I managed to convince D that a 180km roundtrip detour was in order, so off we went to visit the Fleur de Lys Soapstone Quarries National Historic Site.
Over 1600 years ago, the Dorset people mined the soapstone in this region to make various use vessels and stone oil lamps. The rocky outcrops above the village of Fleur de Lys still bear the scars of the work of these people, and this is one of only a few in the world so well preserved.
On our way down the hill and back to our car, we chatted with one of the volunteers of the site, a man in his 70’s at least, who lived across the road from the museum. He explained he lived in the ‘new house’ on the property his great, great grandfather had homesteaded after arriving from France on one of the fishing schooners. Oh, and the ‘new house’ was 125 years old, built using some of the lumber from the ‘old house’, which would have been built around 250 years ago, maybe more!
I’m just gobsmacked every single day over the history we uncover every day here in Newfoundland - whether it’s at a national historic site, or just chatting with a local. Amazing.
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