News

13
Jul

PLEASE NOTE THIS WAS A 2011 EVENT

The Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee will be carrying out a “House-Haul” this month durring the festival.

You may not be familiar with the idea, but in the 50′s -70′s it was not uncommon to see a house floating due to resettlement. The first move from from South to North Twillingate is tentatively scheduled for this coming Riday tbe 15th of July. Approximate start time is 9:00 am. This is dependent on having ideal wind and weather conditions that day. If not, the tow will go ahead the next suitable day.

Only July 17th at 2:00pm it will be towed Rain or Shine from Snellins Cove to the Twillingate Museum. To participate the Isles Wooden Boat Building Committee recommend a minimum donation of $20.00, and required 18 years or older and a signed a waiver.

For more info check out the facebook group, or the press release bewlow.

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.

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