Here we see several pictures of the only remaining fishing stage at Cape Bonavista. About half a century ago the entire shoreline in this area was crowded with stages and stores clinging to every nook and cranny of the rugged coast. The fishermen used these structures for landing, cleaning and storing their catches of cod. Notice the "woodhorse" under the flake!
The picture below shows part of a flake located at Mockbeggar, Bonavista. The flake was a raised platform used by the fisherman for drying his salted cod. The cod would be removed from the stage or shed after being in salt for a period of time and spread out on the flake. Usually the flake was covered with "blasty" boughs and this allowed the air to circulate up and around the drying fish. While the fishermen were out on the fishing grounds, their wives and children kept an eye on the weather and if it looked like rain they would go on the flake and gather the fish into piles and cover the piles for protection from the rain. Sometimes this activity would take place several times a day. Occasionally, a young boy or girl would be presented with a dried salt cod as a reward for their help. This they would take to the fish merchant up the road and exchange it for one or two "Peppermint Knobs" or "Jawbreakers" (candy).
The final picture on this page shows a "garden" at Cape Bonavista. To the fisherman of the Bonavista area, a "garden" did not mean a flower garden or a patch of ground that you cultivated in your spare time or used to beautify your property. The fisherman's garden was an essential part of his life. Each family had a garden where they grew such vegetables as potatoes, carrot and cabbage. Most of the gardens were located near the fishing property and again it was the women who tended the garden while their husbands were on the fishing ground. Usually, however, all the family would take part in the annual harvesting of the vegetables late in September or early October on a day when it was too windy or stormy to go fishing. In later years, this was usually a weekend activity and was considered an outing for school aged children. The dried stalks of the potato plants were later used for "Bonfire Night." This garden is still being used by a Bonavista family and there are many more scattered throughout the town of Bonavista.
