Skipper Hott's Lounge, Blake's Cash & Carry, Snorri Cabins, & Southwest Pond Cabins

Ford and Madeline Blake have operated Skipper Hott’s Lounge for twenty-five years. For Ford, it was a lifelong dream to open a bar. He tried back in 1980, but without financial support, he put the dream on hold. Then, while living in Seal Cove, he tried again. Ford explained, “Madeline and I came back [to Straitsview] on June 1, 1993 and on October 2, 1993 we sold our first beer! It was rough; we couldn’t get any money so put our own money into it. No one would look at us for a loan because I mean starting a bar in a place with about 80 people? Come on. They thought I was nuts!” Despite any outside doubts, the Blakes persisted and created a welcoming, friendly place for all to enjoy. The bar’s name pays homage to Ford’s Uncle, Austin Blake. He explained that as a young person, he and his friends would always visit his uncle for parties or to play cards. When he started the bar, he thought it was a good way to recognize his uncle by naming it after him. 

Skipper Hott’s has a weekly dart league as well as various events throughout the year. They have a big Halloween party as well as a huge dance for Boxing Night. They also host weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas parties and various other special events. Beginning with the Iceberg Festival in the summer, they have Newfie night every Friday night. Ford explained, “we have a band in every Friday evening at 7:30. We serve food and we do Screech Ins.” They’re kept quite busy, seeing upwards of 20 participants a night. The Blakes noted that they’ve created a legacy at Skipper Hott’s. Many people enjoy returning over and over again to enjoy the great atmosphere the Blakes have created. Madeline noted, “sometimes we’ll say, ‘well, this is the last of it now we won’t bother’ and then by and by someone will come in and say, ‘oh my, I’m so glad you’re still here! I love to come back.” It’s that kind of excitement and celebration of the place that makes it so special. About fifteen years ago, The Blakes added a convenience store to Skipper Hotts. Called Blake’s Cash and Carry, they sell various confectionary. They also sell pub grub (with chicken fingers to write home about!).

In 1999, Ford and Madeline expanded their business, opening Snorri Cabins in Straitsview. They have six cabins total, 2 one bedroom and 4 two bedroom. They’re open all year round, offering accommodations to tourists and anyone needing lodging. Then, in 2010, they purchased Southwest Pond Cabins, adding two cabins to make ten total. 3 have one bedroom and 7 have two bedrooms. They’re open from May to the end of September.  

Ford and Madeline are wonderful people with important businesses in our region. It was special to talk to them about their businesses; Thanks, folks! 

Kayla Carroll

Coordinator

Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation 

www.vinlandfutures.ca

@vinlandfutures

J&K Roadside Convenience & Beachy Cove Cabins

Joy and Ken Hedderson purchased what is now J & K Roadside Convenience in 2000.
They have since built on an addition for storage of stock, and also completed other
renovations. Initially, they were franchised through Lewisporte Wholesale. Now they are
with Kwik Way, offering their own weekly sales that are advertised through Facebook. I
sat down with Joy earlier this week to discuss their business, enjoying coffee and
homemade cookies while chatting about changes in their business since they first took
over eighteen years ago.

Joy often works behind the cash at J&K, offering friendly smiles and conversation to all
her customers. They sell groceries, hardware, lotto, tobacco and gas—it’s the only gas
station from L’Anse aux Meadows to St. Lunaire-Griquet. Joy noted she loves working at
the store to meet people and interact with the public. She said, “I enjoy getting up every
morning and going to the store. It’s nice to be out there meeting people. At least you’re
not bored!” The store has raised quite a lot of money for the local fire brigade as well,
hosting a weekly 50/50 draw since 2008.

Joy Hedderson  behind the cash at J & K Roadside Convenience

In 2016, the Heddersons opened Beachy Cove Cabins in Straitsview. They have two
cabins, each with two bedrooms with queen-sized beds, as well as internet and all the
amenities one would need while travelling. Joy gave me a tour of the beautiful spaces,
and I appreciated the wood paneling and hardwood floor throughout. They’ve had two
busy summers with the cabins and have high hopes for the future. Please visit their
website and have a closer look: https://www.beachycovecabins.ca.

J&K Roadside Convenience is a great family-run business and I highly recommend
anyone to check them out. Thanks, Joy!

Kayla Carroll
Coordinator
Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation
www.vinlandfutures.ca
@vinlandfutures

Burden's Store, Burden's Trucking & Burden's Ice Plant

Burden’s General Store, Burden’s Trucking, Burden’s Ice Plant
St. Lunaire, NL

When Graham Burden opened his doors in 1959, he was located in a small “bunkhouse,”
a small building just ten by twenty feet. The business was located near his house in St.
Lunaire until moving to its present location in 1987, with one expansion about ten years
ago and another one in the works. Today, the store is centrally located in St. Lunaire and
sells groceries, hardware, and building supplies. Eight of his nine children work in the
family business, and I was lucky to speak with his children Karen, Kerry, and Keith,
about their family business. Graham is semi-retired, though Karen notes they keep him
informed and ask his opinion on any business decisions.

Karen has worked at the family business her whole adult life, or as she says, “I always
say since I could work. I worked afterschool and on weekends.” She enjoys working at
Burden’s, noting, “I like the busy-ness, dealing with the public, meeting all these people,
I love getting up in the morning and coming here because every day is different.” Karen’s
friendly demeanor is always a pleasure for customers, as is her helpfulness. She works in
accounts receivable and payable as well as working on cash.

Burden’s Store appears to have a “following” not only in the local area but from the St.
Anthony region and also Raleigh and Ship Cove. One may think, “If you cannot get it at
Burden’s – you don’t need it!” The family extends a warm welcome to everyone who
walks through their doors – and often greeting them on a first name basis. They have a
weekly flyer, and if any item is not in stock, they will special order and do that as soon as
possible.

Karen, Keith, and Kerry at Burden's General Store 

Keith runs Burden’s Trucking and Burden’s Ice Plant, which is located at the wharf in St.
Lunaire. The company owns seven tractor trailers and two flatbed trucks for cargo. As
Keith notes, “mostly we truck fresh fish, shellfish, groundfish around the island; we take
frozen product off the Northern Peninsula into Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.” They
also have an offloading company that offloads these products before they’re shipped to
other locations. The ice plant provides ice for the offloaded product as well as ice for
interested customers.

The family enjoys working together and serving the public. Many of the eight siblings
have lunch every day at their mother’s house and it’s not uncommon to see their smiling
faces at Burden’s General Store every time you enter. It was a pleasure to learn more
about this important business in our community. Thanks, folks!

Kayla Carroll
Coordinator
Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation
www.vinlandfutures.ca
@vinlandfutures

Hedderson's Store, Hedderson's Fish Market, The Daily Catch, and Viking Village B&B

Terry Hedderson is quite the busy man. He is the owner and operator of four businesses in the local region. Hedderson’s Store is located in Lower Griquet and is the location where I interviewed Terry for this piece. He explained to me that the store got its start in 1978, when his father opened a convenience store that operated until 2003 when Terry and his wife moved home from Nova Scotia to take over the business. They built the store at the location it remains, across the road from where his father operated. 

It has undergone three renovations (all completed by Terry and his father) and today has grocery, food, gun, tobacco and liquor licenses. Terry noted that he enjoys operating Hedderson’s Store because he is a people person. He said, “I like talking to people, finding out about their travels, where they’re from, where they’re going. Local people too; I like swapping ideas with each other and listening and learning from local people. I was always a people person.” 

In 2002, Terry purchased the former Mickey’s Hill Café, a restaurant located at the top of Mickey’s Hill in St. Lunaire. After running it for a couple of years, he decided there needed to be a name change, something “that would spark someone to think of the fresh seafood that they’re coming in the area for.” He tossed around ideas with his wife until they settled on “The Daily Catch.” The restaurant is opens prior to Mother’s Day and remains open until the tourism site at L’Anse aux Meadows shuts down for the year. The menu offers local seafood, much of it caught in the local area, as well as delicious desserts that use traditional recipes and/or local berries. They also have a table license and as such, serve wine, local beer, and spirits. 

In 2014, Terry opened up Hedderson’s Fish Market, located next to Hedderson’s Store. They sell cod, halibut, scallop, snow crab, lobster, and shrimp, all caught locally. He purchases as much as he can from his family and friends. As with The Daily Catch, the business is opened seasonally. He was having difficulty getting fresh seafood for the restaurant, noting, “I was starting to buy fresh seafood for the Daily Catch but I was having a hard time keeping up with fresh supply. This sparked the idea to build on a fish market at Hedderson’s Store so I could buy more fish at a better price, fresher, sell more at the store and still have a fresher product for the restaurant.” Again, Terry built the addition on with help of his father. 

Last year, Terry partnered with a local boat tour company that operates boat tours from a wharf behind Hedderson’s Store. His partner had operated the tours for several years before approaching Terry. As Terry noted, the location is right on the main “drag” through the community of St. Lunaire-Griquet, meaning more people were seeing the advertisements. They have bigger plans for next season and Terry hopes to offer package deals that include the tour, his restaurant, and his latest venture, the Viking Village Bed and Breakfast located in Hay Cove. This last business was purchased just this past August and includes 5 bedrooms, as well as private showers and bathrooms. 

Terry employs thirteen staff across his businesses, which has a positive and important impact on the local economy. He has a refreshing view on managing his staff: “The way I treat my staff to maintain staff is that nobody is working for me, they’re all working with me. We’re working shoulder-to-shoulder right on the front line. If they’re preparing beds at the B&B, I’m making beds with them.” He has his hands in all the businesses, sometimes serving breakfast at the B&B, which allows him to chat with tourists about their plans for the day. Then, he notes, he’s often working at Hedderson’s Store in the afternoon, serving some of those same tourists as they go about their visit. Finally, he helps out at the Daily Catch, where he can learn how the plans of his guests unfolded. That and interacting with local people at his businesses gives him great satisfaction. Thanks for the great interview, Terry! 

Kayla Carroll

Coordinator

Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation

www.vinlandfutures.ca

@VinlandFutures

Marina's Mini Mart, Burnt Cape Cabins & Cafe, and Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve Stroll and Scoff

Marina’s Mini Mart, Burnt Cape Cabins & Café, and 

Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve Stroll & Scoff

(Ted & Marina Hedderson, Raleigh)

Ted and Marina Hedderson are quite the businesspeople. They operate Marina’s Mini Mart in Raleigh, population of about 167, and have done so since 2001. As Ted explained, “the Mini Mart was owned by Marina’s father for thirty-five years and called Ross Taylor’s store at the time.” In 2001, when Marina’s father decided to retire, the Heddersons purchased the store and have been running it ever since. They franchised through TRA first, then with Clover Farms and now with Kwik-Way, selling confectionary items, groceries, a little hardware, and paint. Ted characterizes their store as a true “convenience” store.

When asked what he likes about having a business in Raleigh, Ted replied, “The thing I like most about having a business here is we can stay here in this area. That’s one thing. And we are able to make a good living at our business here - and to be able to make a good living in rural Newfoundland is something to be proud of.” The Heddersons certainly do have a lot to be proud of, as they run three businesses. Ted also has a contract for bussing students from Raleigh and Ship Cove to school in St. Anthony.

Soon after purchasing the Mini Mart, Ted and Marina purchased a home across from their store. They received JCP funding to renovate the house, ultimately creating two vacation houses that are open year round. The cottages each have three bedrooms, with a complete kitchen, overlooking the picturesque Raleigh harbour. They include wireless internet, Satellite TV, and even a BBQ for patrons. Not long after acquiring the two vacation homes, Ted began operating Burnt Cape Cabins & Café. The Café is open during the summer, with a menu specializing in local seafood, wild game, and homemade desserts (many made with traditional Newfoundland berries). In addition, they run seven other cottages, two with two-bedrooms and five with one bedroom. Patrons have many of the same amenities as in the vacation homes, as well as an on-site laundromat. While the vacation homes are available all year, the seven cottages are open from the first of May until the end of November. Ted also operates the Viking Motel, a 12 room motel that he recently renovated along with the caretaker's room.

Ted Hedderson in his Cafe

Perhaps one of the most interesting and valuable businesses the Heddersons run is the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve and Scoff. Ted runs these two-hour tours, offered at 10 A.M. and 1 P.M. They begin in Raleigh at the restaurant. Ted first takes the guests in his vehicle and drives them around Raleigh. As he explains, “I take them for a full tour around Raleigh and I tell them the history of Raleigh, and how it was back in the 1920s with regards to the fishery, how many people are in the town and the history of the town.” He takes them to three or four places along Raleigh including a local sea cave before going to the Ecological Reserve, where he shows the guests the rare floral and fauna found along Burnt Cape. The Ecological Reserve is home to some three hundred rare species of floral and fauna, many that are only found there. He also shows them the frost polygons or sorted patterned ground formed when water intensely freezes and thaws over time, creating an interesting pattern in the ground as bigger rock gets pushed out from a center pressure of fine grain material and mud. Ted called these shapes mounds and explained, “vegetation starts to grow like the rare plants and flowers take hold because it has shelter from these mounds.”

At the end of the tour, guests have the option of having a traditional Newfoundland meal at Burnt Cape Café. Ted prepares a dish called “padderra”, which he explains “is an old fashioned Newfoundland dish that was first created when the fishermen of the towns like where I grew up would go out cod jigging all day and they’d take their hard bread and their salt pork scrunchions and onion and midday they would take a couple of the fish they would have caught, heading ashore to soak the bread and create a dish on the beach shore for their lunch.” Ted fries the fresh cod in the pork scrunchions and onions, frying it until it flakes, then adding breadcrumbs until it has a nice golden brown colour. He serves the dish with moose sausages, a beverage of the guest’s choice and one of their desserts made from local Newfoundland berries.

Ted is passionate about his businesses and it was a pleasure to get a tour of his cottages, Café, and the general store. Thanks, Ted!

**********

Please visit the Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation website (www.vinlandfutures.ca) and follow us on Twitter (@vinlandfutures).

The Dark Tickle Company, Cafe Nymph & Dark Tickle Expeditions

The Dark Tickle Company

The Dark Tickle Company will soon be celebrating its centennial anniversary. In 1919, Kier Knudsen's grandfather, Ford Elms opened a general store in Dark Tickle at the end of Lower Griquet where the tickle meets with Camel's Island. (A “tickle” is a narrow channel of saltwater between two points of land.) Eventually, his parents (Gwen and Steve Knudsen) took over the family business, and years later began operating a small craft store at the back of the general store. 

As the L'Anse aux Meadows UNESCO site brought increasing numbers of tourists to the area, they would often ask the Knudsens for products made from local berries, such as bakeapples and partridgeberries. The Knudsens then sought a supplier for these products, and eventually began to purchase the local berries from surrounding communities and Southern Labrador. 

Eventually, the store moved to the main road in St. Lunaire and transitioned from being a general store to a manufacturer of jams, spreads, tea, coffee, and chocolate, all made from the sourced local berries. Today, the business is run by Kier and his wife Stacey, with Kier’s parents still involved in the day-to-day operation of the business.

The Dark Tickle Company is also an economusée, referring to an organization that started in Quebec. As Kier explained, “the premise is to showcase traditional craft skills to the public. So, it’s a network of businesses that do that, so you kind of open up your production so the public can see what you’re doing and it’s an experiential knowledge-based tourism operation.” This unique opportunity allows visitors to see the products being made, an educational experience they likely won’t find in other places that sell these types of products. 

Excitingly, this was the first full season for Café Nymph. Although the Dark Tickle Company had a tea room in the downstairs portion of the business, this year it was expanded to a bistro-style restaurant in the upstairs portion. For about ten years prior to this, the Company had the Granchain Exhibit upstairs. Grandchain was a famous French naval officer. Thanks to the research of a man named Richard Neil in Normandy, he discovered an old 1700s manor house, learning it belonged to Granchain.

Cafe Nymph (Dark Tickle Company photo)

As Kier explained, “Granchain was sent over here to protect the French fishing rights in this area because the British were moving in. So back to Richard for a second, through the course of his research he found out this naval officer was given land in the New World by the King, so he decided to come over and see where the land was,and it was in St. Lunaire Bay.” The Granchain exhibit at the Dark Tickle Shoppe is a collaborative effort with a sister one in Normandy. The Knudsens have since enhanced the exhibit with artifacts and multimedia and now, patrons of Café Nymphe can peruse the exhibit while enjoying homemade desserts and main courses. 

Finally, the Dark Tickle Company has begun offering boat tours, called Dark Tickle Expeditions. I was lucky enough to take part in one in July. The two hour tours are very detailed, and vary depending on the day-to-day conditions and what is in the area. The day I took my tour, there was a fair-sized iceberg near the White Islands that the tour guide took time to explain how the ice made its way here. For most of this season, the expeditions saw icebergs, whales, and seabirds. The tours also show the resettled community of Fortune, explaining the history of the resettlement movements in Newfoundland. Some tours also use an ROV to show patrons underwater features of the land. 

Overall, the Dark Tickle Company is an important business in St. Lunaire - Griquet. They employ nine to ten people and as such, are an excellent business to support. I highly recommend checking them out!