More exploring at Bonavista, Newfoundland
Thursday, June 25th, Day 28 of our trip and the 21st day in Newfoundland, was another day of exploring Bonavista.
The weather was wild when we went to bed out at Cape Bonavista, and it got wilder. my day began with this post and photo on Facebook: “05:00 – that was a wild night – it peaked around 1am, I think. There’s no sound now and when I saw fog I thought the wind had quit, but it’s still blowing at 20 km/h or so. Strangely, the foghorn isn’t sounding.”
These people spent the night in that teeny van and seriously did not like they were having fun at all. It was 7°C with a 40 km/h wind so felt like 2°C. She was so stiff she could hardly get out of the van. We’ve seen a lot of people sleeping in their vehicles – a very different situation than in the Yukon.
This turned out to be a crazy day for weather, going from clouds to sun to rain and wind through the day. On the drive into town we decided to take a gravel-road detour to Dungeon Provincial Park. It was quite rough, with a couple of “Texas gates”. That parking lot ahead didn’t look promising.
I pulled into the parking lot but there was just no way to make it work. We had almost given up seeing the park but as we were driving away, there was a spot a couple of blocks away whee the road was just wide enough to make parking there reasonable, and we walked back. Where we parked seemed to be the heart of the community pasture.
A distant view of the viewing platform.
The coastline is amazing.
A closer look at the parking lot and viewing platform.
This is the feature that caused the park to be created, an enclosed “bay” with two tunnels opening to the sea.
This interpretive panel describes how the feature was created. A huge chamber had formed behind two sea caves. Its roof eventually collapsed, leaving the “dungeon” with two doors. Very impressive, and a worthwhile detour.
Back in Bonavista, I wanted to start our tour of historic buildings on Church Street and that area, home of most of the key buildings. First was the Orange Hall, visible from much of the historic part of town.
As you would expect, there are some very good harbour views from that area.
What a cute little Community Library. The war memorial our front is particularly fine.
Memorial United Church was built between 1918 and 1923.
The Garrick is Newfoundland’s oldest operating community theatre.
One of the many historic homes being rebuilt by private contractors in a government subsidy program.
The courthouse, still in use, was built in 1900, and is the third courthouse to occupy that highly visible site.
The William Alexander House (also known as the Bridge House), built in either 1811 or 1814, is currently under restoration. Alexander Strathie of Greenock, Scotland, designed and built the dwelling for fellow Scotsman and prominent Bonavista merchant, William Alexander.
A short boardwalk along the harbour behind the 12-room Harbour Quarters Inn provides some of the best photo opportunities in town. The Inn is to the left, the Ryan Premises National Historic Site complex ahead.
I next climbed the hill to St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, built in an early Gothic Revival style. This is is one of the few Roman Catholic Churches built on the Bonavista Peninsula, as this was settled as a predominantly Protestant region. Strangely, its construction date isn’t known – somewhere between 1815 and 1842.
I was extremely pleased to find the church open – that’s quite unusual in North America now.
The adjoining presbytery was designed and built in Carpenter Gothic style by Ronald Strathie in 1901, to accommodate Father Rev. James Brown.
The Orange Hall and courthouse seen from the church property.
Just before 1pm, another Facebook post said: “2.8 km wandering around windy Bonavista, the last half in a misty rain. The weather report says it’s 9°C but feels like -1C, and I confirm that’s what it feels like. Then it will be 22 tomorrow – Newfoundland summer 😁”
It was time for lunch, and we ended up at the Bonavista Brewing Taproom, partly because I was able to park at a nearby church. It’s a small, cozy place with a great set of taps for mostly Newfoundland beers.
My fish and chips (cod, of course) was very good, though in my province-wide competition it won’t score particularly well.
The special of the day was lobster rolls, and that’s what Cathy ordered. It was very good (I had a couple of bites to confirm that 🙂 ) – far better than either one she had in Halifax.
After an excellent day despite the weather, we wanted to be sure of getting a good parking space back at the Cape, so were back there by 4pm. That worked, and we had a clear view of the sea again 🙂
The final photo of the day was shot just before 7pm, when we were again watching the surf out the front window 🙂
The next day we would head south, with hiking the Skerwink Trail being my primary goal.
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