Brigus, Rockwell Kent, Dildo and the Spirits of Newfoundland

The weather forecast for today wasn't very good, so we decided to use today for a drive to explore the locally-named Admirals' Coast, across the Avalon Peninsula from St. John's to Portugal Cove, down around Conception Bay to Topsail Beach, further down and around the bay to Brigus, and then across the peninsula to Dildo (yes, Dildo) on Trinity Bay, and back to St. John's.

Our first stop was Topsail Beach where we had a good look at Topsail Head --

-- and down the beach toward town:

A trail from the north end of this beach wends its way under Topsail Head to Horse Cove to the north, and has been used as long as anyone here can remember.  In fact, it's so old that it even appears in the writings of a locally renowned geologist in 1840.  One story even claims that it was blazed by invading French armies in the 1690's.  We were amazed at the currents produced when the waters flowing from the local river met Conception Bay:

Continuing our drive, we got to Holyrood, another fishing village graced by older buildings:

Our main objective was Brigus, which is a gorgeous little village graced by well-built canals guiding streamwater down to Conception Bay:

We had a very tasty lunch of Fish-and-Brewis (Kathy's meal) and Fishcakes (David's meal) at North Street Cafe before walking over to Hawthorne Cottage Historic Site, where we discovered some Parks Canada Red Chairs:

Hawthorne Cottage was the home of Robert Bartlett, a world-renowned Arctic explorer.  Before exploring the history more, we made sure to get our photo in the Red Chairs, since this is a National Historic Site:

Further on down toward the harbor, we ran across an old forge that was employed by Robert's grandfather, Abram Bartlett, a fishing and shipping entrepreneur, who drilled a tunnel from the harbor on Conception Bay, through a large hill, to his fish processing store in Brigus.  He built a forge to make and sharpen the drill bits that were used to drill the tunnel through hard rock:

At the forge, we took the opportunity to purchase a campfire "pokey stick" (much like a fireplace poker) from the obliging workers who manned the forge and had crafted the poker and other metalware.

Bartlett spent more than 50 years mapping and exploring the waters of the Far North and led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since.  He was captain of the Roosevelt and accompanied Commander Robert Peary on his attempts to reach the North Pole. He was awarded the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society for breaking the trail through the frozen Arctic Sea to within 150 miles of the pole, yet was excluded from the final exploring party.  In 1914, Bartlett’s leadership in the doomed Karluk Expedition helped save the lives of most of its stranded participants after leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson abandoned the expedition. After being stranded for several months, Bartlett and Inuit hunter Kataktovik walked 700 miles from Wrangel Island over the ice of the Chukchi Sea and across Siberia and then mounted an expedition from Alaska to rescue his surviving companions on Wrangel Island. He received the highest award from the Royal Geographical Society for his outstanding heroism.

At an Old Stone Barn Museum in town, we had a chance to examine a model of the schooner Effie M. Morrissey, which Captain Bob had built to explore the Arctic:

After visiting the museum, we strolled down to The Tunnel, which Abram Bartlett had constructed:

On the way back up the hill and into town, we got a view of the local church:

We learned the the artist and writer, Rockwell Kent, had stayed in Brigus.

Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager.  He lived in the cottage for about a year and a half in 1914-1915. Trained as an architect, in 1915 he rebuilt the structure and added a studio and second bedroom on the west side. While living in Brigus, Kent made many paintings and prints inspired by the surrounding landscape, many which include depictions of the cottage.

After Kent was deported from Canada for being a suspected spy (he was eventually exonerated and received a formal apology), he lived on Fox Island, in Alaska (see our blog entry, Kenai Fjords Boat Tour) from August 1918 to March 1919. Kent’s primary residence on Fox Island was a small cabin that was part of a fox farm and goat ranch run by Lars Matt Olson.  A true tale of wilderness adventure, "Wilderness: A Quiet Journey of Adventure in Alaska," describes the day to day experiences of Kent and his 9-year old son living in the remote solitude of Fox Island.

We hiked up to look at Kent's cottage at Landfall above the village of Brigus:

Here is a photo of Landfall:

It was difficult to get a view of the cottage, because it is occupied every summer by a writer-in-residence who is chosen for the opportunity to have a residence to encourage his or her recognized talent.  This summer, the cottage is occupied by Matthew Hollett, the winner of the 2017 NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers and the Fiddlehead's 2018 Ralph Gusletson Prize for Best Poem.  We saw the notice on the sign that requested that we respect the writer's privacy:

However, we had trouble understanding what "Absolutely...in this area," meant.

Having satisfied our curiosity about Rockwell Kent's summer cottage, we drove across the peninsula from Brigus to Dildo, just to get our selfy in front of Dildo Brewing Co.:

On the way, we made an accidental discovery of Newfoundland Distillery Co., whose gin we just purchased the other day.  Locally produced, its spirits have a very unique, Newfie character:

Once we purchased the distillery's Aquavita, we couldn't wait to get back to our campground to try out some of the company's spirits!  

Now we feel that warm glow of Newfoundland Distillery Gin, with some locally flavored tonic water, and we're planning our adventure for tomorrow.