.
In brief, on July 1, 1916 at the village of Beaumont Hamel in France,
the British Forces along a 20 mile front attacked the German lines. It became an incredible disaster for the Allies, who suffered 20,000 KIA’s and 37,000 WIA’s in the space of a few
hours. The Newfoundland Highlander
Regiment was almost totally annihilated in the space of 15”. They were 300-500 yards away from the German
machine guns, and no one made it more than ½ way across no man’s land, where an
apple tree they called “the Danger Tree” stood at the high point of their
charge.
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| The Danger Tree |
The following morning at roll
call only 68 men were present-they had taken 324 KIA’s and 386 WIA’s. Over 13,000 Newfoundlander’s served in WWI out of a total population of less than 241,000.
The stories of the individuals, their families, and what WWI cost their
nation is truly moving. As you enter the exhibit area, you are greeted by the Highlander’s Newfoundland (dog)
mascot Sable Chief. He became famous throughout the Province after the war, but sadly was killed by a truck. We found
out later it really was Sable Chief, who had been stuffed and preserved!
Plush Sable Chief souvenirs were available for sale as a momento, and we bought one.
Afterward, we picked up the RV from Mercedes-all fixed-and headed back to the campground for the evening.
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