Adams Fishing Stage
The Adams Fishing Stage in Joe Batt’s Arm is the site of two fisheries structures and a wharf owned by Gordon Adams. As Mr. Adams is presently a fisherman the structures are used frequently and have been used by the Adams family for more than one hundred years. Due to their age and waterside location they were in dire need of restoration. When Mr. Adams applied to the Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program he stated the condition of his premises was, “poor and dilapidated and badly in need of replacement of siding, paint and other wood materials”.
The restoration took place through the summer of 2006 with work being carried out by Adams himself. The rectangular, gable roof stage and the smaller store were resheathed in clapboard and cornerboards, and then painted a brilliant red color. The roofs were re-shingled. The wharf, stagehead and splitting table were also replaced, “This work and improvement was as much a pleasure for me as a chore”, said Adams of his ten hour restoration workdays.
Mr. Adams’ objectives for the restoration project were to “restore and preserve our fishing premises as close as possible to its original state” and it appears he was successful in his endeavour. The community has offered many positive comments about the obvious improvement in the structures such as, “It’s like going back in time”. It appears this labour of love has added greatly to the community of Joe Batt’s Arm and its coastline.
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Brett/ Eveleigh Property
Joe Batt’s Arm on the northeast shore of Fogo Island shares a common history with the rest of the island and the province in that European settlement there was based on the strength of the inshore cod fishery. The community’s earliest inhabitants were of West Country England stock, and Brett and Eveleigh are among its earliest recorded family names.
The Brett family from Christ Church, Hampshire, England settled in Joe Batt’s Arm on Fogo Island in the 1800s. Their family home for three generations at Brown’s Point now operates as Brett House Museum, a beautifully restored wooden dwelling. The family’s historic fishing premises are located across the road, and were used by John Brett (1851-1935) and his son Charles Brett (1886-1976).
Linda and Leonard Brown undertook the task of making the wharf of the fishing premises safe, and restoring the Brett Wharf House and Trapstore, along with the Eveleigh Stage, which is in close proximity. Their goal was “to return the buildings as close to the original look as possible.” This included replacing shinges and rotten boards, and quite a bit of painting. When replacing clapboard they used birch bark underneath the seams “like Charles Brett had done.”
Below: Eveleigh Stage before restoration
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Decker’s Premises
Decker, or the alternate spelling Deker, is among the earliest recorded family names of settlers at Joe Batt's Arm. The Fogo Island community shares a common history with its neighbours, since European settlement there was based on the inshore cod fishery.
The large Decker family has used this particular premises since the 1940s. The premises include a two-storey store on wood posts, and a single storey stage supported by wooden cribbing. The flake/walkway leading from the shore to the stage is a platform built of wood posts and rinded trees, the latter known as longers or lungers. A pigpen is conveniently located immediately off the right side of the flake.
Restoring the Decker's Premises included installing new beams and longers on the flake, and replacing cladding on the buildings. The buildings were finished with a fresh coat of red ochre coloured paint, trimmed in contrasting white around the window and eaves. This is a striking, traditional colour scheme of fisheries buildings around Fogo Island and elsewhere in the province. The Decker Stage also has a distinct white circle, known to some as a hex mark, painted on the door.
Top: Decker Store before and after work.
Bottom: Decker Stage and walkway/flake during and after work.
Below: Decker Stage and walkway/flake before and after work. Note pigpen right of stage in after image.
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