Stan with Great Island in the backgroundToday Stan and I put-in at Tors Cove and paddled south along the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula to the site of the resettled community of LaManche. Its the site of a provincial park now but in its heyday 54 souls called it home. Its only the size of a hole in the wall really with very little flat land and for that reason the population peaked at that number.
It was founded by a George Melvin in the 1840's and was inhabited until 1966.
Between a rock and a hard place On our paddle up to LaManche we noticed a notch in the cliffs and we went over to have a look.
A river runs into it We paddled around Bauline Point and into LaManche Bay. At the bottom of the bay there was little indication that there was any kind of a protected cove. We kept paddling and at the bottom of the bay a cove opened up that curved to the right. At the head of the cove we found a river tumbling over a falls into the sea.
Stan coming in for a landing There's no beach to land on in LaManche but on the left the rocks slope gently enough to take out. It would have been tough to prosecute the fishery from this place. Old photos show the hard work of fishermen to erect stages, flakes and wharves. Memorial University of Newfoundland has a maritime history archive with lots of pictures of how LaManche looked prior to resettlement. Check it out here: http://www.mun.ca/mha/resettlement/lamanche_1.php
A room with a view Well, there's no room here anymore but whatever structure stood here, it would have had a great view looking out LaManche Cove.
I was struck by the trouble people went to in order to make a place to live and a community. The community grew in what can only be described as a notch in the hills and cliffs. Foundations were still standing and put in every-which-way. The key for the people that lived here was the access to the sea and it seemed that it didn't even matter that there was no beach to land boats.
There were no sidewalks There's not much level land where the resettled community of LaManche used to be. This looked to be a trail that would have been walked often by the people who lived here. Forget sidewalks, houses were connected by trails. Everyone in a community this small would have had to be on good terms with each other because there's nowhere to go to avoid neighbours who had fallen-out.
At the top of the picture, the foundation of some sort of building that still stands.
A little of the old ... and a little new The new bridge constructed for the east coast trail spans LaManche cove where all that's left of the former community are foundations.
Nice shots Tony. I've never been down that way, going to have to put that on my "to do" list for hiking and paddling.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian, its a great short paddle with an interesting destination. When you want to do it let me know and I'll do it with you. Interesting too when we paddled into the cove we were greeted by fellow KNL members Darren, Daved Mac and Leslie who were in there on a hike.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)