Friday 26 October 2012

My Autumn Trip to Long Island Slideshow Slideshow

My Autumn Trip to Long Island Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ My Autumn Trip to Long Island Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Lushes Bight-Beaumont-Beaumont North (near Triton). Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

Friday 3 August 2012

Ferry Challenges




                                                        Ferry Challenges

Challenges in everyday life are felt by people wherever they choose to live in our world. Living on an island such as long Island presents its own set of challenges. Even though Long Island is just 1700 feet across Long Tickle to Pilley's Island, a five-minute ride, residents have to rely on a ferry service provided by the Provincial Government to get to medical appointments, hospitals, banks, stores, etc. On Wednesday, July 25, Mr. Pearce Burton of Beaumont, Long Island became seriously ill and an ambulance was called. Luckily, the ferry Hazel McIsaac was in the Tickle at the time and Mr. Burton was dispatched to hospital at Springdale very quickly. Mr. Burton's wife, Louise, feels very strongly that if the ferry had been at Shoal Arm when the ambulance was called her husband would not have made it to hospital in time. Louise feels so strongly about this situation of having her ferry on the inefficient four-point schedule trying to service two islands, Long Island and little Bay Islands, that she was compelled to call me as Long Island's correspondent to The Norwester to make this public statement. Past and present governments have allowed the provincial ferries to decline, have taken away the dedicated ferry service to Long Island and have replaced it with one ferry for those two islands. Although Little Bay Islands have seen an improvement in ferry service on this shared ferry, Long Island has had a marked decrease in service. Mrs. Burton stated that if we are forced to share a ferry, the least government can do is to run the ferry on the more efficient three-point schedule from Little Bay Islands to Pilley's Island to Long Island. It could very well be a matter of life and death.

Thursday 3 May 2012

 Ferry Schedule Change Could Spell Economic Disaster for Springdale and Area Business Community (A. K. A. the Day the Arse Fell Right Out of Her)


                                                             Ice free Long Tickle





Ice filled Long Tickle


Thursday, May 3, 2012

The business community of Springdale and area suffered a devastating blow today as the ferry  MV Hazel McIsaac could not make the usual runs to the ferry dock at Shoal Arm due to arctic ice. The ferry is doing the runs, as best she can, through the ice, from Long Island to Pilley's Island to Little Bay Islands and back to Pilley's Island again. The heads of the Board of Directors of the economic zone board for Green Bay, the Emerald Zone and the members of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce must be reeling at this economic crisis that will see residents of Little Bay Islands head on off to Grand Falls-Windsor (just an hour's drive from South Brook at the TCH) to do their shopping rather than drive the great distance (a 20-minute drive) to Springdale. This incomprehensible turn of events could spell economic disaster for the service industry of  Springdale and area, which include grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, garages, restaurants, not to mention the Bed and Breakfasts, that are frequented by the residents of that island community. Even the Provincial Government is being extremely cautious and has dubbed the ferry schedule put in place for the time being as an Ice Schedule not a Three-Point Schedule. This is in fear, I guess, that even suggesting a three point might cause this downward economic spiral for businesses of Springdale and area to hit an all-time low from which they may never recover.

Friday 13 April 2012

Government's Failed Plan to Provide Ferry Service to Long Island


 Barbara ColbourneGovernment's Failed Plan to Provide Ferry Service to
                                       Long Island 



I have come to the conclusion that the 'politicians' could care less about either of our communities and the people that live there. I would dearly love to have every one of them stranded for a whole week here and no helicopter, lol. At present this , being stranded I mean, could very well happen to us soon, as the Arctic ice is in. I, just a few minutes ago, saw the ferry heading back to LBI escorted by an ice-breaker. Two hours behind schedule. This would not be happening if each island had its own ferry, as we did for almost 30 years. Last night we had people left on the other side away from home all night because the ferry was stuck in ice at LBI and couldn't make the last trip of the day. I'd like to see a road taken from a section of St. John's and see the hulabooloo that would follow that action. This abandonment and cruel treatment of the people in Rural NL, in particular those who live on the islands is despicable. They are whining and very outraged at how the Harper Government is treating NL but they are doing the exact same thing to us.

The ferry Hazel McIsaac is a joke, one of the biggest Newfie jokes ever. It's a Cadillac ferry for a five minute run across Long Tickle. They could have built two new smaller ferries for half the cost and shown some common sense. There has not been any common sense shown by this Government since they took office, at least not where Long Island is concerned. We had the best ferry possible in the small Island Joiner. For a small cost to replace the engine she would have provided an efficient, reliable service for Long Island for many years to come. Government gave her away for $77, 777. 77. I don't think they want that out there in the public. Another Newfie joke. Not only gave away our ferry, our transportation link, but have plunged us into this nightmare of a service, a shared ferry for LI and LBI that just does not work for us.


Saturday 24 March 2012

Scenes of Long Island, Green Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador Slideshow Slideshow

Scenes of Long Island, Green Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Scenes of Long Island, Green Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Lushes Bight-Beaumont-Beaumont North (near Triton). Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

Friday 23 March 2012

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-048d-1b2a-da62?ln

Thursday 8 March 2012


Burning the Parsons House, Lush's Bight
February 29, 2012  Leap Day


On Wednesday, February 29 the Lushes Bight-Beaumont Volunteer Fire department conducted a training exercise which was a little more dramatic than their usual exercises. An old house which was slated to be torn down was given over to the LI fire department, by the children of Ronald Parsons, owners, to be used in their controlled burn.




The house was set on fire approximately 10:30 AM and it took a hour to burn down. With the flames shooting through the roof, windows and doors of the old house, it brought home, to those watching, how devastating fire can be and how very valuable the services of our volunteer fire fighters are to the community. These men and women give so freely of their time and take their job very seriously. 




This house has been a part of the community for many years and has a rich history. In recent years Ronald Parsons bought the house from its previous owners' family, Ted and Dorothy (Aunt Dot) Parsons. Ted and Aunt Dot raised their family there, children: Lorraine, Gary, Faye, Geraldine, Tom, Selby, Roland, Joy and Alwin. If I left anyone out please let me know.


The original owners were Sidney and Gladys Parsons. As I started asking questions I was fascinated by the history of Sidney and Gladys. Sidney was born in 1892 according to the 1921 census. The United Church records show that he died at the age of 42 years in 1932. If the census was correct he was age 40 when he died. By the time Sidney died he and his wife Gladys had four children, Brice( according to the 1921 census) Bruce according to my mother, Ralph, Don and daughter, Raye. 


The circumstances of his death was what intrigued me the most as I found that there was a direct connection to my family. Sidney, captain/owner of the schooner the Stanley Parsons left St. John's bound for Long Island with food and general cargo, was last seen on off Catalina by Captain Ernest Burry in the schooner Athlete II, December 5, 1932. Sometime between December 6-12, 1932 the Stanley Parsons went down taking with her Sidney Parsons, age 42 years, mate James Maye,age 51,  married with four children, cook Uriah Miller, married with six children, Alwin Parsons, married with two children. Deckhands, all single, were my mother's uncles, my great uncles, Thomas Caravan, age 25 and Wesley Caravan, age 19 and Cecil Hollett, age twenty-five. No bodies of the seven men nor any debris of the schooner  was ever found. Mom always thought there were eight men on board. My mother, Mamie Colbourne (nee Caravan) born 1928 recounts the story as she remembers it because it was told over and over as she was growing up whenever the adults, in her family, got together in the evenings. Our Grammy, as we called her, Sarah Caravan lost two of her young sons that night.


 My Grandfather, Alman Caravan,age 35 at that time, always said he knew the very night the schooner went down. His family was sitting in the kitchen on a blustery night on December 10, 1932 and they heard a loud racket. He went out, sure that the door had blown open. There was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen and the doors were shut tight. Grandfather Caravan always said after that incident that that was when the schooner and his two young brothers were lost. He even remarked, at that time, "that's it, the boys are gone."


Gladys Parsons, Sidney's wife, carried on and raised her four children in the Parsons house. She had a general store which was located on the point near where Boyce and Giselle Oake now has their cottage and between their house and Pleaman Croucher's new wharf.


When Mom( Mamie) was 17 years old she went to work for Gladys as a live in maid in September 1945. She did general chores around the house and garden. She remembers Gladys as being well-to-do because she had her business, went to St. John's once a year to buy in supplies for her store, had a lot of animals (cows, sheep, goats, chickens) so always had plenty of meat for the winter, and milk and eggs. Mom remembers picking 25 chickens on one day for Gladys. Her proof that it was in 1945 is that young Raye came home from school and told the household that they had received word at school that the war (WWII) had ended.


As for the age of the house, Sidney was drowned 80 years ago, had four children living in the house and his son Bruce was 12 years old at the time of his father's death. If they moved in to the house when they had their first-born, then the Parsons house was at least 92 years old. May be older.


If anyone has any information to add all are welcome.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Ice Island in Long Tickle

Ice Islands

In the Fall 2011, September and October, residents and visitors to long Island were treated to a spectacular show of icebergs. This was an unusual time of year for icebergs as most years we see them in June and July. But this was an unusual year. Two years previous a huge chunk of ice broke off the glacier covering Greenland. It took that long for them to travel down iceberg ally to the Northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. I took this shot of the Long Island ferry, the Nonia,to show a comparison of the size of it.

More photos
Long Island ferry dock in the background.
 The wind actually pushed the berg in on the dock at Pilley's Island one day and the ferry could not land.
 I called this one God's sense of humour-a blueprint for the Long Island Causeway sent to Government.
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Thursday 23 February 2012

Southern Head Light Tower

This is the historic Southern Head Light Tower at its original site on the eastern side of Long Island, where it stood for 104 years. The Canadian Coast guard has since, in 2009, replaced the tower with a smaller, easier to maintain automated robotic light at Souther' Head. The CCG has returned the tower to the Town of Lushes Bight-Beaumont's Heritage Society for restoration. It now sits in Long Tickle in pieces waiting to be put back together this spring. This beautiful tower will be erected on site near the Long Island ferry dock and will be a welcoming beacon to travellers as they come across the tickle on the ferry.
Southern Head Light Tower

This is the historic Long Island Southern Head Light Tower as it stood on Souther' Head on the eastern side of Long Island for 104 years. The Canadian Coast Guard dismantled it in 2009 and took it off Southern head, replacing it with an automated, robotic light that is easier to maintain. The CCG has since returned the tower to the Long Island Heritage Society for restoration. It now sits at the ferry dock site in pieces waiting to be erected near the dock. The Town of Lushes Bight-Beaumont in conjunction with its Heritage Society will restore the Tower and will be a welcoming beacon for travellers as they cross Long Island Tickle on the ferry.
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Thursday 16 February 2012







Results of the 2011 census for Long Island



Population and dwelling counts
Lushes Bight-Beaumont-Beaumont North, T

Newfoundland and Labrador
Population in 2011 1
220

514,536
Population in 2006 1
275

505,469
2006 to 2011 population change (%)
-20.0

1.8
Total private dwellings 2
148

250,275
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents 3
110

208,842
Population density per square kilometre
6.4

1.4
Land area (square km)
34.38

370,510.76

Wednesday 15 February 2012

            Long Island, Green Bay

A small island about 12 miles long and 9 miles wide nestled in Green Bay South. We are located just 1/2 km across Long Tickle from Pilley's Island. To get to us turn off the Trans Canada, Route 380, at South Brook. Proceed to Pilley's Island. To get to the Long Island ferry dock on Pilley's Island side, take Route 382 just off Route 380 in Pilley's Island. Then board the ferry and in five minutes you're here.