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Description
Note: First picture taken after restoration, second picture taken before restoration.
This stage was built in the early 1900s and was used by the Mulcahy family for the cod, capelin and salmon fisheries. The stage was used for storing both fishing gear and dried salt fish for market. The stage originally had a second floor where the fishing crew worked on mending nets and twine and making traps. The lower floor was primarily used for dried fish and bait storage. When the business was in full production the meadow surrounding the stage was filled with fish flakes for drying the salted split cod. This cod was shipped to the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.
The site was also used for the construction of several fishing schooners. One of the largest schooners built on the site was called the Monica. It was built for Jack Hartery by men from Cape Broyle and surrounding areas. The schooner fished on the Grand Banks and later ran freight from North Sydney to Newfoundland. The Monica sank off Rose Blanche in the late 1930s.
The meadow also had an icehouse in which ice and bait were stored for sale to Nova Scotian schooners that fished the Grand Banks. The ice was cut from local ponds during the winter and stored in sawdust on the property. Banking schooners would purchase bait at $10.00 a dory load. Local fishermen would row out the harbour with dory loads of bait for the waiting schooners.
Repairs to this stage were underway when the roof was torn from the building during a fall storm in 2011. The major restoration work undertaken during 2012-2013 under the Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program was the rebuilding of the roof.
