A post from Jim McCarthy:
I spent the day updating the McCarthy’s Party phone directory with my son Andrew and it was a far more enjoyable experience than I would have ever thought imaginable. My wife Regina started this list over 30 years ago and while many names have since been added (there’s well over 250 names in the book) – apparently none have been removed. Needless to say our examination of the names often brought us on a journey down memory lane and we shared some wonderful stories about the “good old days” in Newfoundland’s tourism industry.
As Andrew “cut” the first name from the list it was of a person who had passed many years ago and it actually caused a slight pang in my chest, right where my heart sits. I suggested that instead of deleting them we should instead impose a photo along with a short biography about the role that person played in the establishment of our family business. It might remind our new guides about the type of company my wife started and at least provide them with some interesting stories to share with our guests. What a fitting tribute.
Over the years my wife has won nearly every tourism award available to a Newfoundland and Labrador and Canadian Tourism company. Rightfully so for she truly was a pioneer in the industry making tourism happen in places where it either didn’t exist or the local people had no appreciation of what our visitors were actually interested in seeing. I like to remind our boys that their mother often fabricated attractions and in many cases, simply “Made Up” tourism long before anyone discussed product development in tourism industry meetings.
With that said I am sure that without the many characters listed in this old phone directory none of this would have been possible and I’m quite certain that few of these supporting characters were ever acknowledged for their contributions. Given that many of them are long gone perhaps it’s high time we acknowledged a few of them before they are forgotten.
Back in the day, the Town of Salvage on the Eastport Peninsula was a magical stop for our guests. A busy fish plant provided many good paying jobs and the people’s prosperity were reflected in the style, care and maintenance of their traditional homes and property. There were many active fishing premises lining the entirety of the shorefront of the naturally protected harbour. The people were friendly and they would take the time to engage our guests and answer their many questions on any topic from the fishery to how they spent their time during the winter months. What the town didn’t possess was a restaurant, a tearoom, café or even a public washroom facility. Undeterred, my wife sought out a local couple that agreed to open their home for our guests, serve a cup of tea, a plate of sweets and provide a much needed toilet. She also discovered that the man of the house – Heber Heffern, crafted homemade birch brooms from a single stick of wood. Given her favorite Newfoundland expression was to describe her hair as “a birch broom in the fits” she convinced the skipper to display his wares and make them available for sale to our guests. This started a cottage industry and what would eventually become a regular stop for nearly every motor coach company that visited Newfoundland.
Long before the Beothuck Interpretation center was built in Boyd’s Cove, when ‘Prime Berth’ fishing museum was simply a working ‘premise’ and there was no official attraction along the drive to Twillingate, Regina discovered the wonderful hamlet of Little Harbour. Here she met Harold Pardy and his lovely family. Harold made traditional Newfoundland wooden “Lunch Barrels” and an old-fashioned noisemaker called a “Clacker” that the tourists bought as authentic gifts and souvenirs. He would walk our people through his “Stage”, allow the guests to sample the cod liver oil he rendered on site and of course, and perhaps most importantly, served tea and sweets.
On the drive to St. Anthony we would often see seal pelts stretched on racks, either floating in bog holes or drying in the sun on the side of the road in Sandy Cove. This inspired Regina to stop for a closer look and provided her the chance to meet Gideon White. Gideon was a true Newfoundland ‘Character’ who cured, stretched and prepared the seal skin pelts which he later used to craft warm, waterproof, and very natural boots, gloves and jackets. Today, ‘Borealis Crafts’provides the same interpretive services and displays but there was a time when Gideon was the main attraction.
It is difficult to imagine Gros Morne National Park in the early days but when we first visited the region in the early 1980’s there wasn’t even a place to take a meal. Again Regina intervened and found a family boarding house that later became Parson’s Guest Home. They served a simple lunch that included homemade soup, sandwiches, and “Tighteners” – a delightful assortment of sweets that became a crowd favorite when Mrs. Parsons explained the name – “So good they’re guaranteed to ‘tighten’ your belt a couple of notches.” Both Mr. and Mrs. Parsons have passed and Rocky Harbour now has many excellent dining choices for groups and individuals alike. We, however, remain loyal to our list. The Parsons’ son now runs the premises and our groups still go there for our meals in the Park.
To use an old cliché, I suppose it would be fair to say “We’ve come a long way baby”; so long as we also remember that much of our success came, “with a little (make that a lot) of help from our friends!”
