BONAVISTA, N.L. — When Lucy Mouland gets up in the morning, she instinctively does what her father Walter Mouland did every morning from the back window of the family home. She looks out at the water beyond the old fishing stage and flake.
The structure, and Mouland's boat as well, were used for many years by the fisherman who passed away several years ago.
For Lucy, 75, the structure is her father’s legacy and she would like to see it preserved.
“It’s got to be over 100 years old,” she estimates in an interview with The Packet. She says it was used by the Mouland family going back a few generations.
Lucy remembers her mother drying saltfish on the flake, and storing it in the stage.
During the summer months tourists wander to the unique looking building at Moses Point taking many photos after visiting the nearby Mockbeggar Plantation.
However, the condition of the building is rapidly deteriorating.
Lucy recalls the door falling off the stage in a recent wind storm. Her sister nailed it shut for the time being.
Such incidents are among reasons why the family signed ownership over to the Bonavista Historical Society.
She says she wouldn’t want to see a tourist get hurt by climbing on the flake.
“The boat is gone, it’s all falling apart…The longer it stays like it, the worse it’s going to get. Soon there won’t be nothing down there.”
Lucy would like to see restoration done soon, for the sake of her father’s legacy.
“That’s what he got left.”
The Bonavista Historical Society, which is governed by the Bonavista Townscape Foundation, says the stage will be preserved.
In an emailed statement to The Packet, David Bradley, society chair, says structures like the Walter Mouland stage are significant heritage assets and are valued by the town.
He says there was restoration completed on the stage about 15 years ago, but naturally it’s in need of more work today.
“Stages in headland fishing towns like Bonavista we're generally built of rough board and left unpainted due to the perceived temporary nature of the structures,” he says.
While there are many more permanent “fishing stores” painted with red ochre still existing in Bonavista, these original structures are more preserved as they weren’t situated as close to the ocean's winds and saltwater spray.
“But Walt Mouland's is just about the last of the small stages that once crowded the shoreline in every part of Bonavista. It represents that place of work where fishing families — men, women and children — came together to process the daily catch. Preserving the stage would help to remind us about that important part of our history.
"Preserving the stage would help to remind us about that important part of our history." — David Bradley, chair of Bonavista Historical Society
“That's why it's worth keeping.”
Bradley says the society can’t instantaneously invest funds into a project for restoration. As of right now, the money for renovation needs to be found elsewhere.
“The foundation would like to help but it, too, has to figure out where to find the resources,” he says. “Any public funding the foundation receives is earmarked for specific projects and we can't transfer those funds to another project we might like to pursue.”
While the society needs to find the resources to complete the restoration, he’s confident it will be done.
Twitter: @jejparsons
