The Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove Museum

Historically, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove was largely isolated from the culture and influences of St. John’s. In the 1800’s Logy Bay residents would walk every Sunday to the Basilica in St. John’s and residents of Outer Cove and Middle Cove made an equally gruelling trek to Torbay just to attend mass. It wouldn’t be until 1918 with the arrival of Father O’Callaghan that the parish church would be constructed. Most would have had to travel to St. John’s to trade, as well. Every spring, for example, fishermen from Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove would sell their freshly caught salmon in the city, which in the early 1900s fetched around twenty cents a pound. For most residents, St. John’s was simply a place you went to for religious reasons or to do business. It was a place that was difficult to travel to and at the end of the day the events in St. John’s had little impact on the lives of the people living in Logy Bay, Outer Cove, and Middle Cove. The price of salmon. The Evenin

Today is  #CleanAirDay in Canada, a day to highlight how important good air quality is for our health and our environment. We may be biased but we believe that, here in Newfoundland, we have some of the freshest air in all of Canada. Outer Cove Beach, 2017. Photo credit: Lisa Daly And, if we may be so bold, perhaps Outer Cove has some of the nicest air in all of Newfoundland! Some people from St. John's certainly thought so, according to stories from Mary Boland of Outer Cove about her mother and the laundry from St. John's. Mary was born and lived in the Rocky Hills area of Outer Cove in 1920, and during an oral history interview in 2000 conducted by her son, Martin Boland, she shared the following story. When Mary was in grade 7, which was likely around 1932, her mother Catherine Hickey (nee Dyer) broke her arm, so Mary left school to help her mother out at home. Her mother took in the laundry for several affluent families from the St. John's area. At the ti

It's a wet and miserable day outside, but the museum is cozy and we've got the kettle on. It's the perfect type of day to have a mug up and share some stories. My favourite kind of stories to tell on a wet and windy day are ghost stories, and I think I've found a good one. Fishing Stages - Outer Cove (from DAI) I've been doing some digging in the collections of the Digital Archives Initiative at Memorial University , looking for interesting stories from the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove area. This one comes by way of correspondence between "Big Willie" Croke and Martin Boland. "Big Willie" tells the story of Jimmy Carroll, a planter from Outer Cove, who had signed on as a deckhand for the S.S. Beverley when he was young. The S.S. Beverley was to transport codfish between Harbour Grace and Gibraltar in the winter of 1918. According to "Big Willie" Croke, Jimmy said, "I was living on top of the world that day and so e

We are officially back for the season this week! We look forward to seeing you, new and old friends alike. Next week, we will start posting regularly on the blog as well, so keep an eye out. Some exciting new things in store for this season that we're looking forward to sharing with you all. Katie (Museum Coordinator)