Share Your Memories
The hardships associated with the early forms of travel are no more, but the stories behind them live on in the memories of those who were there and can remember what it was like. Why not contact us and share your photos, stories and memories with our visitors?
Flat Tires
Almost every driver had a tire patch kit, glue and a hand pump, and were experts at tire repair, because getting to a garage was not always an option when you got a flat out in the middle of nowhere.
Where In The World Is Port Albert?
On the chance that you are visiting our site for the first time and have never heard of Port Albert, let alone know where it is, we're going to take a moment to show you where we are located, and how to get here. Situated off of the east coast of Canada, the island portion of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador guards the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. This majestic island has, for millennia, stood like a sentry, watching and waiting for the explorers that would later come seeking to discover new worlds. And come they did! History shows that it was the Vikings who were the first of the European explorers to set foot on this great island in what is today known as L'Anse aux Meadows, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Almost 500 years after the Vikings, Italian explorer John Cabot "re-discovered" the Island of Newfoundland in 1497, opening the way for European nations to send their fishing fleets to harvest the bountiful cod. Once described as an unlimited resource, time and man's greed has proven this not to be so.
How Travel Used To Be
From the earliest times, the most common ways to get in and out of Port Albert was by boat in summer or overland by horse and sleigh in winter. During the summer, if one wanted to travel out of the community but didn't have a way, a white flag was flown from the end of The Point, a small treeless peninsula that jutts out for half a mile or so from the harbour's north side. Passenger boats plying the waters between Lewisporte and Change Islands, and points further along the coast would see the flag and know that someone needed a ride, and would call into the harbour to pick up their fares.
Modern Times
It was during 1965, under the Government of Premier Joseph R Smallwood that access by road was finally made possible. A rough, approximately 12 km stretch of dirt road connected Port Albert to the nearby community of Stoneville, and onwards to larger centers like Lewisporte, Gander and Grand Falls - Windsor. Eventually, the upgrading of the road to a paved surface several years later made travel a lot safer and faster, but those early days were something else.
On hot, dry summer days, any vehicle travelling the road kicked up billowing clouds of dust, which when it settled, covered everything within it's reach. A car approaching from the other direction could often be spotted by the dust clouds it was creating, long before one actually saw the vehicle itself. The race was then on to close all the windows before both vehicles passed each other and were engulfed by this thick, brown cloud. The dust got into everything and everywhere, and even left drivers momentarily blinded as they passed each other, both hoping that they were still on the road.
Another casualty of the early road was tires. The sharpened edges of stones on the road took their toll on many a driver's tires, but was no doubt good for business at local garages in the neighbouring communities. Children of that era had access to plenty of discarded inner tubes which were patched up and used for flotation devices when swimming, or cut up to make slingshots or other childhood paraphernalia.