Root Cellars & Puffins

What do Root Cellars & Puffins have in common? The answer…Elliston NL. We left the park early so we could see all the sites we wanted to see. As usual we stopped at the visitor’s center in Elliston to get some ideas. The demise of the salt cod industry in the 1950’s combined with the cod moratorium in 1992 decimated the community of Elliston. In 1994 the community could no longer pay their utility bill with such a small tax base therefore their lights were turned out. The town was literally in the dark. Elliston however has two major assets, the Puffin Site and Root Cellars which draw thousands of tourists a year from all over the world. Two large tour busses were coming into town when we were there plus lots of cars. Hence, the town is now doing just fine.

Entrance into Elliston

The ladies in the center where so proud of the newly erected memorial about 200 yards down the road we had to check it out. During a vicious winter blizzard in 1914 the lives of 78 men were lost when they became stranded on the ice while seal hunting. The same season another 173 men went down with their sealing ship, the SS Southern Crossing. The Sealing Disaster memorial was erected in their honour.

Town of Elliston

Seal Disaster Memorial

Elliston is home to the world’s most accessible Atlantic Puffin breeding site. Puffins usually nest on islands off shore. The Elliston site is no different with one exception the island is next to an area accessible by people. These puffins can easily be seen with the naked eye. When the area is quiet I’m told the puffins land and strut their stuff within a few feet of you. Remember the two busses, well we weren’t so lucky and it wasn’t very quiet. I got some good pictures and had fun watching the PPF’s. Oh I guess you want to know what that means. Well in Newfoundland the people call puffins PPFs which stands for piss poor flyers because they can’t fly worth a darn.

Atlantic Puffins contemplating flight

Puffins return to the same burrow each year

Puffin that just caught some capelin

Long way down if you fall

Elliston is also known as the Root Cellar Capital of the World. There are hundreds of root cellars around the town. The most common type of cellar was built in the side of a hill with the door facing east (easterly winds are frost-free). They were originally built using mortar, rocks, tree boughs, and wood. Sod and/or sawdust were used for insulation.  One of the oldest dates back to 1839 and is still in use today. People that settled this area back in the day grew their own vegetables such as beets, turnip, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. The cabbage would be pickled and the remaining vegetables would be stored in root cellars until the next year’s crop. Meat, fish, and dairy products would also be stored in the cellars but for shorter periods. A well-built cellar would stay dry and kept a constant cool temperature all year round. I walked into several and it was like walking into an air conditioned room. Nice on a hot day.

Root Cellar

Inside root cellar

Another one still in use

An upstairs/downstairs root cellar

The small village of Maberly lies a short distance from Elliston. Once a thriving fishing village now tries to draw tourists to their town with unique gift shops.

Trying to attract tourists...and it worked

Fish flake/salt sheds...from a once thriving fishing village

Maberly's beautiful coastline

Leaving Maberly and Elliston we drove past Sandy Cove Beach with its clear blue water and sandy beach. Watching the waves crash into the rocky coastline was so mesmerizing that we lost track of time and it was time to head home.

Sandy Cove Beach...water was tooooo cold for me

Watching the crashing waves