The Liberal Rock is a large granite rock located on Peddle’s Lane in New Perlican, NL. The designation is confined to the footprint of the landscape feature known as The Liberal Rock.
Formal Recognition Type
Municipal Heritage Building, Structure or Land
Heritage Value
The Liberal Rock has been designated a municipal heritage site by the Town of New Perlican because of its aesthetic and cultural value.
The Liberal Rock has aesthetic value as it is a prominent landmark in the community. It is a well-known landscape feature along Peddle’s Lane, which leads from the main road running through New Perlican, continuing along the harbour side and ending in a footpath that leads to St. Matthew’s United Church Southside Cemetery, which is also a municipal heritage site. Overlooking the waters of New Perlican Harbour, this natural rock formation is a special landscape feature in this section of the community.
The Liberal Rock has cultural value for generations of New Perlican residents who have a shared recollection of its cultural use. Tradition has it that Clifford Peddle, who once lived next door to The Liberal Rock, gave the rock its name. The rock was a daily meeting place for men in the community. They would gather here to discuss the news of the day, including the fishery and politics. Much of the talk was sparked by topics covered on the Gerald S. Doyle News Bulletin, a radio show that was broadcasted from the early 1930s to the mid 1960s. The news presented on the Bulletin was a topic of conversation and it was repeated and analyzed by the men who gathered around the rock. This would have been particularly so in the days before the town had electricity and battery operated radios provided a connection to the rest of the province. It has been said that so many men gathered here that it often seemed as though the rock was on fire as smoke from their cigarettes and pipes rose above it. While The Liberal Rock is no longer a communal gathering place, memories of its past use have become a part of the community’s heritage.
Source: Town of New Perlican Regular Council Meeting Motion #2012-45 July 24, 2012.
Character Defining Elements
All those elements which represent the aesthetic and cultural value of The Liberal Rock, including:
-location, orientation and dimensions of The Liberal Rock;
-natural granite material;
-unobstructed view of The Liberal Rock from Peddle’s Road and the harbour side, and;
-continued public access to The Liberal Rock.
Notes
The Liberal Rock – By Mildred Glynn
There is a rock on Peddle’s Lane
Known as the Liberal Rock
Where the community men would congregate
Around it just to talk
If that old rock could only talk
What stories it could tell
From politics to the fishery
Were topics it heard well
A yarn about their childhood days
And growing up in the bay
About their winters cutting wood
And summers making hay
Most every man in the harbour
All to the rock they came
And early every morning
Each day would be the same
Each day a different story
About the things they saw or heard
From some a little argument
From others not a word
The rock heard every story
And felt frustrations too
But couldn’t offer suggestions
Or tell them what to do
Day by day that Liberal Rock
Had friends to keep it warm
In spring summer and in fall
Around the rock they’d swarm
And as they gathered around that rock
With smoke towering over head
It was roll your own with Target
Or Beaver in the pipe instead
Many topics were discussed there
Especially if someone heard
The Gerald S. Doyle Daily
And the weatherman’s good word
Back then it was the fishery
That was always on their mind
That was their bread and butter
Good jobs were hard to find
Our forefathers settled here to fish
They came from a far-off land
They tilled the soil and built their homes
And worked together hand-in-hand
Another topic for conversation
Was drilling the sea for oil
We’ll all be rich and some day me sons
Someone said with a grin and a smile
The good old days they are no more
We’ve driven now by force
We must do as the authorities say
We have to sail their course
Ah boys it makes me wonder
What would the old folks say
If they came back and saw the mess
That we are in today
Yes that old rock on Peddle’s Lane
Has seen its better days
No one comes to visit now
To talk about old ways
Some men have moved to other towns
And others with aging ways
While some have gone to a better place
To live their eternal days
But memories linger around that rock
Of how it used to be
The Liberal Rock as it was known
Is still there for all to see
There’s a rock in Heaven’s garden
Where some of the men now stand
Beside them stands our Saviour
Who holds each brother’s hand
They’re standing there to welcome
Everyone who passes by
Come join us here, is their request
This rock of peace and joy
So if you visit the Liberal Rock
Just pause in silent prayer
You may hear a voice or smell the smoke
That one time lingered there
Remember all the gatherings
And those who stood with pride
Around that rock of beauty
Across the bridge on the South Side
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