Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises is a wooden, two and a half storey house with a steep gable roof and is located at Newman’s Point, Bonavista, NL. The designation includes the house, a one and a half storey store, and fishing flake adjacent to the house.
Formal Recognition Type
Registered Heritage Structure
Heritage Value
Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1998 because of its aesthetic and cultural value.
Samuel Abbott House is built on Newman’s Point, Bonavista in the vernacular style and includes a traditional store and flake on the property. The original part of the home is thought to have been built in the late 1700s and consisted of a parlour, kitchen, and two bedrooms and a long porch on the water side. There was an open hearth fireplace on both floors. This house was relocated by Samuel Abbott farther along the beach in Bonavista, and additions and renovations were soon made. The second floor was expanded, allowing for a total of four bedrooms, and the hearths were removed to allow for two stoves in their place, using the hearth stones to construct a chimney. A small linhay was added, and hand-crafted single-pane windows were installed which could slide up into a pocket built into the wall. The home was built of hand-hewn wood. The renovations were completed around 1850 or earlier, although some materials still present in the structure may be older. Around this time, several members of the Abbott family had properties in this area, known as Mockbeggar. The “Mockbeggar Abbotts”, as they were called, had six houses, four stores, and four cellars, flanked by a large flake for drying cod fish. The Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises are the only remaining buildings from this time.
The store and flake contribute greatly to the significance of the Abbott property. For centuries these were integral structures to the inshore fishery in Newfoundland in the process of what was called “making fish.” A store was not a place to buy goods, but rather a place for storage. They were separate from the home, typically very near the shore, and contained a fisherman’s tools, supplies, and any equipment needed in order to work in the fishery. Flakes were elevated platforms, traditionally of large boughs from trees, built on top of an array of wooden posts. Salt fish would be placed on the flakes in order to dry before being shipped at the end of the season. These structures started to disappear across the province as fresh fish processing, and larger industrial processing, became more common. There are few traditional flakes remaining in the province. Other structures that would have been built alongside the store and flake were the stages, sheds, and wharves, all of which made up what would be referred to as “the room.” In the stages, which were enclosed structures, often built over the water, the gutting and cleaning of fish would take place before being salted and cured, and finally being placed on the flakes to dry.
Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises stands as a physical and visual reminder of a way of life tied to the sea and its resources. Its location on the waterfront speaks to the importance of the ocean’s resources in the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Several generations of Abbotts fished from the Newman’s Point property, living within close proximity to the source of their livelihood, a pattern repeated across the province.
Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property file “Bonavista – Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises – FPT 115”
Character Defining Elements
Those elements relating to the aesthetic value of the house, including:
-steep gable roof;
-number of storeys;
-wooden roof shingles;
-narrow wooden clapboard;
-wooden corner boards;
-wooden window size, style, trim and placement;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior wooden doors;
-chimney style and placement, and;
-dimension, location and orientation of building.
Those relating to the aesthetic value of the fishing premises, including:
-original form, scale and massing of store and flake;
-use of traditional building materials;
-steep gable roof;
-number of storeys;
-narrow wooden clapboard sheathing;
-wooden corner boards;
-red ochre exterior colour;
-wooden window size, style, trim and placement;
-wooden roller under upper level window;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior wooden doors;
-size, style, trim and placement of upper level wooden door leading to flake;
-original form, scale, massing and material of ramp providing access to flake;
-wooden post structural supports, and;
-dimension, location and orientation of building.