#30 Cow Head

#30  Cow Head

Sunday July 14, 2019

Happy Birthday, Jay!  He got to celebrate by driving today, it was his turn.

The sun is out and we expect a short day.  The guys walked before we left, then about noon we went north to Cow Head.

We started at The Dr. Henry N. Payne Community Museum and Craft Shop our farthest northern point.  Dr. Payne taught for 45 years.  He started at 17 years of age and ended in 1971. He also served as Justice of the Peace, a field worker for a Co-Op Movement, and held positions at the library, parish and school board.   In 1975 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Here is Jay getting birthday greeting from one of the kids!

Hey!  Derrille and I had those Blue Willow dishes!  They were my grandmother's.  Now my sister has them.

This room held a display of Cow’s Head Prominent Women.  They did amazing things like many pioneer women. Things in these rooms continue to tickle the old brain cells and remind me I am aging. Several nice exhibits filled the second floor rooms.

These are sock stretchers. I don't think I have ever seen these before.

I had one of these.  Did you?

Out in the shed were exhibits showing the tools and telling of the logging and fishing industry.  Here sits all of these artifacts and no one worries about them being stolen.  How nice!

Cow Head connects to the mainland by an isthmus.  The area had a different name in 1534.  Then a French fisherman saw a cow head in the rocks and the name stuck even though the Cow Head has long ago eroded. 

Lobster traps abound.  Stacks of old wooden lay in front of the stacks of metal traps.

This safe harbor sits tucked into the Cow Head peninsula.

A smaller harbor a little farther west of the one above.

Check out the colorful house and its neighbors.

The beach on the Gulf of St. Lawrence!  The roads here not only have potholes, but are also narrow and rocky, and yet someone had the guts or stupidity to bring their Pace Arrow motor home out here and park it on the beach.

Broom’s Point holds a restored cabin and fish store with original artifacts from the Mudge Family Fishery. Some fishermen still stop by here from time to time. From this view Derrille and Lynn spotted a whale.

Any of this look familiar?   I remember those bedspreads, I think I had one.

160714 161359 161401 161457

Can you image taking out one of the boats on the open sea? What a brave lot of men and women!

Tools of the trade: Nets, fish hooks, salt

Thought this was interesting.  Not sure if both are usable or not.

The Cow Head Theater group offers a dinner theater performance. The musical features the story of the sinking of the SS Ethie. We tried to get tickets, but they were sold out during our time here. The theater holds 84 people, but we think the tour buses grab up the tickets.

We did stop at the memorial site of the SS Ethie driven by steam and sail.  The steamship ran aground in 1919 in a storm.  The cold water and rocky shore threatened the passengers and crew.   A local man and his dog threw them a line and helped rescue everyone, even the 18 month old baby sent down the line in a mailbag.  The beach is littered with debris from this disaster.  Again how many places like this could know the relics would just stay on the beach.

One of the best parts of today was Shallow Bay!  They used to be a small fishing village here.

We found the beach!  Sandy beaches are very rare on the island. Today we found one on a beautiful day.

Lynn just wanted to feel the rays.

I couldn’t wait to get my shoes off and wade in the water. Boy did that feel good. Because it was so shallow, and the sun hot, the water near the shore felt like bath water.  Further out it began to feel cooler.  Loved it!!

The bathhouse and sand dune plea to Save the Dunes!

We ended the day at Java Jakes in Rocky Harbor for Jay’s birthday dinner.  It was an interesting restaurant.  It didn’t serve the kind of food we usually look for, but we decided to try it.  Lynn and I had delicious pork with a yummy chutney sauce.  Our scoop of mashed potatoes had a mix of white and sweet potatoes in it.  Derrille had a Rabbit pot pie with a delightful crust.  He had some great veggies too that the rest of us tasted.  Jay chose to have a beet salad with goat cheese and fish cakes. We all enjoyed dinner and the desserts. 

Happy Birthday Jay!

It was a fitting end to our stay in Gros Morne.  Tomorrow we rest? And clean house.

Next destination Port au Chois