17-18 September 2019
September 17: Today we leave Edge of the Avalon Inn and drive north about 220 miles to Bonavista. It’s a rainy drive through bogs and along coastline, up to Route 1 and then onto the Bonavista Peninsula. We have driven out of the rain, but it is close behind. We have a very good dinner at Ragged Rock Gastropub and return to the Lancaster Inn for an evening of relaxation.
September 18: It is another windy and rainy day today, and we are in no hurry to go anywhere. Breakfast is not until 9, but while we are waiting we strike up a conversation with the three other couples who are here at the Lancaster Inn: two from Alberta and one couple from Vancouver Island. We have a great time recounting our various travel adventures and, in fact, have so much fun that we sit around long after breakfast is over, sipping coffee and talking, until the other couples realize it is time to get back on the road.
O and I enjoy the warmth of the B&B awhile longer and then brave the weather to visit the Mockbeggar Plantation. The main home here was built in the 1870’s by merchants, businessmen who accepted the cod brought in by fishermen in return for goods. It was strictly a barter system in which the merchants had a decided advantage. The house was passed down through the family until, in the 1930’s, one of the daughters married Gordon Bradley, a businessman and politician who was instrumental in getting Newfoundlanders to vote in favor of Confederation in 1949. The house is currently restored to represent how it was furnished in 1939. As the family was wealthy, it was one of the first houses in Bonavista to have electricity. O is especially intrigued by the fuse box with its grand total of two fuses!
The interpreter at the Plantation recommends we drive over to see if the Matthew Legacy is open. Although it is officially closed for the season, there are volunteers who sometimes return to open the building for tourists. The Matthew Legacy is the site where a replica of John Cabot’s ship, the Matthew, is stored undercover to protect it from the elements and to allow further restoration. The exhibit includes the fictional story of a young man who sails with Cabot on his voyage west, as he seeks a new route to Asia. Despite our recent visit to Cabot Landing Provincial Park in Cape Breton with its placard proclaiming that John Cabot landed there (or at least in the vicinity) on June 24, 1497, it was to Bonavista that the replica Matthew sailed to celebrate the 500thanniversary of England’s “discovery of the New World,” landing on June 24, 1997 with great ceremony, including a visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
From The Matthew Legacy we proceed along Cape Road to the Bonavista Lighthouse. It is so gusty when we exit Vincent that I feel as if I might be blown right off the cape. Waves are exploding onto the rocks, with foam topping the cliffs at times. The lighthouse exhibit is very good and is the only one that we have visited where we have been allowed to the top to see the light mechanism. It is a catoptric light apparatus built by Robert Stevenson, a renowned builder of lights in the 1800’s, (and grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson. As an aside, the interpreter tells us that the entire family was well known for their technical abilities. They were quite disappointed that Robert Louis wanted to be a mere writer.)
The catoptric light at Bonavista was built in Scotland in 1816, left Scotland in the 1830’s and finally came to Bonavista in the 1890’s. It was used continuously until 1962 when it was replaced by an automated light. Amazingly, it has been preserved and is the only intact light of its kind in the world. The mechanism, made by hand in the pre-industrial age early 1800’s, still functions! It is taken apart every fall and placed in storage until spring to protect it from the elements.
After our windy visit to the cape (gusts up to 70+ km/hr) we drive to Walkham’s Gate Pub for dinner and then return to cozy Lancaster Inn.