Hebron Will Aways be Home

Mission buildings at Hebron

In 1830, Moravian missionaries (German and Czech protestants) established an outpost on a remote section of the coast of Labrador (now Nunatsiavut). They planted a sizeable garden and constructed a large building that housed a church, a school, and a medical clinic, and they set up a settlement that became an important trading centre on the coast. An Inuit community grew up in the hills surrounding the mission. In 1959, without consultation with community members, the Moravians decided to close the mission, forcing the relocation of some 58 Inuit families who had been encouraged to settle here. It was a time of upheaval and sorrow that is remembered by the Inuit of Nunatsiavut to this day.

The main mission building

To visit Hebron is to step back briefly to that time, and to be haunted by the rugged beauty of the sheltered harbour and the embrace of the hills. The main mission building is under reconstruction, since the settlement was named a National Historic Site in the 1970s. Other abandoned buildings on the site have not fared as well, and are in various states of disrepair. I visited on a perfect summer day in 2015, with Adventure Canada. There was time to reflect on the history of the place and on the lives of those who made their homes here, and to visit to the buildings currently maintained by Parks Canada.

The hills surrounding the Hebron mission

In 2005, a formal apology was made on behalf of the province by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams; in the spirit of reconciliation, a monument on the site is inscribed with the apology in both English and Inuktitut, in combination with an acceptance of that apology. It reads, in part, "What happened at Nutak and Hebron serves as an example of the need for governments to respect and carefully consider the needs and aspirations of the people affected by their decisions."

Many of the buildings have fallen into disrepair

There were eight missions established on the coast; among them were Hopedale, Makkovik, Ramah (closed 1908), Nutak (closed in 1959), Zoar (abandoned 1899), and Okak (abandoned in 1919 as a result of an influenza pandemic). Hebron is a place of great scenic beauty, and even greater cultural significance. In the hearts of many residents of Nunatsiavut, it will always be Home.

St. Anthony -- In the Footsteps of Grenfell

St. Anthony Sunrise

Travel down the Great Northern Peninsula (yes, north is "down" here) and you'll find yourself in St. Anthony, the outpost at the end of the road. To be truthful, the road has only been here for sixty years or so; like many small towns around the coast of Newfoundland, this port was once served only by water, as a stop on the coastal boats that plied the island's shores. This community of roughly 2500 people serves as a supply centre for the surrounding area, so there are grocery stores, hotels, restaurants and many other services, but it's St. Anthony's history that makes it remarkable.

Sun Porch, Grenfell House

In 1892, a young and determined doctor arrived here from England; this was then an English colony, and the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen carried out visits to bring medical care to the people of northern Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, and Dr. Wilfred Grenfell was here to do what he could for his fellow man. He was ahead of his time in realizing that social conditions, nutrition and physical activity were all part of overall health, and he went on to form an organization to raise funds to provide health services in the region. His legacy lives on the present-day health care system serving St. Anthony and the remote coastal communities of Labrador. The International Grenfell Association's headquarters were in St. Anthony and it was here that Grenfell made his home. One of my own favourite aspects of his house is the warm and welcoming sun room that wraps around it.

The View from Tea House Hill

Today, the Grenfell Historic Properties provide an opportunity to learn about this remarkable man through the Grenfell Interpretation Centre, the restored house, and the Tea House Hill Trail which provides wonderful views of the surrounding area. From the Grenfell Dock, Northland Discovery Boat Tours provide whale-watching and iceberg-viewing opportunities with expert interpretation. This area boasts one of the longest iceberg seasons in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as frequent sightings of humpback whales and dolphins and even occasional pods of killer whales!

Iceberg Near St. Anthony

St. Anthony's harbour is a busy one, with a fleet of fishing boats, processing plants, and a large wharf that accommodates vessels carrying freight. Several times a summer, small expedition cruise ships visit to take in the sights in the area.

Walking on the Moon -- Newfoundland's Tablelands

Last winter's snow

Gros Morne National Park is a wonderland for geologists and hikers alike. One of its best-known features is a range of flat-topped hills beside Route 431 just outside the town of Woody Point -- a spot known as the Tablelands. The rusty orange tone of the hills comes from the peridotite that is their main component; when it's freshly exposed, this rock is a dark grey-green, but with oxidation it takes on a mellow golden tone. This rock is part of an exposed section of the earth's mantle; further metamorphic activity turns it into a rock called serpentinite, examples of which can be widely found here.

Gros Morne's Tablelands

Earth's mantle? That's right -- this is a section of rock that was once deep below the earth's surface, formed roughly 1.2 billion years ago. The process of continental drift several hundred million years ago forced this mantle rock upward, and subsequent erosion has given the hills their present form. They remain barren because the peridotite is low in life-sustaining nutrients and contains toxic concentrations of heavy metals. What vegetation that is found here is mostly along an old roadbed, on rock that was brought in for the purpose of road building. A well-maintained trail follows this roadbed, crossing Winterhouse Brook, which flows out into Bonne Bay just outside Woody Point.

Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

A walk along this trail reveals a surprising number of small, hardy plants that have developed the survival tactics necessary for such a forbidding environment. Many of them, like pitcher plants, butterwart, and the round-leafed sundew shown at left are insectivorous; instead of obtaining all their nutrients from the soil, they attract insects and through a variety of processes absorb the life-giving substances they need from the insects themselves or from their droppings. It's not an easy life, to say the least.

Winterhouse Brook

Continue along the trail as far as Winterhouse Brook (right), where snowmelt and run-off from the tops of the Tablelands form a swift-running stream. This area has a challenging winter climate, and a heavy snow load on the upper slopes often persists into late summer. If you think this place looks strange and otherworldly you're not alone. In fact, the landscape here is so forbidding that NASA has sent research teams here to investigate the area's similarity to the surface of Mars. On a beautiful summer day, though, it's a beautiful and fascinating little corner of Earth, and well worth a side trip. Woody Point is located on Newfoundland and Labrador Route 431, about 70 km from the town of Deer Lake. It has a motel, bed and breakfast accommodations and campgrounds nearby, and there are shops, restaurants and other services, and is roughly an hour away from Rocky Harbour. Parks Canada's Discovery Centre has high-quality informative displays, park information and a gift shop.

Woody Point and the Tablelands

Exploring Rose Blanche

Rose Blanche Lighthouse

When approaching Rose Blanche, the most striking feature on the landscape is an impressive stone lighthouse, one of a series built between 1871 and 1873 along this coast. The Rose Blanche light is one of the last surviving stone lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, and had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s, but the stone steps inside the tower were of such robust construction that they kept the building from falling down; restoration of the building was completed in 1999.

The Harbour at Rose Blanche

The little harbour of Rose Blanche is now accessible by road, but is still well off the beaten path so it sees fewer visitors than many more accessible Newfoundland communities. My own first visit here was on a superb July morning in 2015, on a cruise with  Adventure Canada. We dropped anchor just outside the harbour and made our way to shore in Zodiacs, landing at the public wharf and hiking to the lighthouse. The old path led around the inner harbour and over the hills, where the sun warmed berry fields and small ponds along the way. After seeing the lighthouse and the well-designed interpretation area at the end of the road, there was a warm welcome for the ship's passengers at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church on the hill overlooking the harbour.

Lighthouse Point

Looking seaward

Rose Blanche now shares government with neighbouring Harbour Le Cou, the subject of a well-known traditional song from Newfoundland, here performed by the group Ryan's Fancy. If you're visiting by road, the community is located on Newfoundland's scenic southwest coast, about 45 minutes east of Port aux Basques via provincial Route 470.

Lighthouse interior

Take a walk through Rose Blanche via Google Street View here. Amenities include bed and breakfast accommodations, shops and cafes.

Life on the Rocks in Point Riche

Marine gastropod fossil

One of my favourite moments during a visit to western Newfoundland is the "life on the rocks" exploration of Point Riche. The headland lies near the town of Port-au-Choix, on the island's Great Northern Peninsula, and its white octagonal lighthouse with a bright red lantern room is a striking sight. Below the lighthouse, though, is where this spot's treasures are found. In the broad limestone beds on the shore, thousands of marine fossils, mostly cephalopods and gastropods can be seen.  It takes only a moment for the eye to become accustomed to the search; when it has, a scan of the rocks reveals one tight spiral after another, sometimes dozens within a space the size of a small notebook.

Fossils at Point Riche

Among the fossils are tidal pools that evaporate quickly in the summer sun, leaving a rim of salt around their edges. In the cracks of the rock, tiny plants take root in the most challenging of circumstances. Minke whales, seals and dolphins can occasionally be seen passing by, and when there are small fish like capelin or juvenile herring in the area, northern gannets knife into the water. There is a small herd of caribou living in the area, and a few moose can also be seen from time to time.

The limestone barrens on the Northern Peninsula are home to many varieties of calcium-loving plants, some of them found only in this environment, so it's necessary to tread carefully on the plateau above the shore. Just up the road, also part of the Port-au-Choix National Historic Site, is an interpretation centre that concentrates on the area's remarkable human history; a succession of occupations of the area by various cultures go back some 6000 years.

The nearby towns of Port au Choix and Port Saunders are centres for fishing in the area, and there are restaurants, hotels and other services nearby.

A miniature garden among the rocks