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| The historic harbor at L'Anse Aux Meadows |
We left Gros Morne this morning and headed toward the northeastern tip of Newfoundland. After a stop to reprovision in the town of St. Anthony, we decided that we had just enough time to drive to the ruins of a Viking camp named L'Anse Aux Meadows, circa 1,000 AD. This National Historic site was discovered in the early 1960s and offers the first record that Norseman were in fact the first to land in the Americas.
While the site was never a settlement, it is believed that the Norsemen came here to gather resources for trade and to supplement the lack of resources that they found in their Greenland settlements. While impossible to know for certain, because of Norse documents, it is believed that Leif Erickson led the venture.
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| Long house ruins at L'Anse Aux Meadows |
Although we arrived just past four in the afternoon, we were fortunate to arrive just as a park ranger began a guided tour of these historic grounds. We learned that up to 25 men and probably about five women lived in the long houses during the summer months. They collected ore from the peat bogs and smelted them into iron nails to repair their boats. They gathered butternuts from as far away as New Brunswick and harvested wood to take back to Greenland.
After discussing the components of each building and archaeological finds that were indisputably from the Norse, our guide lead us to replica buildings. Several gentlemen, dressed in Nordic garments, offered information about their clothing, the long house furnishings, and the weaponry.
Mostly, these kind men were smitten by Roxanne. One offered her water while another engulfed her in a giant hug, reminiscing about his Golden named Kelly who had died several years earlier.
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| Replica long house at L'Anse Aux Meadows |
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| Inside replica long house in L'Anse Aux Meadows |
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| Norseman at L'Anse Aux Meadows |
After the tour, we watched a fascinating movie in the L'Anse Aux Meadows visitor's center. Rather than focus on the Viking settlement per se, the movie offered the perspective that the Norsemen had actually completed the circle begun thousands of years ago when people first began to migrate from where man originated. While some humans had migrated east, others west, others north, and others south, that circle of migration became complete when the Norsemen met the Maritime Archaics on the shores of Newfoundland. It is a fascinating idea to ponder.
We finished as much of the little museum as we could while the center closed. Then we drove back towards St. Anthony and set up camp at the lovely Pistolet Bay Provincial Park. We watched a beautiful sunset from our campsite and felt that it was a fitting close to our time in Newfoundland. Tomorrow we will take the ferry to Labrador ferry. Yet another adventure begins!
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| Sunset at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, Newfoundland |
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