Historic House Haul To be Carried Out The Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee – Summer of 2011!

Recently, I was made aware of a rather interesting fact. The Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee will be carrying out a “House-Haul” this summer. Some of you may not be old enough to remember this, but in the 50′s, 60′s & 70′s it was not uncommon to see a house float by your community, accompanied by a small armada of open boats. This is a direct throwback to the resettlement era, and I would highly recommend that you be there with your camera – as a House-Haul is pretty rare these days.The move is slated for July 27, 2011 (barring Hurricanes or other calamities).  The committee is also seeking donations to help cover the cost of moving the building, as well as its re-establishment next to the Twillingate Museum & Craft shop.

You can help out this effort in 2 ways:

• By making a donation,
• By telling everyone you can about this page

David Clarke is a frequent contributor of Historical articles for this site, and is also a member of the The Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee. He forwarded the information that you see below.

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The Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee was established in 2008 following a meeting with representatives of the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Committee is constituted as part of the Twillingate Historic Fishing Village (THFV), Inc., a non-profit organization originally founded in the 1990s. Our initial project would have seen the establishment of a Maritime Interpretation Centre at Twillingate, with emphasis on the craft of boat building. This project was later deemed to be overly ambitious in terms of costs. In 2009 the committee opted to explore new directions, and at this time was offered an historic building by its owner, Danny Bath, on condition that the structure be relocated off his property. The building is believed to be more than 100 years old, and was used by a number of local merchant firms, including Howletts, Earles and Ashbournes, as a retail store. Should our Committee be unsuccessful in moving the structure by July, 2011 it will revert to Mr. Bath’s ownership, and will likely have to be torn down, a great loss for Twillingate’s built heritage.

With the help of the Twillingate Town Council, our Committee intends to move the building from its current location at Oxford’s Lane (Durrell, Twillingate) to a nearby beach in June, 2011. Around the third week in late July the building will be towed by long liner from Twillingate South Island to Twillingate North Island. It will be landed in Snellin’s Cove, near a parcel of land purchased by our Committee in 2010, and adjacent to our community partners, the Twillingate Museum and Craft Shop. Stage one of the seaward move will see the structure towed from Durrell into Twillingate’s main harbour, and we anticipate that the move to Snellin’s Cove, around Long Point, will be completed as stage two. The final stage of the move will take place once the building is landed in Snellin’s Cove. At this point we have planned another event which will see locals and tourists help to haul the building in a traditional manner. This will be a unique event for all those who help man the ropes, while providing an opportunity for many others to take photographs and videos. This is scheduled for Wednesday, 27 July, and will be an official part of the Fish, Fun & Folk Festival. Traditionally, the successful completion of a house haul was marked with a lunch to thank all who had helped. We anticipate that another local community group might serve up molasses buns and tea/coffee following our “house” haul, as a fund raiser of their own.

It has been nearly thirty years since Twillingate has seen a building floated by sea, and then hauled into place. Many people in the area, not to mention visitors, have never had the opportunity to experience a process that was once an integral part of rural Newfoundland. We hope that you will consider contributing to ensure that this worthwhile project becomes a reality.

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