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St. John’s, provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador
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It was my first trip back to Newfoundland in a dozen years, and I was there showing my brother the family land in Blow Me Down and scoping out a quiet place to hole up and write in the coming year.
For those of you not familiar with Newfoundland, it is a large island in the North Atlantic about 1,000 miles east/northeast of Boston and (along with Labrador) a province of Canada. It was a British crown colony before becoming a Dominion of Britain in 1907; and then Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in 1949 in a murky referendum.
St. John’s was settled in the 1600s and sits in a vast protected harbor surrounded by rocky bluffs. It has been a vital shipping and trade center for centuries, as well as an important strategic port during World War II.
Now home to about 110,000 people, St. John’s has become a bit of a tourist destination with its legendary George Street bar and music scene.
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Humpback whale, Newfoundland, July 2019
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It also seems to have blossomed into an artistic and business center with some shiny new hotels and terrific restaurants. St. John's is still a working port at heart, however, with massive freighters coming and going and rugged utility ships that service the offshore oil rigs in constant motion along the docks.
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Both my grandparents on my father’s side were Newfoundlanders. They left the island when they were in their early twenties and migrated to Boston, which is where they met.
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Blow Me Down, Newfoundland
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Before he emigrated, my grandfather James Kirby lived in a small fishing settlement called Blow Me Down on Conception Bay near Carbonear. We think the stones you see in the foreground above are what’s left of the house where he was raised with his nine siblings. It must have been a rough and rugged existence perched above the frigid North Atlantic, fishing for cod with handlines from a dory.
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July in the Midwest
I’m back to work tonight playing at Natalie’s in Worthington, Ohio, after two days of planes, trains, automobiles and very little sleep. I will spend the rest of the month bouncing around the Midwest. Check my schedule, and I hope to see you along the way.
Thanks for listening!
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