Cupids Cove Chatter

To celebrate the birth of the first English child in Canada Cupids 400 is hosting a traditional baby shower on March 27, 2010, 7:30pm at the Cupids Community Centre.

Join us for an evening of fun and prizes.

Her Honour Jane Furneaux Crosbie with Northern Avalon Tourism Ambassador at the Lieutenant Governor's Garden Party at Government House

With Honourary Guest: Her Honour Jane Furneaux Crosbie, wife of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, The Honourable John Crosbie.

All gift donated to the Healthy Baby Club, Trinity Conception Family Resource Centre, and other selected charities.

Baby items and monetary gifts appreciated.

Bring your own cards and baskets.  (At a traditional Newfoundland Baby Shower, in addition to bringing a card and gift, those attending bring a pack of playing cards – if they want to play cards – and “bring your own” food item, such as cake, cookies or sandwiches.)

For more information, please contact:

Kathi Stacey 528-1610 Email: kstacey@cpids400.com

Nicholas Guy and Family Went on to Found Carbonear

People in Carbonear may have special interest in Nicholas Guy and his family since they are recognized as the founders of the town of Carbonear.  Nicholas Guy’s wife’s name or the baby’s name were not recorded, but it is believed she was one of the 16 women settlers that John Guy brought to Cupids Cove in 1612.

Baby Crib from early 1600s

Nicholas Guy’s Letter from Carbonear

Nicholas and his family probably moved to Harbour Grace when the Bristol’s Hope Plantation was established in about 1617.

By 1631, Nicholas and his family were settled on Sir Percival Willoughby’s land in Carbonear, where they were busy fishing, farming and trapping furs. In a letter Nicholas wrote to Sir Percival on September 1, 1631, he asked to have more men sent over to help him with his work. He also asked that he be given a commission so that more people would come and settle on the land. In the same letter, Nicholas said that he was doing well in Carbonear and had made £100 that year. He talked about making butter and cheese: some he sold, and some he gave to his neighbours.

Nicholas Guy’s Family Most Prominent Planter Family in Carbonear

Nicholas’ family continued to live in Carbonear through the 17th century and became the most prominent planter family in that town. The 1675 census lists both Jonathon Guy Sr. (probably Nicholas’ son, but we do not know if it was the son born in 1613) and Jonathon Guy Jr. living at Carbonear. The 1677 census records a Nicholas Guy living at Carbonear who was probably the grandson of the original Nicholas. When a list of planters was written up in 1708, the Guy family was still living in Carbonear.

From Baccalieu: Crossroads for Cultures, Nicholas Guy’s Letter sent from Carbonear to Sir Percival Willoughby in 1631  > >

Rabbittown Theatre Company & the New World Theatre Project are holding auditions for their upcoming season taking place in Cupids, Newfoundland. The season will consist of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar and 3 original Newfoundland pieces.

This year, the theatre has received  money from the Cupids 400 celebrations, which commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Guy’s establishment of the first English colony in Canada.

Auditions for Productions

Friday, March 26, 2010 Professional Auditions
Rabbittown Theatre 10-1, 2-6

Saturday, March 27, 2010 Student Auditions
Rabbittown Theatre 10-1, 2-6

Sunday, March 28, 2010 Auditions in Cupids – Times – TBA

Monday, March 29, 2010 Auditions at SWGC in Corner Brook -Times – TBA

You will be asked to prepare two contrasting monologues- one must be from the Shakespearean catalogue.

Actors must be available from April to August 2010.

Auditions can also be submitted by video tape. Please contact us for further information regarding this.

*To schedule an audition time, please send all resumes and headshots to rabbittown@nf.aibn.com or 106 Freshwater Rd. St. John’s, NL A1C 2N8

The New World Theatre Project

The New World Theatre Project will be a collection of shows from the era of William Shakespeare (circa 1610), coupled with new commissioned work that will be interpretive, reflective, and entertaining for the whole family.

Jacobean Playhouse

This work will be staged on a spectacular set.  They are building an interpretation of a Jacobean playhouse.  The playhouse will incorporate design elements that would have been seen in structures of the day, but with materials that would have been readily available to the group of 39 settlers that landed with John Guy in 1610.

In order to guarantee the success of the project next year, and into the future, we have secured a tremendous international partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe Centre Canada in Toronto and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.

This is a massive undertaking so Rabbittown Theatre Company has brought on two of the province’s finest producers to assist in the project; Brad Hodder and Geoff Adams.  Rabbittown Theatre Company will also be implementing a full time General Manager position for the operation of the company.

Jacobean Playhouse

Beothuk in Trinity Bay. Illustration for Baccalieu: Crossroads for Cultures by Pamela Williams

John Guy and Henry Crout observed Dildo Island when they travelled to Trinity Bay to meet and trade with the Beothuk people.   On July 2, 1613, Henry Crout said that they sailed into Dildo Arm just as the sun was rising.  As they sailed past one of the islands, they saw a Beothuk canoe and a Beothuk house. They went ashore to examine the house, a wigwam covered in hides. Inside they discovered a bed made by laying down ‘long green grass’ and covering it with furs.    There was a fireplace with sticks for roasting meat. They left presents at the house for the Beothuk.

Drawing of a Beothuk canoe by John Guy.

The next morning, they found that the Beothuk had gone from the island but had left behind “spits of their roast meat”. This Crout took to be a gift left in exchange for the presents he had placed there the previous day. See the transcript of a letter by Henry Crout to Sir Percival Willoughby in the summer 1613,  from Baccalieu: Crossroads for Cultures > >

The Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation decided to conduct excavations on Dildo Island to search for evidence of Beothuk habitation.  As of yet, they have not found significant Beothuk artifacts, but they have found that the island had a history of human settlement of more than 2500 years.

Dildo Island – “A Place of Provincial Significance”

Dildo Island, Place of Provincial Significance - Award Presented

On March 3, 2010 the government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced the province’s first ever historic commemorations designations. Under the Historic Commemorations Program, Dildo Island was commemorated as a place of provincial significance because of its 2,500 years of occupation by various cultures.

Photo at left: Françoise Enguehard, Chair of the Historic Commemorations Board and The Honourable Shawn Skinner, Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development present award for Dildo Island as a “Place of Provincial Significance” to Gerald Smith, representing the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation, accompanied by Calvin Peach – MHA for District of Bellevue

2500 Years of Human Settlement – Different Cultures

Purple Rhyolite - Recent Indians Used to Make Tools.

Archaeologists working on the island have found evidence of different cultures which had lived there over a very long time period. One camp that they found on the island was used by Native American people who may be the ancestors of the Beothuk.  They are known as Recent Indians.  Carbon dating of pieces from a fireplace found at this camp, revealed they inhabited the camp about 1200 years ago. See description of these finding by William Gilbert, chief archaeologist with the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corportation in Baccalieu Digs.

They found the remains of two houses that were built by Dorset Eskimo. Carbon samples found in these houses were analyzed. This carbon dating revealed that the Dorset people lived on Dildo Island for about 600 years and that they first arrived on the island over 1900 years ago. In addition, there is older Groswater Eskimo material on the Island that could be as old as 800BC.  See description of these findings by William Gilbert.

For more photos see Dildo Island a Place of Provincial Significance on Flickr > >