Grenfell

As they say in the literature, “Come for the Vikings, but don’t miss the 40 years of history that is the legacy of Grenfell.”  Sir Wilfred Grenfell is credited with being the man who changed the life of people all along the Northern Peninsula and in Southern Labrador. His life and work is presented at the Grenfell Interpretation Center and Grenfell House Museum in St. Anthony. 

Born in 1865 in the north of England, he was an adventurous, impetuous boy who loved the outdoors and the sea. In 1883 Grenfell entered the London Hospital Medical School and soon after he joined the Royal National Mission To Deep Sea Fishermen, an organization which provided medical and spiritual services to North Sea Fishermen. In 1892, Grenfell was sent to Newfoundland to investigate the conditions in the Labrador fishery. He was the first doctor to visit the region and it was the start of Dr. Gernfell’s lifelong work on a coast that was ice blocked and inaccessible for many months of the year.

Devoted to improving the life of the people, Dr. Grenfell practiced medicine, built hospitals, and established schools and orphanages. He also sought out others to help him with his mission. We visited the Grenfell Museum this morning and came away in awe of the impact one man can have in improving the lives of others. We also toured his home and hiked the trail to the Tea House at an overlook high above St. Anthony’s. 

Today St. Anthony’s has a 50 bed hospital and is a medical center that serves the needs of those in Labrador and Newfoundland, as far away as St. John’s.

This man was truly amazing in the impact he had upon the Labradorites and the Newfoundlanders.

There are two floors of exhibits in the Grenfell Interpretation Centre.

Rhode Island connection I- when the health care centre was transferred to the Canadian Government from the Grenfell Association in 1981, for the price of $1, the dollar bill was signed with a Cross pen.

The hospital that Grenfell built in St. Anthony's.

The Grenfell Interpretation Centre/Grenfell Handicrafts store.

When a new health care facility was built in, these spectacular ceramic murals were commissioned from Jordi Bonet. These murals, they fill the Rotunda of the Curtis Memorial Hospital, depict the culture and the history of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Inside the living room of the Grenfell house museum.

Climbing the Tea House Hill trail that ends at an overlook of St. Anthony Harbor. The top of the hill is also the burial site for Dr. Grenfell and his wife.

The Harbour of St. Anthony. In the middle of the picture, right in the Harbour, is an iceberg.

Just outside of the harbor is a large iceberg.

It was about 3 pm when we were finished in St. Anthony's and we drove back out to L’Anse aux Meadows, this time to the National Historic Site. We were fortunate to arrive just as an on-site archaeologist was beginning a tour of the site. 

Right outside the Visitor Centre is this recognition of Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad who first identified the site as the fabled  Vinland.

This is Kevin, a Parks Canada employee, who took us on our tour.  He has been involved in the excavation of the site.

This is the site of the Smelting hut. It is isolated from the rest of the site and contained a furnace for producing iron from bog ore. A simple smelter stood in the middle of the floor. A charcoal kiln was nearby. The amount and type of slag found suggests that a single smelt took place. Very little iron was manufactured, only enough for making about 100 to 200 nails.

Kevin explaining the layout of the Large Hall.  It was built for someone of high social status. It contains a small private room and communal living and working quarters for the rest of the crew. One of the rooms was littered with slag, and may have been used for iron working. Jasper chips from fire-starters show that the crew came from Iceland.

Another, lower status, living quarters.

Eric talking about the Leader's hall. This is the largest building, twice the size of Eirik the Red's home in Greenland, and equivalent in size to a chieftain's hall in Iceland. The leader of the expedition probably lived in this hall with his crew. Jasper chips show that its inhabitants came from Greenland. It contained a private room for the leader, a large central room that could serve as a banquet hall, two large storage rooms, and a lean-to shed for boat repair.

This site also has a reconstructed building. This would have been the Leader's Hall.

Close-up of the peat walls that were six feet thick.

Reenactors at the end of the day.

On the trail to the site from theVisitor's Centre is this artist's interpretation of what the village looked like.

As they have excavated the site they have also found evidence of Indians using the area. These fire replicas show where Indian fire pits have been found.

This sculptured arch is called "Meeting of Two Worlds". It was created at the time the site received a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in 1978. In the Visitor Centre the story of human migration is told. 100 thousand years ago humans left Africa and some travelled north and west up into Europe and some travelled east, eventually crossing the Bering Straits and traveling down into the Americas and over across the top of Canada into Labrador and Newfoundland. The Arch is meant to represent the closing of the circle of human migration. 

There are some identifiable symbols in the sculpture. The European side on the right has this Viking ship.

The Americas side has a whale among other symbols.

Inside theVisitor Centre is this diorama of the site.

This is Dale Wells. We had a lot to talk about.

Frederick conversing with two Vikings in the lobby.

On a hill, high above the Visitor Centre, is this sculpture.

Frederick and I climbed up for a closer look. Can you find Frederick!

There he is!

Afterwards, we thought we would have dinner in what was supposed to be a well regarded restaurant in L’Anse aux Meadows. Who knew that there would be a 4 star restaurant at the end of the world?  L’Anse aux Meadows is not a big place; there are perhaps 15 buildings in the village.  The food was superb and we had a great time.  As a special treat, a bowl with two chunks of an iceberg were brought to our table that we used to cool our water. One was clear and looked like a crystal. We were told that it was clear because at one time a river may have run through the iceberg. The other chunk was more cloudy and white, just like the icebergs that we have seen in the harbors.

Across the road from the restaurant is this giant sculpture of Leif Erikson.

Getting to know you.

Our last view out to the end of the peninsula.