Another Surprising Day in Grand Bank June 23. Part 1
Started the day with a hearty breakfast.
It didn't look too promising weather wise, but it turned out to be warm and foggy.
Our first stop was The Seafarers Museum. And we were surprised right off the bat to find out where the building itself, had come from.
And the exhibits were also particularly well put together.
One of the model boats was crafted by the grandfather of our host. The length of our car, and with so much detail.
For other pics from this museum:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aiDoDNSwZsb93mB69
A little further down the road, was a geological museum. I was the only one to go in. I love my rocks. But didn't find any new ones to add to my collection at home .
From here, we drove for what seemed a very long time in classic pea soup fog. Every once in a while, we were able to see, that we might be near the sea, but it could have been the prettiest scenery in the world, and I'll never know.
We finally made it to the Miners Memorial museum. We don't usually allot enough time to properly see things when we go in these types of museums, but here, we had a guided tour, and it was both informative, interesting, sad, and uplifting. I had tears in my eyes when the tour was done.
I'll try to be brief, although not my forte.
This museum honors the memory of men, who lived hard lives, mining fluorspar (used in everything from making concrete, fluoride, and lithium batteries- not uncommon- sells for about half the price of copper).
Unlike today, miners didn't have the option of easily traveling to other places to make a living, and they usually had large families to support. Their life expectancy was usually no more than the age of 50ish because of radon gas. This museum honors their memory not only because of their work in the mines, but also their acts of heroism when 3 American warships ran aground at the latter part of WWII.
A play has been written about Lanier Phillips, called Oil and Water. He was the only African American on board to be rescued and when he was brought to the home of a white Newfoundlander woman, he was terrified that he was going to be lynched. Obviously, African Americans were not treated well at that time in the services. He also had to ask the woman to stop scrubbing his skin; she had never seen or heard of a person with dark skin, and all the sailors had been covered with bunker oil (which helped preserve their lives in the cold ocean but also made it difficult for them to climb up the rocks if they were able to make it to shore). Mr. Phillips was forever grateful for the kindness he had received and when he died, approx 10 years ago, the mayor of the community was at his funeral to give a eulogy.
Also, the American President, soon after the war, arranged for a hospital to be built in the community (called the American Memorial Hospital) to honor what the Miners and their families had done for the sailors.
Today, there is still mining but it is open pit and proceeds from the museum are used to help mentally challenged members of the community where the aim is to find work for these people. Some of them work at the museum creating jewellery.
To read more about Phillip's story:
https://mha.mun.ca/mha/polluxtruxtun/lanier-phillips/
For more pics from this museum:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r9Xqjw2ju68JNg8dA.
After lunch, we found a nature trail to walk on.
From here, we had time to visit the tiny cute village of Burin.
