A Central NF State of Mind

(2022 Newfoundland Ep 13)

After driving about a third of the way back across NF, we camped for the night in Gander, a small town with a large airport.

Camping among planes at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum

At the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, we learned about the interesting history of the town and airport.

Gander NF street layout – like a gander’s head!

The Gander Airport was built in the late 1930s, then the most easterly airport in North America. During WWII, the airport was a refueling stop for Allied aircraft flying to and from Europe. It was considered a vital military asset during the war.

The town grew in the 1950s, as commercial flights between North America and Europe refueled at Gander. With longer flight distances possible by the early 1960s, there was less of need for refueling at Gander. Meanwhile, Communist-bloc airlines began to use Gander as they flew between Russia, Eastern Europe and Cuba.

Decades later, on September 11, 2001, US airspace was shut down following the attacks on the World Trade Center and other US locations. 42 aircraft with nearly 6700 passengers were grounded at Gander, nearly doubling the town’s population of 10000 with passengers from around the world. Many of the ‘plane people’ did not know what was going on, how long they would be stranded or even where Gander was located!

Gander and surrounding communities opened their hearts and doors to the passengers by collecting food, toiletries and other necessities, and by providing makeshift shelters in a number of locations. The phone company even set up phones so passengers could call their families. The museum has a display of letters from grounded passengers thanking the community for their care during the incident.

From Gander we drove a few miles north to camp near Twillingate, a popular summer NL vacation destination.

Long Point Lighthouse – looks like a salt shaker!

We fueled up with coffee and muffins at the Crow’s Nest Café before visiting the Long Point Lighthouse and hiking down stairs and a steep trail to Nanny’s Hole and Sleepy Cove.

At the café owner’s suggestion, we ate dinner and enjoyed spirited NL music and skits at the Twillingate Dinner Theater that evening.

Songs and skits at the Twillingate Dinner Theatre

It’s an Ugly Stick: a **traditional NF percussion instrument made with household items**.

Early the next morning we took a ferry to Fogo Island, an ‘island off an island.’ It is said Fogo Island is not so much a place as a state of mind with bright-colored clapboard houses, sea-cliff footpaths and a most unusual (perhaps out of place) hotel, the 29-room Fogo Island Inn. From a vista overlooking the inn, we picked handfuls of Fogo Island blueberries that we enjoyed in pancakes the next morning.

Before ferrying back to NL, we hiked to the top of Brimstone Head, said to be one of the four corners of the flat earth. From the stony crest, we had an amazing view of the island’s northwestern rocky coast and a small town far below.