Formal Recognition Type

Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program

Notes

Gus Foley’s Stage was built by Ben Foley in 1962, using materials salvaged from a salt shed that had been owned by the mercantile firm of Earle and Sons Company Limited. Ben purchased the salt shed and dismantled it in sections, re-erecting it in its present day location. The original salt shed was built circa 1860 by the Bryan family as part of their fishing operations. The board used in this shed was cut and sawn in Norris Arm and brought to Tilting by boat. Passed on to Ben’s son Augustine (Gus) Foley, the stage was once used to store bulk and light salted cod. At times it was also used as a slaughter house for domestic livestock. When the Tilting Recreational and Cultural Society applied to the Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program for assistance to restore the stage, some of the cribbing had deteriorated, repairs to the roof, floor and bridge were necessary and the wooden clapboard on the exterior was very weathered. As part of the restoration, new cribbing was constructed and put in place, the roof and floor were stabilized, a new, lengthy access bridge completed, flakes repaired, new clapboard was installed and the entire structure was painted. “This stage is quite visible and it is one of the first that you see as you enter Tilting by road,” says Tilting Recreational and Cultural Society president Jim McGrath, adding that “It looks like a million dollars.”

Community

Tilting

Municipality

Town of Fogo Island

Construction (circa)

1960 - 1960

Builder

Ben Foley