2015-07-16 Twillingate
We arrived
at Twillingate from Musgrave Harbor and were able to get a spot in Peyton’s RV Campground. We had
a very weak Wifi signal due to the trees blocking us. Twillingate is located on
the far Northern Kittywake Coast. It too is a fishing town and all commerce relies
on that except for tourism. Yep, us tourist help the economy every day.
Lighthouse Museum
Our first
outing was to the lighthouse and observation platform where you can watch
whales (so we were told), icebergs (none in sight) and items on display were all concerning was how to build a boat and all the
old tools that it required. The whale exhibit consisted of a computer video of the whaling effort in the area.
Masonic lodge
I was
satisfied that the lodge is pretty much the same as any lodge in America. I was
not able to distinguish any differences. It is an old lodge dating back to the
1700’s and is still active but only in the Winter. In the Summer months they use
it as a tourist attraction while they
take their vacations.
Matthew Churchill
Split Peas Musicians
Split Peas is a group of elderly women(except one) who put on a performance of several songs. Some you may know and some you don’t. It’s a slapstick type where all cut up and have fun putting it on. They get the audience involved where possible. They practice all Winter, perform during June-September and have at it for 23 years. Two played the acordian, two guitar two sang only and one, the youngest (Kim, I think) was the ham and active doer. She used several instruments to include shakers, clappers and the “Ugly Stick. The Ugly Stick is a pole with in a boot/shoe with short arms made with bottle caps. One bounces it on the floor and beats it with an ugly stick and tries to stay in sync with the music.
The performance was conducted in a “Orange” building. Uniquely, it is a place where an old organization very similar to the Masonic Organization were held. I was able to visit part of their upstairs lodge and saw some similiaries to the Masons Organization yet there were subtle differences. The membership had once been around 400 but time and loss of interest reduced it down to around 15 or so. So, the performers helped maintain the building with their income and volunteering. One room had been leased to an Artist whose work in pencil was some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Twillingate Museum
The museum is located
in the former Anglican Church Rectory.
It depicts life at the turn of the century. While it was interesting to see how
the people in the area lived most of what was on display was very similar to
what we see in the museums in the US. There were some nautical items of
interest and they are shown below also.
Durrell Museum
The museum houses community artifacts from the late 1800s and early 1900s. They also have a mounted Polar bear that floated in on an iceberg and was wandering around town before someone killed him. It’s a great place to view icebergs, but alas, there were none to be seen.
NWI Dinner Theater
The theater is located in the John Hamlyn Community Center.
It is a dinner and performance put on by local talent with their Newfoundland
culture. The group prepares and serves the dinner as well as performs. Their
genre is Newfoundland culture and their singing and skits are about their home
country. They elicited laughter
throughout the entire performance. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
For dinner, Anita chose Lobster. It was her first whole
lobster, ever. Fortunately, the chef split open the back and cracked the claws
for her. I had part of it and the 6 huge mussels that were served with it.
Rock Formations
As a last
tour, we heard about some natural rock formations that would be interesting to see.
Unfortunately, a couple required a bit more hiking than we could do but we got
three, A human face, a gorilla face and a bear. See if you can distinguish
which is which.
A face
Gorilla (first rock)
Bear
Hope you take one of those ugly sticks home:) Our grandkids are already making me wish we had hid ours from them for awhile!
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