Friday, March 02, 2018

"Sweetland" by Michael Crummey

The Faculty Women's Club is reading this novel for their May meeting.  He is a Newfoundland writer and I was somewhat amazed to find it at the Palm Springs Library.  It's about the inhabitants of a remote island off Newfoundland's south coast who are being offered a resettlement package so the government doesn't have to continue services.  There is one hold out.  I've been enjoying it and emailed Carol and Brian Peckford that they might enjoy it too if they hadn't read it.

Carol replied:
"The book sounds very interesting and I’m sure I would enjoy it too.  In fact, there is a small island called Little Bay Islands in Central NL which is undergoing resettlement as we speak!   Only a handful of people left." 
I googled Little Bay Islands and brought up this story and passed it along to Carol.  I had no idea ressettlement was still going on.  It's certainly a fascinating story.
Carol's next reply:
"When you googled Little Bay Islands, did you happen to find these recent pics?

The last one is the former residence of George & Greta Jones who owned the crab plant and general store.  My late father was a salesman (plumbing, heating, paints) who travelled Newfoundland and was good friends with George & Greta and would stay at their house when he went to Little Bay Islands.  In fact, they became really good friends of my parents, my siblings and I called them Uncle George & Aunt Greta, and we vacationed with them in this house a couple of summers when I was young.  It was great fun and my siblings and I have some wonderful memories of the little island.  My youngest sister, 7 years younger than me, was named Greta!

And...Little Bay Islands was part of Brian’s district!"

After a successful career as a software engineer, new retiree Mike Parsonshas returned to the place where he grew up: A Newfoundland fishing community that is on the brink of ceasing to exist. 
First settled in 1825, Little Bay Islands was once a thriving community of 500 with three churches, a grocery store and a fire brigade. Now, with a wintertime population of only 40, whole streets are occupied by nothing more than dark, abandoned homes. 
The images below are Parsons’ record of life in the near-empty town. The photographs (which are for sale) have the appearance of oil paintings thanks to filters applied using image processing software of Parsons’ own design.  

 This is the Little Bay Islands waterfront. One of the eerier things about the community is the number of items left by people who seem to have planned to return and use them again. Parsons said that both the car and the boat in this image are abandoned and haven’t been used in years. 


Of the town’s many abandoned houses, this one gets special attention from Parsons’ camera. It’s more isolated than the rest, it’s older and it’s also one of the most endangered. Part of the structure’s roof came off in a storm. While 19th-century houses can be famously sturdy, it’s the beginning of the end as soon as rain can get in. 

This is the abandoned former home of the man who ran Little Bay Islands’ crab plant. As a former resident commented on Parsons’ Facebook age, “wish that that house was still full of buyers from Japan looking at Thor crab.” Like other homes, it’s still stocked with bedding and dishes as if the owners are merely gone for the winter.