Lord Baltimore's Colony of Avalon

We are camped in Tors Cove, on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, for 18 days and have been identifying adventures on the Avalon Peninsula while we are here.  One of the interesting things we wanted to see was the "Lost Colony of Avalon," in Ferryland, south of where we are staying.  So today we combined a trip to the visitor center for the archaeological dig at Avalon with a visit to the Ferryland Lighthouse.  See our prior blog entry for that adventure.

Here is the sign that greeted us as we arrived:

 

 

The Avalon Peninsula was one of the first European-inhabited areas in North America. In 1497 the Bristol Guild of Merchants financed a voyage by John Cabot to Newfoundland, where he is reported to have spoken of "a land of codfish." They were familiar with the Avalon Peninsula where many would set up temporary shelters to dry fish. Sir George Calvert (subsequently titled Lord Baltimore) acquired a large land holding on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and hired Captain Edward Wynne to set up headquarters in Ferryland. The initial colony grew to a population of 100, becoming the first successful permanent settlement on Newfoundland.

In 1623, Calvert was given a Royal Charter for the "Province of Avalon," named after Avalon in Somersetshire, England. Calvert wished to make the colony a refuge for Roman Catholics facing persecution in England. A series of crises and calamities, including the extremely harsh winters of Newfoundland, led Calvert to quit the colony in 1629 for "some other warmer climate of this new world," which turned out to be Maryland, though his family maintained agents to govern Avalon.  Calvert's Avalon Province was subsequently increased to greater portions of the present-day Avalon Peninsula until 1637, when the entire island of Newfoundland was granted by charter to Sir David Kirke and a partner in reward for Kirke's success in taking Quebec City from the French. Lord Baltimore's son fought against the new charter on the grounds that it conflicted with the charter in favor of Calvert, and in 1660 gained official recognition of the old Charter of Avalon, but never attempted to retake the colony.  The site of the colony, while not specifically located, was designated a National Historic Site in 1953.

Despite the fact that the specific location of the original Colony of Avalon was not known, the people of Ferryland were no strangers to the history of the location. Many a local has a story of finding a piece of pottery or glass in their gardens, yet the exact location was a mystery. In 1992, serious archaeological digging began, and the complete cobblestone street of Avalon was discovered.  The project quickly grew during the 1990s when the cod moratorium saw large numbers of locals involved in fishing out of their usual work. In an effort to keep locals employed and build local tourism, the government helped with funding additional digging, keeping the community that had been instrumental to the discovery involved for the future of Ferryland.  The richness and variety of the artifacts uncovered blew away researchers and visitors alike. Completely blowing away the stereotypes on how colonists lived, the dig turned up gold coins, beautiful jewelry, and venetian glass.

 

One of the reasons for the richness of artifacts from the site is that, after the original colony was abandoned, water and erosion from hills above the site caused it to be buried over in mud and silt, and it remained preserved underground for the intervening centuries.  When it was finally rediscovered, nothing had been looted, and the entire site had been preserved intact.  The site is now recognized as the best preserved English colonial site in North America.

 

This was our first view of the archaeological dig, which has exposed numerous stone walls, cobblestone floors, and (next to the barrier on the left in the photo below) the cobblestone street that ran the length of the community:

 

 

Everything we saw and that is in these photos is in the exact position in which it was found -- only cleaned of the surrounding mud and silt.  Most of the stone floors are completely intact.  The walls stand up to 3 feet.  Slate from the wooden roofs fell when the wood rotted or burned, but was recovered and is now stacked in exhibits in the exhibit center to allow visitors to see how thin and light it is. 

Here is a photo of what was a two story residence with a separate kitchen building in the back and up on the hillside.  A path that was uncovered by archaeologists leads to what had been a second story entrance to the house:

 

 

The Calverts' mansion -- a large residence which was later occupied by whoever managed the community from time to time, occupies a prominent position and is clearly the largest residence in the community:

 

 

We walked down to what had been the waterfront, but is now perhaps 30 feet in from the water.  A stone-covered sewer trench leads from the Calvert residence (it ran under the stone floor) -- and possibly from other residences and down to a septic well where the waves and tides washed it clean twice a day.  Our tour guide joked that this made it the first flush toilet in North America:

 

 

The archaeologists also discovered the community well, which descends 25 feet below the present surface of the ground.  It has been cleaned out.  We were allowed to look in but cautioned not to fall:

 

 

From the well, we could look back across a large kitchen garden and manufacturing building, past a moat leading down the hillside to the water, to the rest of the community.  A palisade wall was constructed of wood timbers and surrounded the main part of the community and all of the residence except one.

 

 

Here is a closer look at the kitchen garden, where the visitor center staff is growing vegetables that would have been grown here at the time the colony was active:

 

 

This was the far end of the cobblestone street, which appears to be very wide.  It was constructed to protect the villagers from having to walk on muddy streets when rain washed down from the adjoining hillside:

 

 

After our tour of the archaeological site, we had a chance to visit a reconstruction of a kitchen which would have been typical for the colony, although larger than the kitchens actually found on the site.  We were greeted by a staff member who has been running the kitchen for 20 years.  In the last few years, she has coordinated a colonial cook-off, where a specific recipe typical of the colony is posted on the community website and people are encouraged to try their hands at the recipe, posting photos of their results.  Prizes are offered and a wonderful time is had by all!

 

Kathy and our hostess obviously had a good time playing with the cast iron kitchen implements and a reproduction puzzle jug that was used for entertainment in the colony, much as it was in England during the period:

The community gift shop had some unique items for sale, so we indulged in purchases to try to match uniquely Newfie gifts to some of our holiday gift recipients.  We can't tell you more, because they are supposed to be surprises!