Heart's Content Graveyard Mapping Workshop and Cemetery Clean Up

Guest blog post by Celeste Billung-Meyer a Folklore student working with the Heritage Foundation this summer:

Last Saturday (July 16 th , 2016), I attended the Graveyard Mapping Workshop and Clean Up in Heart’s Content. It was an event co-organized by the Heritage Foundation and Youth Heritage in order to help Heart’s Content get ready for their 150th anniversary of the first successful landing of a trans Atlantic cable.

We had a fantastic turn out! The majority of our volunteers gathered at the Heritage Foundation for 9 am, where we got on a bus and drove to Heart’s Content. When we arrived and met up with the rest of the volunteers, the weather looked dubious; however, much to our delight, within the hour the sun came out and the day ended up being gorgeous and warm!

Practising gravestone rubbing.

For the morning, the group was split between two activities. One group started cleaning up the cemetery and the other group went with Terra who led a workshop about grave rubbing. As it happened, there was no tracing paper to be bought anywhere in St. John’s during the days leading up to the workshop and so Terra resolved to use exam table paper (found in doctor’s offices) as a substitute.  However, the substitute paper combined with the windy morning (making it hard tape the paper tightly to the stone) lead to mixed grave rubbing results. Nonetheless, everyone came away with a working knowledge of the process and an solid understanding of the value of grave rubbing.

Cemetery cleanup.

Around noon, we were invited to a lunch provided by the Mizzen Heritage Society. Hotdogs for all! After lunch, we had the graveyard mapping workshop lead by Dale and Michael. While this type of mapping is quite a slow and painstaking process, it can be used by anyone with just a couple of tools that are cheap and easily accessible (two stakes, two tape measures, a plumb bob, graph paper, a large clip board, a geometry kit, a scale ruler and a pencil). After the demonstration, the group was split in two again and anyone who wanted to try the mapping first hand stayed with Michael and was given a chance to do so.

Dale and Sarah demonstrating how to map the graveyard.

Michael drawing out the map.

The rest of the group followed Dale on a walk around the cemetery and he explained the meaning behind the symbols on some of the graves!

Dale giving a tour of the cemetery symbols.

Once the tour ended, everyone came together to finish cleaning up the cemetery.

Photo of our wonderful volunteers and the progress of the graveyard!

We finished the day with a walk over to the Mizzen Heritage Society and then the newly renovated Heyfield Memorial United Church and Cemetery. Along the way, we learned a bit about the history of Heart’s Content, some of the ghost lore of the area and a bit about what the Heritage Foundation and Youth Heritage are up to in the next couple of months!

Learning about Heart's Content's history.

"That was hard on us" - Remembrances from 20th-century Grand Falls-Windsor

I came across a little gem today while reading oral interview transcripts about growing up in Grand Falls-Windsor in the 20th century. In this excerpt, Obadiah Gill describes the trouble with getting to see a dentist in the town, and recalls one man who went to the blacksmith to have his tooth pulled:

“You know, he’d put the needle in and it would deaden it a little bit you know. But then you had the pain in your tooth...I heard of a fellow up in the lumber woods one time, got the blacksmith to take his pliers and tickle his tooth, horse pliers.” (Obadiah was interviewed on April 6, 1999)

Some of the excerpts from these interviews are just great - funny, interesting, old-timey stuff that is charming and affirming in its simplicity - but these moments are at times juxtaposed against stories of heartbreak. Most of the senior interviewees have something to say about life in GFW during the second world war. Beatrice Healey describes what it was like to live in town with soldiers everywhere:

“I was living in Windsor then. It was pretty bad. You had to put down your dark green blinds nighttime, we had blackouts. Soldiers everywhere. I was stopped on the street several times when I was bringing water from...the next door neighbour had a well and he said, “I’ll take your buckets!” and I said, “No, you won’t.” Ah...anyway a couple soldiers took the buckets from me cause I just lived down the road on Main Street. It was very tough for a while.”

“A fellow by the name of Mr. Gill, he went away to the war. He came in the house that morning he was leaving and he said to my husband, Phil. “Phil I’m leaving this evening, I wants ya to have a drink with me.” He sat down and had a drink. He went...he went away and he was killed. He was gone about three months, I guess when we got word that he was killed, he was only about 26 years old, he wasn’t very old. That was hard on us.” (Beatrice was interviewed on July 22nd, 1999)

A glimmer of light in a dark remembrance is Beatrice Healey’s stubborn insistence on carrying the buckets herself. She knew she could be stopped at any time, but she wasn’t going to let that keep her off the streets. She was going to haul that water.

Though there is a great disparity in the gravity of these remembrances - a trip to the blacksmith to have a tooth out and the reality of war - both speak to the strength of the people of Grand Falls-Windsor. The oral history transcripts and tapes will be added to the community collection on Memorial University’s Digital Archive Initiative, as part of our ongoing Collective Memories Project.

The Collective Memories Project is an initiative which will invite seniors to record their stories and memories for archiving and sharing. It is a project of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL), the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Aging and Seniors, and is funded through the Department of Seniors Wellness and Social Development. Collective Memories is looking for community partners to help make existing oral history collections more accessible to the general public, and can help communities start up new oral history projects to interview local seniors. For more information on how you or your community organization can get involved, email terra@heritagefoundation.ca or call (709) 739-1892, ext. 5.

Link to GFW oral history collection:

http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/search/collection/ich_cn/searchterm/Grand%20Falls-Windsor/field/subcol/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/

Youth Heritage Night at the Wesley Gosse Heritage Museum, Spaniard's Bay, July 20th.

I got an email last week from Emily Welsh, one of the interpreters at the Wesley Gosse Heritage Museum in Spaniard's Bay. The Museum is organizing a Youth heritage Night for Wednesday, July 20th. Emily asked to share this message with the readers of the blog:

Head out to the Wesley Gosse Heritage Museum for our Youth Heritage Night. You will hear from our museum interpreter, Thomas who will be sharing some interviews from the past year with some members from the community, Stewart Brazil, who will be sharing stories about filming the documentary Newfoundland in Armageddon, Jenna Lee Ralph who will be telling us about her trip to Beaumont Hamel, and more! What a terrific opportunity to show our support and pride for Spaniard’s Bay youth!

The event is at 7pm at the Wesley Gosse Heritage Museum, located in the former United Church, 6 Church Hill across from Harold Gosse Park & Gazebo. See you there!

- Dale

People Places and Traditions Workshop

As a part of the Culturalis Borealis Summer Institute, myself, Terra, Andrea and Dale hosted a People, Places and Traditions Workshop with a fantastic group of 7-12 teachers at the District Conference Center on Strawberry Marsh Road last Wednesday. I started work with Dale on July 4th as a Cultural Conservation intern with the Conservation Corps ECHO program, and over the Summer I’ll be helping to do research, conduct oral interviews, participate in and learn to conduct workshops like this one.

Andrea, Terra and Dale discussing the workshop

We met with the teachers participating in the Summer Institute to get them started thinking about how our intangible cultural heritage is reflected in the important people, places and traditions of our communities.

Ready to get started!

Equipped with two large-scale maps of Newfoundland (and one of Labrador!), some ribbon, craft glue, and pens, our participants were ready to get started on the workshop! We divided everyone up into three groups - one each for People, Places and Traditions. Our first group brainstormed about people with special cultural knowledge or skills in their communities. Rather than listing 'famous' figures or officials, we asked them to think about things a little closer to home. Who among your friends and family might have special localized knowledge or skills? who are some 'unofficial' but well-known tradition-bearers in your town?

Our workshop participants glued index cards with people, places and traditions on them to the maps.

One of our participants from St. John's wrote about Joe Planchet of Canary Cycles here in St. John’s, while another wrote about the schooner fishermen in Bay Roberts who brought back their stories about trips to Labrador. One participant from Cape St. Georges wrote about a favourite teacher with a wealth of historical knowledge about the area.

Once they finished writing their stories, the participants attached their cards to a map of Newfoundland (and one of Labrador!) and used ribbon to link each card to the right community.

Our Labrador team with their map

A closer look!

#CollectiveMemories Roadtrip: Clarenville Heritage Society

I'm in Clarenville today, meeting with the Clarenville Heritage Society about setting up a Collective Memories project. Above are three of the people I met with today,  Megan Vardy, Stephen Bonnell, and Sam Adey.

We had a good conversation about the work they are doing to preserve the history of Clarenville and surrounding area, and where they might fit in to our new Collective Memories project. After our preliminary discussions, I think we'll be assisting them with two small pilot projects: we'll be helping them sort out the metadata and descriptions for their existing oral history collection and adding it to Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative; and we'll return soon to help them with some new oral history interviews, specifically on the railway history of Clarenville and area.

You can check out some of the interviews they've done in the past here.

We'll post more on the project as it chugs on down the track!

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador is looking for community partners to help make existing oral history collections more accessible to the general public, and can help communities start up new oral history projects to interview local seniors. For more information on the Collective Memories Project or how you or your community organization can get involved, email terra@heritagefoundation.ca or call (709) 739-1892, ext. 5.

- Dale

Traditional Bread and Jam making workshop in Pasadena, July 23, 2016

Strawberry jam, fresh made bread, and heritage: a perfect combination!

Our friends at the Pasadena Heritage Society are starting up a series of traditional skills workshops, and their first one is happening on July 23rd, as part of the the Humber Valley Strawberry Festival.

You'll learn how to make bread and strawberry jam from scratch! The workshop is only $5 and is open to all ages. For more information, and to register, contact pasadenaheritage@outlook.com

Heritage Update - new directions, oral history, and #CapelinRoll2016

In the July 2016 edition of our Heritage Update newsletter, Jerry Dick talks about new directions for the Heritage Foundation of NL; we proudly announce the launch of our Collective Memories oral history project; we anxiously await for the arrival of #CapelinRoll2016; and we invite you to a free cemetery mapping workshop and graveyard cleanup happening in Heart's Content.

Contributors:
Jerry Dick, Dale Jarvis, Lisa Daly, Kim Orren, Collective Memories Project, Terra Barrett

Download the pdf

Free Graveyard Mapping Workshop - July 16th

Measuring the distance between graves.

The Heritage Foundations of Newfoundland and Labrador, in partnership with Youth Heritage NL, is looking for your help in getting Heart's Content ready for their 150th Anniversary Commemoration Celebration "Connected and Contented"!

We are organizing a cemetery mapping and cleanup for July 16. The mapping workshop will take place in the morning, followed by at short lunch provided by the Mizzen Heritage Society and HFNL, then a cleanup of the cemetery before taking the bus back to St. John's. Help HFNL and YHNL cleanup the cemetery and learn how to map in the process!

There will be a bus leaving 1 Springdale Street, St. John's at 9am and returning around 4pm.

Schedule:
 9:00-10:30 - Travel to Heart's Content
10:30-12:00 - Mapping the cemetery
12:00-12:45 - Lunch!
12:45- 3:30 - Cemetery cleanup
 3:30- 5:00 - Travel back to St. John's

Of course this is not limited to volunteers from St. John's. If you are interested in helping, please contact us at YouthHeritageNL@gmail.com and we will provide details (transportation may not be included depending on your location).

This is an outdoor, hands-on activity, so please have appropriate clothing, workboots, gloves, hats, sunblock, bug spray, etc.

If you want to get involved register here for this free workshop.

Plotting the graves on a map.

Tuesday's Folklore Photos - Graveyard Mapping, Recording, and Rubbing

Measuring and mapping the graves.

Today’s Folklore Photos comes from a Heritage Foundation field trip to the General Protestant Cemetery on Topsail Rd, in St. John’s. Yesterday afternoon July 4th, 2016, Dale, Michael, Pei, Celeste, Sarah, and I took a trip to the cemetery to map the cemetery, record the information on the gravestones, and rub some of the stones.

Recording the information.

Pei, an international folklore graduate student, is working with the Heritage Foundation this summer to digitize files. Another project that he is working on is documenting and researching the Chinese graves in the General Protestant Cemetery. Pei is looking for more information on the people buried in the cemetery and is interested in the impact they’ve left on the community.

Plotting the graves.

Yesterday was the first step in finding out more information about the Chinese graves. We measured the location of the 27 graves in relation to one another and the concrete kerbs that are keeping the graves together. Michael plotted this information on a map with each of the graves numbered.

Recording the size, location, symbols, and writing on the gravestones.

Celeste and Sarah mainly focused on recording the information about the graves they could gather leaving the Chinese characters for Pei to decipher. Pei and I reviewed the stones and decided which stones needed to be rubbed in order to gather more information. We used masking tape and put a thick paper over the gravestones. We made sure to keep the paper as taunt as possible in order to have a clearer rubbing of the grave. We then used charcoal to outline the gravestone, and moved across the gravestone horizontally keeping a steady pressure. Once we finished the rubbings we photographed them and rolled the rubbings up for storage. Although rubbings are not always the answer for gravestones they can often allow you to record different information such as the size and shape of the gravestones and can allow you to better see the lettering engraved on the stones.

Sample gravestone rubbing from Cupids.

Demonstrating gravestone rubbing.

If you would like to learn more about mapping cemeteries join the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and Youth Heritage NL on July 16, 2016 for a cemetery mapping workshop, and a cleanup of one of the older cemeteries in Heart’s Content. If you would like more information or would like to register for this free workshop click here!

~Terra Barrett