Theory of greener grass (Part 1)

Abandoned house in the resettled community of Tickles in St. Mary's Bay, Newfound- land

There's an expression "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". That applies to not only the grass but also the other worldly possessions of our neighbours. I guess I should say the grass "appears" to be greener.

Newfoundland was settled by people who came here to fish. In the early years it was a summer fishery and the fishermen went home after the season was over. After a while fishermen decided to overwinter and they built settlements in isolated and hard-to-find nooks and crannies along the coast. They did so to hide as it was against the law to live in the newly-found-lande.

Communities sprang up and there was always the next bay or cove around the point where the fishing was better or access to the fish was more convenient. People moved on to greener pastures so to speak. Life was hard and people essentially subsisted.

In modern times the isolated communities didn't have basic services like access to timely medical care, electricity etc. It was too expensive for government to provide services to more than a 1,000 isolated communities so consolidation in larger centralized communities became the greener pastures. People resisted resettlement, as it became known, but government offered cash incentives and communities became divided between those who wanted to stay and those who wanted to leave. Teachers became difficult to recruit to isolated communities and for other reasons, slowly the depopulation of rural communities began.

In the end some 307 communities were abandoned between 1946 and 1975 affecting over 28,000 individuals. The community of Tickles pictured above was one of them. There were things gained and lost. The gains were tangible, the losses more intangible. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, its just a different shade.

Tony :-)