1

Big Merasheen
1980's?
Merasheen, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland Canada


Credits:
Pete Rogers

2

Merasheen's School
pre 1960
Merasheen, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland Canada


Credits:
Maritime History Archives

3

Tobias Pearson is originally from Merasheen he says just before resettlement began there was anywhere from 200-225 people living there. He says he wasn't affected in a big way by resettlement at first. He was living with his grandmother and when they moved to Placentia in 1967 he stayed at Merasheen and taught school until June of 1968 he was 25 years old at the time. He says he does not particularly remember the day he left as a sad somber family event as he didn't leave with family. The other teacher that was working with him left at Christmas, when the family she was living with resettled so when the students returned after Christmas he had to teach her students as well. He says as far as he is concerned Resettlement was okay, but it was done too quickly, the government didn't think about the families being affected that were just interested in moving everyone out of the outports and into their "growth centers". When people started to move they were gone before maybe of their neighbours even knew they were going, they would go to a "growth center" like Placentia, and look for a house, come back home pack up and were gone before anyone knew it. He says everyone didn't leave the same time in Merasheen, it kind of happened on the families own pace, sometimes one or two families would leave at once, and then weeks later there might be another couple of families leave. His family moved to Placentia for no other particular reason other than it was chosen as one of the growth centers, however he says things did not turn out as was planned, as people had to return to Merasheen to go fishing in the spring. So places like Placentia and other centers were not permanently being built up as hoped.
Mr. Pearson says when he was going to school in Merasheen there was no Kindergarten or grade 12, and everyone knew all of their classmates. During the year in Merasheen there was, a Christmas Concert, which the entire school population took part in. At St. Patrick's Day there was usually a concert or a soup supper in the hall. Wedding suppers in Merasheen were held in the bride's home, no room in the house was off limits, Mr. Pearson says the gathering might have started in the living room but before it was over a bunch of people might have ended up in one of the bedrooms sitting around on the bed singing an old song or telling an old story. When late evening came everyone would go to the parish hall for the dance.
There is a community center in Merasheen, Mr. Pearson says he has returned there around 3 times for reunions. The people of Merasheen have gatherings each year in Placentia to raise money for the upkeep of the community center. He says people return to Merasheen on and off all year round, to catch their fish quotas, to go rabbit hunting during the winter, caribou hunting and berry picking. There are some homes still standing, what once were two-storey homes have been reduced down to cabins or cottages, and are only used during the summer time.
Mr. Pearson says he has seen a lot of major differences since he moved. The roads are better, TV reception is better (on the island they only had one station), your closer to a doctor, there are large grocery stores with a bigger selection. He says another major thing that he has noticed is how much communication has changed. Particularly among all the people formerly from Placentia Bay outports. He says for example when they were living on the island they would never know of anyone dying unless it was in their own community, and now at times people have to attend up to three wakes in one week, maybe someone from Great Paradise passed, someone from Petite Forte, someone from Merasheen or someone from South East Bight. Since resettlement a lot of people from the communities have come to know each other and everyone is effected like one huge community where as before resettlement people wouldn't even know of the persons passing.
Tobias says in Merasheen there was time for work but there was also time for play, many of the people of Merasheen were big entertainers. He says he misses being close to his relations in Merasheen, since resettlement everyone has scattered all over the place and there is not as much family time as their was in those days.