Set in Elliston on the
east coast of Newfoundland at
the tip of the historic
Bonavista peninsula, this
Community Memories Exhibit
illustrates the rugged life
of outport Newfoundlanders in
the early 1900s. Nearly a
three hundred-kilometer drive
from the capital city of St.

John’s, Elliston was known as
"Bird Island Cove" until it
was renamed in honour of Rev.
William Ellis in March of
1902.
   "Subsistence of Early
Outport Newfoundlanders"
shows men and women at Coles
Gulch and Porter’s Point
catching and curing an

abundance of cod, then
selling it Tilley’s Fish
Store. The exhibit captures
Elliston’s residents sowing
and harvesting their own
vegetables, raising their own
livestock and hunting sea
birds, rabbits and seals to
provide food for their
families. Many also picked

and sold berries, not for
cash, but for credit at local
merchants to purchase items
they could not grow like
flour, hard tack, sugar and
molasses.
   The exhibit also
showcases scenic Maberly,
caribou roaming with local
livestock, fishing stages and