St. Anthony - 30 km - 1 day

August 10^{th</th> was spent in St. Anothy learning a lot more about the remarkable Dr. Wilfred Grenfell who created a world class medical care system in Newfoundland and Labrador.}

Grenfell Experience

While driving through the eastern parts of Labrador and northern Newfoundland, we noticed many wood piles and gardens along the roads and wondered about them. At the time, they did not seem picture worthy, but now I wished I had taken a few pictures, because of Dr. Grenfell who encouraged Newfoundlanders, whose diets were vegetable poor, to make use of the “tilling” that was done for the road construction that was easier than tilling the hard land other places:

St. Anthony was the Dr. Grenfell’s headquarters and the heart of the Grenfell Experience:

Dr. Grenfell:

• was born in northern England in 1865
• got his medical degree from Oxford in 1889
• signed up for a summer with the Fishermen’s Mission who sent him on a mission to Newfoundland in 1892
  • think Peace Corps
• fell in love with the land and people, and decided to stay
• travelled up and down Newfoundland and Labrador on dog sled in the winter time
  • and once got trapped on an ice sheet where he had to sacrifce three of his beloved dogs in order to survive
• built hospitals in Newfoundland and Labrador
  • including one in Battle Habour which was where we first heard of Dr. Grenfell
  • we did not mention because the hospital had burnt down
• built a couple of medical ships to sail up and down the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador to bring medical care to the fishermen
• realized that many of the maladies he was treating were caused by malnutrition and vitamen deficiency
  • so he advocated for social reform and improvements
  • and urged the citizen building of gardens along the soft shoulders of the freshly built roads
• understood that men with severe injuries could not go back to the fishing lifestyle
  • so he developed a home-based industry of hooking rugs and knitting so that these men could continue to work (even from bed), and for which Newfoundland now is famous
• created the Grenfell Mission to raise money to support all of the above activies
  • including selling sponsorships of individual bricks in hospitials
• recruited Ivy League medical students and graduates to volunteer for a summer in Newfoundland
  • some of whom returned for many years, or even stayed permanantly, making Newfoundland’s medical system one of the best in North America
• created the International Grenfell Association to administer the medical system he created
  • which he sold for $1.00 to the newly created Province of Newfoundland in 1949
• was inducted post-humously into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1997

Grenfell Interpretation Centre

The memorial to the three dog’s that Dr. Grenfell had to sacrifice in order to save himself:

The locations of hospitals built by Dr. Grenfell:

Samples of goods made by the home-industry created by Dr. Grenfell:

Some of the medical instruments used by Dr. Grenfell:

A 5¢ bank note honouring Dr. Grenfell:

Grenfell House

St. Anthony was Dr. Grenfell’s home:

with a beatiful view overlooking the habour:

In it are mementos and products of the home-based industry created by Dr. Grenfell:

Behind the house is a trail that leads to a tea house for the property:

St. Anthony Hospital Rotunda

The rotunda of the hospital in St. Anthony (the Charles S. Curtis Memorial Hospital) has a set of murals created by Jordi Bonet that are dedicated to the Grenfell Mission and Inuit culture:

The Great Viking Feast

St. Anthony is not just about Dr. Grenfell: it is close enough to L’Anse aux Meadows to have its own Viking long house:

which houses the Great Viking Feast which included Jiggs dinner, moose stew, baked eaten at communcal tables “reminiscent of Viking gatherings”. From this picture of the Viking hosts, you can tell there may also have been some local craft beer and gin:

The festivities were led by actors who perform in similar events at the L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.

AND, ask us about the court case, won by Henry, where Gail accused Henry of taking up too much of the freezer space with gin.

Of course, we both got certificates of participation:

The long house is behind the Fox Point Lighthouse (Fishing Point):

Thankfully, we were able to get to a feast before the long house was to be invaded by a horde of passengers from the cruise ship:

These are our tracks for Sunday, Aug 10

*click on the map for more details

That’s it for St. Anthony

Next we are off to Port au Choix.

In case you had missed it, we came from L’Anse aux Meadows.

When we are travelling, our current location is always available and updated every 10 minutes