Mother IXX

Where a house once stood

Great Colinet Island had two communities at one time but they were resettled in the early 1960's. Having stopped at Mosquito I also wanted to have a look around Regina (locally pronounced Reg-ena) and called Mother IXX at one time.

I walked around to see what was still left of the community and found only foundations. A good site at MUN (Newfoundland's University) has a little history and pages of old photographs of what the community looked like before resettlement. Having seen these photos previously added to the experience of walking around the site while I was there.

Sentinel

A chimney still stands where a house once stood. The hole for the stove pipe indicates where the kitchen was. In those days the kitchen stove provided heat for the whole house and was the social center of the house.

Rock of ages

The foundation of the community church is all that remains of the sermons and prayers uttered in this place. A little imagination is all it takes to see people dressed in their Sunday best entering and departing over the front steps.

Former fish plant

The foundation of the former fish processing plant lies scattered on the beach. A lot of community fish plants are going to look like this in years to come as the sea's resources come increasingly under stress.

The people have left but the community lives on in the memories of those who lived in Regina. After they pass on it will live through the interest of people like myself and Scott Walden also visited the Island and has a chapter dedicated to the two communities in his book "Places Lost", a very interesting read.