Shoe Cove Bridge Complete

Spurwink Island Path

Gord Follett

Dec 7, 2009

Shoe Cove Bridge Complete

Monday, December 7, 2009

The beginning of December saw the completion of the new bridge at Shoe Cove. Hikers can now cross the river comfortably without a precarious visit to the barachois and a wet crossing. With this bridge finished, the Stiles Cove Path is complete. As the snow is now flying, however, you might enjoy visiting the bridge via the photos below. Note, the north end of the bridge sits on a concrete platform that once held a winch house and winch for hauling in the boats.

A Little History
Shoe Cove, a short distance south of Pouch Cove, was an active farming and fishing community in the 1800s and 1900s. In 1920 there were 17 homes up the hill from from the beach. In the 1930s, thirteen fishing boats, many stages and flakes and a small cod liver oil plant all thrived in Shoe Cove. Cows, sheep, goats and horses spent the summer on the Grazing Grounds, just south of Shoe Cove. Capelin fertilized potatoes, root crops and hay fields. The men trawled for fish and worked in the lumberwoods in the winter.

Thanks
Pat Shea was the last person to fish out of Shoe Cove. Elke Dettmer, folklorist and Pouch Cove resident, interviewed some of the last Shoe Cove residents and published their storys in the Shoe Cove Oral History Project (2003).


ECTA Reporter: Janny Vanhouwelingen
Photo credits: Janny Vanhouwelingen and Tali Smith