Blackhead School and Church Museum – Hiking Newfoundland

The Village of Blackhead rests at the bottom of Blackhead Bay between Sly Boots and Bottle Cove.  It is a short distance west of the Cape Spear National Historic Site on Blackhead Road.  The sign at the intersection into Blackhead via Blackhead Village Road catches our attention.  We are eager to check out the Blackhead School and Church Museum.  First, we will drive past the historic schoolhouse and church to attend an arts and crafts collection in a private home typical of Newfoundland‘s cottage industry.  Following photographs tell the story of the 1879 Blackhead School and Church Museum.  Signs can be enlarged for reading interesting stories about this quaint fishing village.

Click on the image to enlarge for reading – then on the browser back button to return to the post.

Click on the image to enlarge for reading – then on the browser back button to return to the post.

From Blackhead, it is a short, quick drive back to our accommodation at the Extended Stay Hotel  in St. John’s for a change in attire and the drive downtown for dinner.

As we drive along New Gower Street there are huge lineups at the Mile One Centre.  Unknown to us, a very popular John Fogerty Concert is playing in at the large exhibition and conference centre.  We spend the next 3/4 of an hour driving every street in downtown St. John’s, searching for a parking spot.  Finally, we luck into one recently vacated, on the other side of town, farther away than it would have been to simply walk downtown from our hotel.  Parking in St. John’s  can be very challenging.  The city is not equipped for volume.  The next humbling experience is trying to find a place to eat.  Every restaurant is full, with a long waiting list.  Finally, after much walking we find a place at the Keg, on Harbour Street, with an estimated wait time of only thirty minutes.  Fortunately, the wait turns out to be 10 minutes, because we are famished.  It is a nice dinner, well deserved after our long, ambitious day of discovery.

Tomorrow, we will explore again, with plans to drive north from St. John’s and around Conception Bay to begin the days discoveries in Terra Nova National Park.