Day 2 (September 4, 2025): Gander > Twillingate

 It was 8:40AM when we pulled out of the driveway in Clarke's Beach to head for Twillingate.  It was a foggy morning with some drizzle for the first hour, but once we crossed the "Isthmus of Avalon", which separates the Placentia and Trinity Bays, the fog dissipated, giving way to a stunningly blue sky for the rest of the day.

There was just one stop of significant enroute:  Gander International Airport, to see its well-known (but perhaps little-visited) International Lounge.  Since Gander's airport was a very solid memory of my childhood years in Twillingate, it felt intrinsically linked to Twillingate and merited a stop.  Afterwards, we stopped by beautiful Cobb's Pond Rotary Park on the edge of Gander for a picnic lunch in the warm sun, before heading on to Twillingate via New World Island, arriving there at 4:30PM.

We visited Rhonda Rogers in Durrell before visiting the Long Point Lighthouse and then making a dinner in our AirBNB cottage at the Peyton Woods RV Park and calling it a night.

Gander Airport had its beginnings in 1936.  But it wasn't until 1959 when its avant-garde and trendsetting 'International Lounge' was opened.  It was a multi-million dollar project, which was opened with much fanfare by Queen Elizabeth II.  With Gander being the Crossroads of the World at the time, as most trans-Atlantic flights had to stop there to/from Europe, the Lounge became the Canadian welcome mat for the rich and famous, as they left or entered North American soil.  It all changed when jets became able to make it across the pond nonstop and, almost overnight, Gander's role diminished greatly.  As a kid, growing up in Twillingate, we would visit Gander periodically for essentials, and a stop at the airport to see the lounge was always part of the trip. For many years, the lounge was closed to the public; it was rarely used for international travelers but, as a 1950s heritage piece and former crown jewel in the Canadian air transportation infrastructure, it could not be done away with.  Over the past decade, the lounge was revived and opened to the public again. It is now essentially a museum within the Gander Airport, which is now used for little more than a handful of daily domestic flights.

The famous Flight and Its Allegories mural at Gander Airport was created by Kenneth Lochhead and was part of the airport's modernist design. The mural, which measures 72 feet in length, was painted during the terminal's construction in 1958 and 1959. Lochhead's work depicts human figures enacting the stages of flight against a backdrop of Canada's flora and fauna. 

As a kid, I was always awe-struck by the escalator at the airport and loved to catch a ride on it.  I would guess that, in the early 1970s, it was one of the only escalators in Newfoundland.  The lure of the escalator was matched only by the magnetic power of the wall clocks, showing the time in London, New York and Moscow.  Those famous cities were but a dream for a kid from Twillingate, but they ignited a desire within me to eventually see the world.

This 1958 piece by Arthur Price has always been as important to Gander's International Lounge as the Flight and Its Allegories mural mentioned above.

These two-stories of corridors, with their ample supply of windows, led passengers to/from their boarding gates at the airport.

For our first six years at Twillingate, the only way to get on/off the island was by ferry.  The John Peyton was a wooden ferry that crossed from Black Duck Cove on Twillingate Island to Indian Cove on neighboring New World Island.  In the winter, Main Tickle (the bay between the two islands) would freeze up, often rendering the ferry useless.  I clearly recall dad driving the family across the frozen Tickle in our old Pontiac.  It was quite terrifying, really!  But we always made it.

Twillingate is comprised of two islands -- Twillingate South and Twillingate North.  This is the view of Twillingate South from the north side.  On the left-hand side of the photo, you can see the former South Side United Church, which was the main church among the points in the pastoral charge that Dad served.

Twillingate Island Elementary, where I attended from Kindergarten to Grade Two.

The former South Side United Church is now a theatre.

The manse, across the gravel parking lot from the church, where we lived from 1967-75.

These three buildings are all that remain of the Ashburn premises, a once-powerful merchant family in Twillingate.  The building to the right above was the store that sold groceries and dry-goods;  the building in the center housed the offices of the business; and the building in the back was the mansion of the Ashburn family.  

As a kid, Mom would send me down to the store each week to pick up our grocery order, often comprised of Good Luck Margarine, a loaf of bread from the factory in St. John's, which was often moldy, some frozen meats, and canned goods.  It was all on our credit account and, periodically, Mom would go to the office to pay our account.

The view of Twillingate Harbour from Yates' Hill.

Wild Cove on Twillingate North.

The Long Point Lighthouse in Crow Head is 331' above sea level.  It was built in 1876.

Rugged Burnt Island, as seen from Long Point Lighthouse.

Rabbits seem to enjoy the life at Long Point.  We saw two during our visit.

We stayed at a cottage in Peyton Woods RV Park, which is managed by Dallas Burton, one of six kids whose names all started with 'D' in the house next door to the manse, where we grew up.  I hadn't seen Dallas since we left Twillingate in June 1975!

We had a great visit with Rhonda Rogers, a dear friend in Durrell.  Dad was deeply moved to once again see the painting of Jesus that he painted for Rhonda in 1999.

What a day it has been!  A long drive, but so wonderful to be back in Twillingate after all these years!