Half a century ago, the Burin Peninsula community of Taylors Bay was home to close to 100
people. Today there are no more than half a dozen people in the small settlement facing out into
Placentia Bay. There’s a wild beauty about this place where waves roll with haughty grandeur against the
rocky shore. And one day in 1929 that wild beauty went horribly awry when the sea suddenly swept in
over the land, then rushed out again with a terrible force.
The tidal wave that struck the Burin Peninsula on Nov. 18, 1929, affected communities from Rock Harbour to
Lamaline, a distance of about 64 kilometres. Eight people lost their lives in Point au Gaul, seven in Port au
Bras, two in Kelly’s Cove, four in Lord’s Cove, one in Allan’s Island and five in Taylors Bay. Further
consequences were property losses of more than $1 million and a disruption of the inshore fishery for
a period of seven years. The tidal wave almost wiped out the community of Taylors Bay, in its aftermath
only five of 17 houses were left standing. The house that Gladys(Hillier) Bonnell came to as a bride in 1956
was one of those that was shifted off its foundation. Lifted by the force of the sea, it was miraculously held
in place by telegraph wires. When the sea receded, the house was left sitting at an angle and Jacob and Julia
Bonnell, grandparents of Gladys’s husband, decided to simply jack it up and leave it as it was. Jacob
declared, "That’s where God wanted it."
Bonnell side
Gladys, now a widow, still lives in the house Jacob and Julia built, on what’s called the Bonnell side of
Taylors Bay. The house you’ve come to see is across the road and nearer the ocean, on what’s called
the Hillier side of the bay. This house is a grey two-storey with red trim that was built by William and
Lucy Hillier in the early 1900s. From the Hilliers the house went to Jacob and Julia Bonnell’s son, William
and his wife Catherine (Hillier), who raised a family of 12 children there. Now that William and Catherine
are dead and the children have left Taylors Bay, the house is empty and used only when the family gets
together for summer reunions. The grey house, built with wood brought by schooner from St. John’s, is
exactly the same floor plan as Gladys’s. There’s just one entrance, a back door that opens into a porch.
From the back porch a door opens into a middle porch — the idea of the middle porch, Gladys explains,
is to stop cold air from coming into the kitchen. Off the middle porch is the back room where butter was
hurned, milk was separated and clothes washed in a big, wooden washtub. In summer the family sometimes
ate in the back room. The pantry off the back room is where flour and beef were stored. The kitchen
has a wood and oil stove, canvas-covered floor and the table and chairs are set under two windows with
a view of the ocean. Off the kitchen there’s a hall with a built-in storage cupboard and a door to the small
front parlour. The kitchen was for socializing, the parlour was only used when someone died.
The second floor of the house has three bedrooms with low, beamed ceilings and slanted walls. Two of the
bedrooms have windows set at floor level. Walking through the house you remark on the beach rocks that are
on the floors of all the rooms. "They’re salt-water rocks, to keep the house from getting damp and mouldy,"
explains Gladys. The Hilliers and Bonnells who lived in the grey house were fishermen. Their fishing stages
were located to the front of the house on the rocky beach. As was common with outport people of the time,
the families grew all their own vegetables and kept cows, sheep, horses, pigs and hens. The barn and the
hen house were at the front of the house, as was the outhouse, which was used primarily by guests.
Next door to the grey house is an empty house with peeling red paint that was the home of William and
Catherine’s daughter, Ina, and her romantically named husband, Lancelot Hillier. Beyond the fishing stages
and out across the harbour there’s a long neck of land called Black Duck Gaze. The large yellow house there
was the home of Jacob Bonnell’s brother, William, and his wife Jane. The brothers were sons of William and
Martha Bonnell, the first people to settle in Taylors Bay.
French fishermen A French map of 1744 shows Taylors Bay as Baue de Tailleur, suggesting it may have been
frequented by migratory fishermen from the nearby French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon. Permanent settlement,
however, didn’t come until 1850 when William and Martha Bonnell moved there from Lamaline. By 1904 the
Bonnells had been joined by families of Hillier, Woodland and Walsh. Leaving the grey house on the Hillier
side of the bay you follow Gladys across the road to the Bonnell side and to the house where she and her
husband, Garfield, raised their eight children. Sitting at Gladys’s kitchen table you sip a cup of tea and read
some of the information she’s collected about the tidal wave of 1929. Owing to the effects of the tidal wave,
telegraph lines were down between the Burin Peninsula and St. John’s and it wasn’t until three days later that
news of the catastrophe reached the capital city. First news of the disaster was a wireless message from the
coastal steamer Portia. "Burin experienced very severe earth tremours at 5:05 p.m. on Nov. 18 followed at 5:35
p.m. and 7:35 p.m. by an immense 15-foot tidal wave which swept away everything along the waterfront,
" began the Nov. 21, 1929, message to Prime Minister Richard Squires from Magistrate Hollett of Burin,
continuing with a report of more than 20 deaths in other stricken communities. The government equipped
the steamer Meigle with a staff of physicians and nurses, medical supplies, food and building materials.
twenty-four hours later it was tied up at the government wharf in Burin and the process of aiding those
devastated by the tidal wave was begun. The earthquake and tidal wave of 1929 nearly wiped out the little
community of Taylers Bay. Only five of the seventeen houses in the community remained standing. The
inshore fishery was disrupted for the next several years.
Dimmer Residence
(Fox Cove)
The Dimmer Residence is a landmark structure in the community of Fox Cove, the oldest dwelling and one of the few to survive the tidal wave that hit the Burin Peninsula in 1929.
No one knows the exact date the Dimmer Residence was built, but it is thought to be around 1859. Built by Harry and Thomas Dimmer, it has served as the household for the Dimmer family for over a century.
The best known members of the family were not the brothers who built the house, but Henry Dimmer (son of Harry) and his family. Henry married Mary Antle, who served as the midwife for the community and surrounding area. During the early part of the century, it is estimated Mary delivered hundreds of babies in the Dimmer Residence. Because she had some medical knowledge, she became an unofficial community doctor, and the house became a drop-in clinic for many people in the community.
The most famous event involving the house occurred on November 18, 1929, when an earthquake registering 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred approximately 250 km. south of the Burin Peninsula. The resulting tidal wave travelled at 130 km/hr and ranged in height from five to 15 m. Striking the Burin Peninsula, the "great big sea" wiped out many houses along that stretch of the coast, causing more than $1 million worth of damage and killing 27 people. Located high on a hill overlooking the harbour, the Dimmer house miraculously survived, and in the aftermath, served as a shelter for many of the victims.
After Henry and Mary passed away, the house came into the ownership of John and Eileen Dimmer. In the early 1990s Eileen died. The house stood vacant for several years until a community effort was launched to restore it. The house now belongs to Ray Whitten and is a private residence.
This is an example of one of the earlier styles of vernacular architecture in Newfoundland. The house is a wooden two-storeyed structure. With a steep pitched roof and three-over-three and three-over-six windows. There is also a linhay in the back of the house, although the date of its construction is not known. Few examples of this style of architecture remain in Newfoundland today.
The Dimmer Residence became a Registered Heritage Structure in September 1995.
| When people think of earthquakes and tidal waves, they often think of places like California or Japan. People fail to realize that Newfoundland and Labrador has had its own activity. On January 21,1809 an earthquake shook Labrador's shores. On November 30, 1836 tremors were recorded in the Hopedale region. But the largest quake occurred on the Burin Peninsula. Claiming 27 lives, it measured 7.2 on the Richter scale (7 on the Rossi-Forel scale). The total damage came to more then $1 000 000. Even though the material goods could and were eventually replaced nothing could ever replace the twenty-seven victims of the disaster. |
| Here
is the interview that was done with Mrs. Rita Kearley
about that horrifying day: The day the "Great Wave; hit was a hard day, especially for the parents of Mrs. Rita Kearley. Mrs. Rita Kearley was born in October of 1930; 11 months after the tsunami hit the Bruin Peninsula. Mrs. Kearley as told all about the wave; how it affected the land, the sea, the people, and the town. Her parents were fortunate enough to survive that night, however they lost Mrs. Kearley's grandmother and their three children (Mrs. Kearley's sister and her brothers). "It was 5 o'clock, suppertime, when the big tremors shook the houses and the land. It rattled the dishes in the cupboards, scaring everyone very much. Measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale, it was almost the same strength as the big earthquake in Los Angles, California, in the early 1990's. After a few minutes the tremors passed and everyone continued with their chores." The parents of Rita Kearley (Hepditch) went to a party, at the Loyal Orange Lodge hall, which started at 8 p.m. They left to walk from Point Aux Gaul to Lameline, the site of the party. The children stayed at home with their grandmother. At 7 p.m. the water came in one big wave. It toppled over the Hepditch house and swept it out to sea, taking the grandmother and the three children with it. All the people in the area from Point Aux Gaul to Nantes Cove to Taylor's Bay were too scared to go to the shore lines so they escaped to the woods in the hills. They lit the schoolhouse, which was on the hill, on fire. This drew most people's attention so they could get up to the school house area and away from the water. Unfortunately, not everyone got there in time. In all, 14 people from the area died and 12 more died in the Burin area of the peninsula. All four bodies from the Hepditch family was found the next day, down by the beach. The second oldest, Henry, was found on the shore clinging to the motor box on a dory, with not a drop of water in it. He died of exposure to the elements. Surprisingly, a horse which was taken out to sea with the wave, swam safely back to shore and survived the whole ordeal." The victims included: Point Aux Gaul
Taylor's Bay
Nantes Cove
Burin Area In Burin, only one house was lost. This house floated out to sea with a mother and three children inside. In the window of the house, a lamp, still burning, rocked gently back and forth, not tipping over. The mother and two of her children died, but the baby, who was upstairs asleep in a cradle, survived. Most houses, if harmed at all, were washed up on the road with little damage. Bay de L'Eau Area In Bay de L'Eau, where Mr.Kearley is from, some damage occurred and it was mainly from flooding. Mr.Kearley's father's home was flooded. His two-month-old bother, Reg, was in his cradle and it was floating in the kitchen. When his father came home, he had to put on his hip rubbers because the water was so deep in the house. |
|
The Telegram
Wild beauty of Taylors Bay 7/26/99
by JEAN EDWARDS STACEY