Sunday 6/26/2022 - Day 15 of 31 on our 2022 Canadian Maritime #2 Caravan with Yankee RV Tour

We had some early risers that went out to see if they could have a Moose sighting …. One group was lucky and saw three, the other group struck out! I settled for my morning walk in the park. I did venture up to the main road, because the namesake of the park is a beautiful triple waterfalls. It is also a protected Salmon river. It would be awesome to see salmon jumping this falls!

It is the day we visit L’Anse aux Meadows. The L'Anse aux Meadows is a National Historic Site, where the Vikings established the first European settlement in North America over 1,000 years ago.

The first Europeans were the Vikings and their settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows is one of the most researched sites in North America. The Norse era from 90-1066 AD began with the landing of Leif Ericson from Greenland. Imagine a summer day, around 1,000 years ago, when a Norse expedition from Greenland landed on Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula. Following the coast around the North Atlantic, they had arrived at a strategic location, within sight of Labrador, near the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle.

It was the year 985 AD and merchant Bjarni Herjolfsson has just set sail from Iceland towards Greenland to visit his father. A storm gathers, blowing his ship off-course to the south, landing him on a richly forested land. But it’s late summer, he doesn’t want to winter in this new place and so he sets sail once again for Greenland.

A few years later, Herjolfsson, sells his ships to Leif Ericson, the son of Erik the Red, who sets off west to see what he can find. In particular he’s looking for this land of forests as described by Herjolfsson. It’s important, as wood in Greenland is in short supply and the settlers need it for building their ships and tools. He finds it and it becomes Vinland.

The idea is to form a new settlement, but relationships with the aboriginal people already in the area are less than civil. There is often bloodshed as the Vikings raid nearby villages and kill whoever fails to escape into the woods. Despite the hostilities, furs, cloth, and other goods are traded between the Vikings and some of the native people and when the fighting quiets down, the settlers build sod houses. It’s a rich area, there are wild berries, fish, plenty of wood, green grass all year round for their cattle to graze on. But, after a few years things sour, the settlement is abandoned and the Vikings head back to Iceland.

A later journey in 1008 sees Thorfin Karlsefni bringing about 60 people to Vinland. They’ve also brought cattle and sheep from Europe and trade furs with the aboriginal people. But eventually they too set sail, leaving behind the remains of their huts. Over time those remains are covered with snow and buffeted be relentless Atlantic winds. Grass grows over the foundations, other populations move in and the settlements are lost to time.

Nearly 1000 years later, during the 1920s, Newfoundland author WA Munn in his book The Wineland Voyages suggested the L'Anse aux Meadows area might be the Vinland of the Norse Sagas. In 1960, Norwegian historian Helge Ingstad, who had been searching for Vinland of the Norse sagas for years, visited northern Newfoundland and met L'Anse aux Meadows fisherman George Decker who showed him what residents thought was an ancient aboriginal camp. Helge and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, excavated the site and found the remnants of Viking sod huts. Subsequent excavations by the Ingstads and Parks Canada uncovered artifacts that proved conclusively the Vikings had established a settlement in North America five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and other 15th-century explorers.

L'Anse aux Meadows was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. The Interpretation Centre tells the story of these hearty adventurers who braved the North Atlantic in their small boats. The center's translation of Norse sagas makes fascinating reading. Iron ore allowed for the forging of many tools and weapons, a first in North America and many are on display at the museum. We all walked from the Interpretation Center to the Norse village, along the boardwalk. We came upon an immense bronze sculpture that straddles the trail that leads to the grass mounds and the Viking site. We had to stop for a photo opportunity at the “Meeting of Two Worlds” sculpture. It’s striking and breathtaking. A branch-like figure strikes across a Norse sail. It represents the first meeting of European and North American Native cultures. It’s open to interpretation but the Norse sail is linked to their thirst for exploration while the whales and tree on the native piece is linked to natives' connection to nature. Newfoundland and Labrador artist Luben Boykov created the Native piece and Swedish artist Richard Brixel created the Norse sail.

At the site there is a museum and replica of a Viking village including boathouse, church, pottery workshop and iron forge. Standing where the first Europeans set foot in North America is something you have to personally experience to understand the implications that momentous event had for two continents. A recreation of sod houses let us experience life as it must have been. We gathered around the kitchen fire in a sod hut and were regaled by the Viking re-enactors. They had us spellbound by their Norse tales of adventure.

Our guide was a knowledgeable local girl with a passion for the history, but not too stuffy and boring. She made the history she gave us very informative and interesting!

Some caravanners went to Norstead, a Viking Port of Trade about 1 miles from L'anse aux Meadows. 

This site has four period style buildings including a boat house, which houses a full-scale replica Viking ship, Snorri, a Chieftain's hall, a church and a blacksmith shop. The four-hectare site was built for the anniversary of the Viking landings here as a means to keep some of the hundreds of thousands that attended the anniversary.

Some of us stopped at the Leif Erickson statue on our way back to the campground. The Leif Ericson monument was donated by The Leif Ericson foundation of Seattle, Washington. It is a ten-foot bronze statue. He is facing north-west on the wharf harbor front from L'Anse aux Meadows.

Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According to the sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is usually interpreted as being coastal North America. Leif was described as a wise, considerate, and strong man of striking appearance. During his stay in the Hebrides, he fell in love with a noblewoman, Thorgunna, who gave birth to their son Thorgils. Thorgils was later sent to Leif in Greenland, but he did not become popular

We had a quiet afternoon at the campground. I have taken several walks and enjoyed watching the waterfalls. These waterfalls are part of Salmon River.

We enjoyed an evening of the taste and flavor of Viking Life, as it might have been in 1000 ad, in the only sod covered restaurant in North America. At the Great Viking Feast at Leifsburdir we relaxed, enjoyed a beer from the bar, and sampled the buffet from the good ship Ravens Wing. Our menu included Caplin (dried salted fish), Cod Tongue, Caplin, Jigg’s Dinner, Moose, Salmon and Cod. I’ll describe the infamous Jigg’s Dinner. The origin of the name comes from the fact that the meal is traditionally served at a served at kitchen parties or dances where everyone took to the floor to do a jig or two. Into a large pot of water, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, turnips, and salt or corned beef are boiled together with each ingredient added at a certain time in the cooking process. Jigg’s Dinner is popular due to the availability of all the ingredients close by and its low cost.

We were served our beverages and appetizers by our slave server, Azors.

Captain Leif Hroadsson held the process of Viking Court. A caravanner accused the tailenders of a dereliction of duties and stealing food from the mouths of the other guests. She stated the tailenders do everything last … and tonight, they ate first! The witness swore that the accuser had her facts straight and the tail enders were guilty. Charlie and Wendy were called to the rock and were given an opportunity to plead our case. We were found not guilty, our accuser was found not guilty, so all three of us were charged with wasting the captain’s time and sentenced to bondage.

Two of our caravanners were charged with not mingling with the other caravanners and spending too much time together. They were found guilty and their sentence was to stay away from each other for a week … that will never happen! LOL

I was charged by another caravanner of “street walking.” Can you believe that … there has not been a street to walk on in all of Newfoundland! I stood by ground and I was found guilty of walking too early in the mornings! I was sentenced to hug the accuser and to walk later in the morning!

When we departed the Viking feast, we were greeted by this perfect sunset!

Tomorrow we start south away from the northern most point in mainland Newfoundland!