The Cold Plunge: The Rooms, Ferryland and a Jiggs Dinner

One of the things I found most interesting about Newfoundland was its history of migratory fishing. Thousands of European fishers annually visited Newfoundland and Labrador from the 16th through to the 18th centuries to participate in the transatlantic migratory cod fishery. Although most workers returned home during the fall, some chose to remain on the island province year-round and brave the harsh North Atlantic winter to safeguard their fishing equipment.

In Newfoundland, the term ‘rooms’ refers to structures on the waterfront, including the iconic gable-roofed sheds known as fishing rooms. Here fishermen would unload their haul of codfish and women and children helped remove the fish’s head, spine, and guts. 

The Rooms Museum and Gallery, is Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest public cultural space. Opened in 2005, on a historic hill overlooking the port city, the facility houses the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Here, I discovered collections, exhibits and programs that tell stories of the people of Newfoundland, from Indigenous culture to European settlement. The museum building is a remarkable feature of the skyline of historic St. John’s. The unique design mirrors the fishing rooms where families came together to process their catch.  

The 100-year-old townhouse where I was staying was a museum in and of itself, dotted with collectible items, vintage oddities, antiques, maps, and books. It would take days to capture each piece in photos. Everywhere you looked, you saw something new.

Newfound Friends

Newfoundlanders are known for their warm hospitality, and I can confirm it to be true. Here, my faith in humanity was restored.

On Thursday evening, my hosts Jody and Nicole invited me for a drink on the ‘stoop’, or the front step of the house. I delightfully accepted. Sitting there in the chilly night air, we talked about our creations- Jody and Nicole were well-known musicians in St. Johns- recommendations for films and TV series, and Jody impressed with a recitation of lines from the classic Australian film from The Castle.

Knowing me only through our interactions in a Facebook group, Madeline and her husband Cyril hosted me at their home in Goulds for my first weekend in St. John’s. During this stay I met their friends Jean and Isabelle, who extended their own generous gestures of hospitality to me. On Friday, Jean picked me up for dinner at her house just outside the city centre, with a spectacular view of Bowring Park. She sent me home with a care package of food.

On Saturday afternoon, Isabelle picked me up for a drive to her childhood home of Ferryland, in the Irish Loop on the Avalon Peninsula.

Shrouded in fog, the peninsula felt much like the mythical island of Arthurian legend with which it shared its name.

Isabelle’s childhood home was perched at the entrance to a long peninsula jutting out to sea. As we pulled up in the car outside, her mother Edna emerged from the house, an ethereal-looking woman with wispy grey hair and feather earrings. Edna studied me with curiosity- I’m not sure many young Australians have made it to Ferryland, so I imagine I was quite a novelty.

We had lunch at The Teahouse, and then Isabelle and I made the 25-minute hike through an icy cloud of fog to the head of the peninsula. There stood the Ferryland Lighthouse, the location for Lighthouse Picnics, a unique venture offering exquisite food to enjoy while overlooking the ocean. This day would not have been a great day for a picnic, as there was no view through the fog, but the experience was still beautiful and amazing in its own right. It was just our luck that the fog started to clear as we left.

Public transport is basically non-existent outside the city centres in Newfoundland, and thanks to my Newfound friends Madeline, and Cyril and Isabelle, I was able to venture beyond the city limits, to Conception Bay South and the Avalon Peninsula.

On Sunday I headed Downtown to explore, where I found souvenir and gift shops many Irish pubs. One shopkeeper told me his experience with the Old Hag, of being dragged along the wall in his nightmare. Another one collected for my research.

I then headed to Brodericks on George for a ‘Sunday Dinner’ aka Jiggs Dinner.

Jiggs Dinner

When visiting Newfoundland, a Jiggs Dinner is a must-do culinary experience. A Jiggs Dinner, also called boiled dinner or cooked dinner, is a traditional meal commonly prepared and eaten on Sundays in Newfoundland. Corned beef and cabbage was the favorite meal of Jiggs, the central character in the popular, long-running comic strip Bringing Up Father by George McManus and Zeke Zekley.

Joined by Jean and her friend Lois, I stayed at Broderick’s for three hours enjoying a traditional music session and storytelling recitations. I came home and assembled a dinner from items Jean had given me in a care package on Friday. I cried a little while eating. I was nearing the end of my stay at the townhouse, and my heart was genuinely breaking.