King/Reid Stage
Situated on the rugged coastline of the St. John’s Outer Battery is one of very few remaining fishing stages in the capital city. The Reid/King Stage is a typical wood framed structure used for fisheries purposes. The location of the stage reveals its vulnerability to the harsh North Atlantic seas and the battering it takes year after year. The owner, Bruce Peters, applied to the Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program in 2005 to help preserve his fishing premises.
The property was once owned by the King family of fishermen and sold to Alexander Reid in 1945. Reid, along with his four sons, made their living from the inshore cod fishery. The property and wharves were used to make and mend cod traps, haul out and repair boats, quarter the summer fishing crews and process/ split fish and other related activities. The property is owned by Bruce Peters now, who uses it as part of his Bed and Breakfast operation.
Mr. Peters recognized the need to improve his property, particularly in light of his growing business. Most urgently he needed the leaky roof repaired, some wood rot removed from the floor planks and clapboard sheathing on the exterior, along with windows and staining of the entire structure. The work was undertaken in the summer of 2006, and completed by September of that year. Mr. Peters completed the restoration in stages, beginning with the roof, made of metal and at that time rusty and leaking. He came up with an ingenious method of repairing the roof without removing it, as it added great structural stability. After removing all rotten wood and replacing it with new pieces he came up with an,
innovative measure to make the roof watertight (which) involved soaking strips of burlap in tar, rolling them into appropriate diameter rolls and caulking them into the larger cracks and securing the edges of the metal panels with sheet metal screws. Small patches of burlap were cut and prepared and stuck with roofing adhesive over the remaining smaller holes. Then the entire roof was covered with a membrane of burlap soaked in roofing adhesive and later covered with two coats of roofing tar.
With the structure in good condition Mr. Peters has ensured a long life for it. It adds to the historic viewscape of the Outer Battery of St. John’s and he has plans to continue restoring the remaining structures: the wharf and dock. Once complete the King/Reid Premises will continue to represent the early and humble beginnings of the capital city. Bruce Peters said of his experience, “It was a challenge and a pleasure to complete this task and I was greatly assisted by the Standard and Guidelines for Historic Places in Canada.”
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