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!

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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!