Oh, Canada!

Today is Canada Day (also known as Dominion Day) which celebrates the 1867 Canadian Confederation when the colonies of United Canadas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were joined to create the Dominion of Canada within the British Empire. Newfoundland was its own dominion until 1949, and since 1917 it also celebrates Memorial Day on July 1- so two national holidays in one here! This year Memorial Day in St. John’s is even more significant because it marks the one hundred year anniversary of the city’s National War Memorial which commemorates Newfoundland’s soldiers who fought in World War I. As part of the centennial, the remains of an unknown Newfoundland soldier who died in France were returned a month ago and today there was a huge ceremony where they were entombed in the monument. Princess Anne, who is the colonel in chief of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (you probably know this if you’ve watched The Crown) and the president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was supposed to be here for the reinterment but she got kicked in the head by her horse and has a concussion! No Royals but Justin Trudeau was here and there was a big parade, gun salutes form various spots in the city, and all sorts of celebrations downtown. There were supposed to be fireworks tonight but they’ve been cancelled by weather, however as I write this I can hear someone setting them off nearby so it feel just like being at home in Pawtucket.

 

More archaeology today, along with a variety of alcoholic beverages! We explored one of the northern Avalon “fingers” today along part of the Baccalieu Coastal Trail. The first stop was the Cupid’s Cove Plantation Site. This site is older than Ferryland (founded in 1610) and is the first permanent British settlement in what became Canada. Similar to Ferryland, this site was only documented archaeologically in the 1990s which settled the question about which of two similar coves was the actual site.

A Memorial University archaeologist has run the excavations at this site since the beginning and it recently became a Provincial Historic Site which means the work is now being funded by the government. It was on and off rain all morning and we were able to get another personal tour wit no one else at the site when we arrived. We also were able to meet with the lead archaeologist who was working in his office today even though fieldwork hasn’t started for the season. He very kindly gave us a lot of extra background about his research and even gave me a recent paper he’d written about the site. Score!

In 2021 the excavations unearthed a British coin minted between 1493 and 1499 which made it the oldest coin ever collected at an archaeological site in North America. The coin was made of pure silver so the archaeologists think it was held by one of the seventeenth century settlers for its value. A metal detectorist recently found an older coin on a Newfoundland beach which we saw on display at the Rooms museum a few days ago, but since it was found by a collector, the Cupid’s coin is still a record holder.

We walked around and had a great lunch and a local Baccalieu Brewing Co. beer nearby in the historic town of Brigus, then drove to the Newfoundland Distillery which was recommended by the Ferryland archaeologist. We sampled some of their signature Chaga Rum then stayed for cocktail at their waterfront tasting room, then drove to the Dildo Brewing Company for another beer and photographs of the “Hollywood” sign that Jimmy Kimmel (among others) has made famous. There is no consensus about the origin of the name, but since it began as an English settlement, a major contender is that the land mass resembles the wooden oar peg on a boat with the same name.  

A Brigus churchyard

A delicious rum cocktail and a great view

Updated Wish List Tally:

Icebergs, Moose, Caribou = 0

Whales = Stopped counting!

Puffins = What am I up to now? 200k??

Archaeological Sites = 3 (Should I move this up on the list?)