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A huge thank you to one of our longtime Board members, Jerome McCarthy, who refurbished our ‘Wings Over the Atlantic’ monument. It was in bad shape until Jerome stepped up and did this work pro bono.

It is much appreciated. Thank you, Jerome!

As Chair of the Board of Directors of the Conception Bay Museum, I want to extend a huge thank you to our Board and the many volunteers who assist with the running of this institution.

Our mission is to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of our community. We are truly excited to continue our programs this season in the safest possible manner to the very best of our ability given COVID-19 and its restrictions. Please watch for further announcements as we move forward. Decisions on public visitation will be made later. Happy Volunteer Week! Thank you all!

– Patrick J. Collins, Chair

Happy to announce we’ve recently become one of the National Trust for Canada’s Passport Places in Newfoundland & Labrador!

Whether you are interested in castles, former jails, lighthouses, mansions, train stations or indigenous heritage there’s a Passport Place for you. There’s no better way to discover Canada’s history than in an actual historic place. Discover places that amaze, delight, and inform.

Enjoy FREE admission at these special places with your National Trust membership. Membership starts at only $40. Join today!

Find out more about Passport Places on the National Trust’s website.

As recorded in our ‘Harbour Grace Notebook’ project:

On February 3, 1832, the Association of Fishermen met at William Innott’s hotel, the Waterford Arms, and paraded with flags and banners to Bears Cove, then on to Samson’s Brook (often called Nichols Brook), the band playing their favourite songs the whole way. They circled back to the Waterford Arms, where refreshments were served and twenty-five speeches given. William Talbot stood as the chairperson, Robert Oke as the vice-chair.

Owned by merchant William Innott, the Waterford Arms was a popular hotel and community meeting place in the early part of the nineteenth century. It presumably took its name from County Waterford, Ireland, an area with strong migratory connections to Newfoundland. The hotel stood somewhere near the area of today’s LeMarchant Street (or Gas House Hill). A cooper’s shop stood near the rear of the hotel, as well as a stable built for Innott’s horses.

The will of James Cowan further details Innott’s property holdings in Harbour Grace:

The premises situated at Harbor Grace held under lease by William Innott consisting of the dwelling house and wharf lately held by Denis MacGrath deceased, a dwelling house also, garden in front thereof, and one at back thereof, with a Cooper’s shop in the rear of the Waterford Arms, together with a stable built by the said William Innott near thereto… And lastly I appoint James Bayly Gentleman and William Innott Merchant Executors of this my last will and Testament who shall with their heirs executors and administrators be at all times exonerated and indemnified in any acts matters or things to be done by them in the execution of such duty or trust.

Other groups which frequented the Waterford Arms include the Benevolent Irish Society, who held their annual anniversaries at the hotel every February.

Interestingly, Innott’s hospitality business brought him into contact with Governor Sir Thomas Cochrane. The two exchanged correspondence in the late summer of 1826 regarding the unpaid debts of Judge John William Molloy. A ‘Mr. Stark’ had arranged for several rooms to be rented by Judge Molloy from May 10 to July 13; the latter assured Innott that Cochrane would foot the bill. When the payment of £250 was not forthcoming, Innott promptly wrote the governor. E.B. Brenton replied to Innott on Cochrane’s behalf, stating that the governor was “wholly unacquainted with the circumstances you have state[d], and cannot therefore authorize payment prayed for by your memorial.” In further correspondence between the governor and the judge, the latter’s explanation for the expenses at Harbour Grace were deemed unsatisfactory; pointedly, Cochrane asked what authority Molloy thought he had to mention the governor’s name, or make implications that he could be drawn upon in payment of these expenses. Such “pecuniary embarrassments” occupied much of Cochrane’s time in the summer of 1826 and led to Molloy’s dismissal from office.

Tragically, on August 18, 1832, the Waterford Arms burned in the first ‘Great Fire’ of Harbour Grace, along with Keefe’s Hotel, the Commercial Rooms, and twelve public houses.

After this devastation, a public meeting was held at the courthouse to elect commissioners to planning the town anew. Where the hotel once stood, a firebreak, LeMarchant Street, was constructed.

Pictured: A busy day at the Harbour Grace waterfront, ca. 1940. Point of Beach ‘Beacon Light‘ visible in the background.

Photo courtesy Town of Harbour Grace photo archives.

Since early settlement, Harbour Grace’s Point of Beach has been a notable landmark for mariners. In the 1700s, when surveying Newfoundland’s coastal waters, Capt. James Cook erected as ‘head of stones’ at Point of Beach to aid navigation.

In 1850, shipbuilder Michael Condon Kearney, with help from his Scottish foreman John Gunn, constructed a lighthouse at Point of Beach. Timber for the building was brought from St. Margaret’s, Nova Scotia, and Mirimachi, New Brunswick. Known as the ‘Beacon Light,’ the structure was originally lit by oil. The light soon switched to gas in 1852 and eventually moved to electricity. The beacon was a double light, one being placed over the other. It held this appearance for six miles. Further than this distance, up to ten miles away, the lights appeared as one.

The first light keeper was Capt. George Brown, known as ‘Bully Brown’ in Harbour Grace.

In November 1960, as a cost-saving measure, the federal government decided to replace the century old ‘Beacon Light’ with an open-tower steel structure. Transport Minister Léon Balcer said the wooden lighthouse was in such condition that it would cost $16,000 to replace the structure, but only $2,200 to build a new one.

Do you have any memories of the ‘Beacon Light’ in Harbour Grace?

Pictured: 1910 Ford Model T owned by Babb’s Service Station, located at the top of Cochrane St (facing Harvey St), 1947. The driver is Donald Pike, with passenger Margaret Reynolds (Queen of the Fair, 1947). Pictured alongside the car: Alonzo (Lonz) Babb and Nick Perry.

Do you have any memories of Babb’s Service Station in Harbour Grace?

Pictured: A 1923 Jewett owned by Charles Garland and Neil Legge driving down LeMarchant St, Harbour Grace, probably circa 1940s. The two originally purchased the car for $5.00.

Photo courtesy Town of Harbour Grace photo archives.

Did you ever visit our grounds and wonder about these gigantic concrete circles? For years these rings have been a feature in our park on Water Street East, though their original location was much further to the west, at Riverhead, where predominantly Irish labourers tilled the land for subsistence agriculture, to supplement their work in the fishery.

During the nineteenth century, Harbour Grace merchants John Munn and Thomas Ridley invested in various local enterprises outside of the fishery. In 1850, the two financially backed a flour mill at Riverhead. The mill was located at Bannerman River (also known as Dawley’s Brook) and utilized the waters’ substantial force to power the mill’s grinding stones (or “runnerstones”). A Scotsman by the name of Cockburn was the miller and Thomas Kitchin was superintendent.

Decades after the mill’s closure, two of the grinding stones once used at the Bannerman River mill were salvaged and brought to the museum grounds for public display, where they remain to this day.

Source: Munn, William A. “The Town Goes Ahead–1845 to 1855,” NQ, vol. 37, no. 2, p. 22.

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Otterbury Schoolhouse was a one-room schooling institution in Harbour Grace, which operated from 1889-1969.

Early survey maps indicate Otterbury as the area roughly between the beginning of Water Street, Harvey Street, and Lee’s Lane. Interestingly, there are three areas called Otterbury in Conception Bay – one in Harbour Grace, one in Clarke’s Beach, and one northeast of Carbonear. The term refers to an abandoned fishing community. According to local historian Gord Pike, the word may have come from Ottery St. Mary, in Devon, England, or was a corruption of “otter burrow.”

Built as early as 1884, Otterbury Schoolhouse was a traditional, one-room educational institution for Roman Catholic youth in the Riverhead and Otterbury area. The school was located on Water Street West, in the Otterbury district. In 1884 there were 45 students registered. Like other schools of its era, it was heated by a wood-burning stove, and the other students, especially the boys, took turns getting the firewood. There was an outdoor bathroom and all students were responsible for helping keep the school clean.

In the 1930s, Ms. Helena Power was the teacher at the school. Power had previously taught in the United States before coming to Newfoundland. Although Latin was taught in schools at the time, she taught French to the students of Otterbury. (Power later published a book, More Stories from Dickens [1961], which retold the famous author’s stories for children.) During the 1930s an average of 50-60 students attended the school each year.

The school officially closed in 1969. Gordon G. Pike and the Harbour Grace Historical Society helped remodel the deteriorated structure in the late 1990s. However, years later, repairs were needed again; the schoolhouse was then moved to its current location, near the Kearney Tourist Chalet and the SS Kyle, under the direction of Albert (Bud) Chafe. The exterior was repainted in fall 2017.

Otterbury Schoolhouse was designated a Municipal Heritage Site by the Town of Harbour Grace due to its historic and aesthetic value on January 10, 2006. Plans are currently set in motion to revitalize the Schoolhouse as a multipurpose space for the community’s seniors.

Artifact Discussion

The above artifact was donated to the Town of Harbour Grace for the revitalization project. This 1954-55 register belonged to Angela Hickey, who taught at the schoolhouse for her entire career. The register measures 12″ (width) by 17.5″ (length) and is 96 pages in total. The register was donated by Angela Drover, niece of Angela Hickey.

There were 43 students in attendance during this school year. A monthly attendance list follows each name. In September, the monthly attendance was 93%, with the school open 21 days out of the month. In total, the school was open 174 days during this school year, with average daily attendance of 37 pupils. The local Department of Education supervisor, Robert J. Connolly, visited Otterbury three times during the 1954-55 school year, on September 20, December 7, and June 16.

As the pictures above note, students were from “Riverhead,” “Harvey St,” “Water St,” “Hr. Grace,” and the “Pipe Track.” Their guardian’s name is listed, with address.

View the registration roll in high quality (1200 dpi) here:

Page 4: Download link (Google Drive)

Page 18: Download link (Google Drive)

Do you recognize anyone from the roll? Do you have any artifacts from Otterbury or schools in Harbour Grace you’d wish to donate? Call 596-3631 ext. 4.