The bay has three fingers, the smallest of which, shown here, is known as The Bottom. This photo was taken just before sunset. The "parsonage" is located on the water's edge at a point known as the entrance to The Bottom. In this photo it is hidden behind the shed in the left foreground. (This shed was originally constructed in 1907.)
Houses are built on concrete foundations that are poured directly on the rock. In the parsonage about half of the basement is filled up by a rock, with a crawl space between the rock and the ceiling. The remainder is divided into a laundry area, a storage room, space for the water pump, cistern, hot water tank and furnace, and a tiny TV room. I haven't been in other basements, but I would imagine this is fairly typical. Water is drawn from the bay and distributed by hose lines that run across the surface of the rocks. Sewage often runs by gravity directly into the bay, which gives special appropriateness to the local term, "shore wash," used to identify the shore area covered at high tide.
Every house seems to have a least one shed. They are predominantly a male domain, used for storage, as a workshop, and for casual socializing. They are usually built on a wooden platform called a stage, which is supported by wooden posts that rest directly on the rock. In photos taken in earlier days, one can see that houses then were also built on stages and had no basements.
Until about a generation ago, Mutton Bay was served by a Grenfell medical station. The last building occupied by the Grenfell mission is the long, white building on the shore to the right. It is now two apartments, one for the nurse and the other occupied by the teacher. A short distance up the hill behind this building is a new, provincially supported clinic, which is where the nurse hangs out during the day. It has an adjoining landing pad for the helicopter that touches down briefly each week to deliver medical supplies and pick up outgoing materials. In emergencies at other times, a helicopter is used to "medivac" patients out to one of the hospitals at Blanc Sablon, further down the coast, or St. Anthony in Newfoundland.
A Quebec flag flies over the clinic, and during the week between St Jean Baptiste Day and Canada Day I suggested to one of the townsfolk that I was tempted to replace it some night with a Canadian flag. She responded by saying that if I did I would instantly become a local hero.
Houses are built on concrete foundations that are poured directly on the rock. In the parsonage about half of the basement is filled up by a rock, with a crawl space between the rock and the ceiling. The remainder is divided into a laundry area, a storage room, space for the water pump, cistern, hot water tank and furnace, and a tiny TV room. I haven't been in other basements, but I would imagine this is fairly typical. Water is drawn from the bay and distributed by hose lines that run across the surface of the rocks. Sewage often runs by gravity directly into the bay, which gives special appropriateness to the local term, "shore wash," used to identify the shore area covered at high tide.
Every house seems to have a least one shed. They are predominantly a male domain, used for storage, as a workshop, and for casual socializing. They are usually built on a wooden platform called a stage, which is supported by wooden posts that rest directly on the rock. In photos taken in earlier days, one can see that houses then were also built on stages and had no basements.
Until about a generation ago, Mutton Bay was served by a Grenfell medical station. The last building occupied by the Grenfell mission is the long, white building on the shore to the right. It is now two apartments, one for the nurse and the other occupied by the teacher. A short distance up the hill behind this building is a new, provincially supported clinic, which is where the nurse hangs out during the day. It has an adjoining landing pad for the helicopter that touches down briefly each week to deliver medical supplies and pick up outgoing materials. In emergencies at other times, a helicopter is used to "medivac" patients out to one of the hospitals at Blanc Sablon, further down the coast, or St. Anthony in Newfoundland.
A Quebec flag flies over the clinic, and during the week between St Jean Baptiste Day and Canada Day I suggested to one of the townsfolk that I was tempted to replace it some night with a Canadian flag. She responded by saying that if I did I would instantly become a local hero.
posted by Garry Lovatt at 12:15 AM
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