1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (117 page)

A Viking Colony in Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador

“Give a land a good name so that men would want to go there,” was reportedly the policy of Norse explorers such as Leif Ericsson. Which goes a ways in explaining why the name “Vinland” (or “land of grapes”)
was given to the 11th-century Viking colony in northern Newfoundland—the oldest European settlement yet discovered in North America, now preserved and reconstructed as L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site. This highly significant spot had historians rethinking the early chapters of European expansion once it was determined that Vikings had settled on these shores centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot.

According to the ancient Norse sagas, almost 1,000 years ago Vikings set sail from Greenland across the Atlantic, discovering a green, fertile land they called Vinland for the wild grapes growing there (the fruit most probably was some other berry—grapes do
not grow at this latitude). The sagas relate that the Vikings established a settlement in this new land to which numerous Norse explorers returned over the course of years.

Such was the information that propelled Norwegian archaeologists Helge and Anne Ingstad in the 1960s to search eastern North America for evidence of Viking settlements. At the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, on a protected bay called L’Anse aux Meadows, the Ingstads uncovered what the sagas had reported: the remains of a Viking colony from the 11th century.

Costumed actors recreate Viking life at the rebuilt camp.

The Ingstads excavated the site, as did Parks Canada later, discovering that the L’Anse aux Meadows community comprised a number of sod and timber building complexes, each with a dwelling and workshops. The colony supported up to 100 men and women, and was used for an undetermined number of years as a base for cutting timber, hunting, and exploring the unknown Vinland wilderness.

The settlement has been partly reconstructed by Parks Canada. The visitors center displays many of the artifacts discovered there and screens a film about the Ingstad excavation. The rebuilt camp is the real highlight, where you can explore the interior of an 11th-century Viking compound in the company of a trained guide who helps bring it all alive, and interact with actors in period dress as they demonstrate Viking skills such as blacksmithing, weaving, and wood carving.

W
HERE
: 268 miles/431 km north of Deer Lake.
L’A
NSE AUX
M
EADOWS
: St-Lunaire-Griquet. Tel 709-623-2608;
www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows
.
When:
June–mid-Oct.
W
HERE TO STAY
: The Valhalla Lodge. Tel 877-623-2018 or 709-623-2018;
www.valhalla-lodge.com
.
Cost:
from US$67/C$75.
When:
mid-May–Sept.
B
EST TIME
: July–Sept for weather.

Microcosm of a Country’s Seafaring Past

Newfoundland and Labrador

As remote as Newfoundland seems today, it was once one of North America’s primary gateways to European trade and exploration. The Bonavista Peninsula—a rocky thumb extending into the North Atlantic
from the island’s eastern face—has seen European arrivals perhaps since 1497, when John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto, the Italian-born explorer sailing for the English Crown) made landfall in this vicinity (although the exact spot is debated). Cabot’s reports of cod-rich waters brought Portuguese, French, and English fishing fleets to the peninsula, and by 1700, fishing villages had grown along its craggy harbors.

The tiny fishing communities that ring Trinity Bay on the peninsula’s southern shores were once a hub of European culture in Canada—in fact, the hamlet of Trinity, with a population today of 350, was once larger than the Newfoundland capital of St. John’s. Historic homes and commercial buildings crowd around Trinity’s once-busy harbor. Around 50 of the village’s original structures are preserved, today filled with shops, B&Bs,
restaurants, and pubs. In summer the Rising Tide Theatre group effectively turns the entire village into a stage for the New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant. In this peripatetic production, the audience follows actors through the streets as they present episodes of Trinity history with the village itself as backdrop.

From here it’s about 50 miles to the tip of the peninsula and the village of Bonavista, which offers even more edge-of-the-world remoteness. Among other historic homes and structures, the Ryan Premises National Historic Site is a series of period seafront warehouses that present the last word on the once mighty cod fishing industry. In Bonavista harbor is an exact replica of the
Matthew,
the ship that brought Cabot and his crew to North America. Tour the boat and imagine the claustrophobia the crew must have felt during a 35-day Atlantic crossing.

At Cape Bonavista, 3 miles outside town, and the end of the road between here and Europe, stands the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse. This vividly striped lighthouse was placed in service in 1842, and although now defunct, you can visit and hear tales of a lighthouse keeper’s life from costumed docents. From the top, look for a puffin colony that is often visible on a nearby promontory. If you gaze into the watery distance in the direction of London, you might see whales and icebergs.

The Cape Bonavista Lighthouse was restored to its original appearance.

W
HERE
: 125 miles/200 km northwest of St. John’s.
Visitor info:
Tel 709-466-3845;
www.thediscoverytrail.org
.
R
ISING
T
IDE
T
HEATRE
: Trinity. Tel 888-464-3377 or 709-464-3232;
www.risingtidetheatre.com
.
When:
mid-June–early Oct.
R
YAN
P
REMISES
: Tel 888-773-8888 or 709-468-1600;
www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/ryan
.
When:
mid-May–mid-Oct.
M
ATTHEW
: Tel 877-468-1497 or 709-468-1493;
www.matthewlegacy.com
.
When:
mid-May–Sept.
C
APE
B
ONAVISTA
L
IGHTHOUSE
: Tel 800-563-6353 or 709-468-7444;
www.manl.nf.ca/capebonavista.htm
.
When:
mid-June–late Nov.
W
HERE TO STAY
: Fishers’ Loft Inn, Port Rexton, tel 877-464-3240 or 709-464-3240;
www.fishersloft.com
.
Cost:
from US$90/C$99 (off-peak), from US$98/C$110 (peak).
When:
May–Oct.
B
EST TIME
: June 24–25, the date of John Cabot’s landfall, for the Discovery Celebrations.

A Toute Petite Bit of France

French Territories off Newfoundland

Who knew that you could drive to France from North America? The archipelago of St-Pierre and Miquelon is a French territory, a negligible fraction of that country’s once huge colonial holdings in North America.
Between 1713 and 1814, these barren, windswept islands—which lie just 18 miles from Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula—passed back and forth between France and
Britain no fewer than six times. In the end, they remained in French control, and today these tiny islands are solidly French and proud of it.

France fought to retain control of St-Pierre and Miquelon because of their location near the Grand Banks, legendary fishing grounds for cod. Though the once enormously prolific fisheries of the Grand Banks are now sadly depleted, the villages on St-Pierre and Miquelon are still bustling fishing ports.

St-Pierre, the archipelago’s largest center (with a population of 6,500), can be reached by air or via ferry from Fortune, on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Arriving is a jolt—although the landscape and the vividly colored wooden houses are similar to that of other rocky islands throughout the Maritimes, this is definitely not Canada. Settled largely by Breton, Norman, and Basque fishermen, St-Pierre is resolutely French, with good bistros and brasseries and shops selling French wine at European Community prices. Don’t forget that these islands are French in other ways too—euros are the currency, the electricity is 220 volts, and the guys with the
képis
and guns are gendarmes.

During the 1880s St-Pierre’s port was one of the liveliest in the world.

Apart from the novelty of being on French soil in North America, the main sights to see in St-Pierre are the Heritage Museum, which relates the history of this remote fishing colony of France, and the Pointe Aux Canons Lighthouse with distinctive red and white stripes and a battery of cannons standing guard at the mouth of St-Pierre harbor. Flanked by cafés, bakeries, bars, and municipal buildings, Place Charles de Gaulle is the center of the town.

If you can’t get enough of these Gallic islands, guided boat excursions also lead to even more remote sites on the cliff-lined island of Miquelon and the truly remote, now deserted island of Île aux Marins.

W
HERE
: 18 miles/29 km southwest of Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula.
Visitor info:
Tel 5-08-41-02-02;
www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.info
.
W
HERE TO STAY
: Hotel Robert, St-Pierre, tel 800-563-2006 or 5-08-41-24-19.
Cost:
from US$137/€103.
S
PM
E
XPRESS
F
ERRY
: Passenger only. Tel 800-563-2006 or 709-832-2006;
www.spmexpress.net
.
Cost:
US$76/C$85 round-trip.
When:
ferries between Fortune and St-Pierre daily from mid-July–early Sept. Otherwise check website.
H
ERITAGE
M
USEUM
: Tel 5-08-41-58-88.
When:
daily, July–Aug; closed Sun, Sept–June.

Primordial Landscapes at the Continent’s Edge

Newfoundland and Labrador

Eastern Canada’s most renowned hiking and adventure destination is a place of immense splendor and geological uniqueness. Gros Morne National Park, along Newfoundland’s rugged Great Northern Peninsula,
is a larger-than-life area of stunning beauty with a rich natural and cultural heritage so unlike that found almost anywhere else in North America that it earned a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Roughly translated as “the big gloomy,” the term “Gros Morne” refers to the park’s barren, mist-draped peaks and remote fjords that can bring on a mild case of melancholy even on a sunny day.