June 17th - Viking Sites

This morning we arrived aound 10:30 a.m. in Quirpon, NL, the Northernmost part of Newfoundland. Upon arriving at Viking RV Park we found no one here so we picked a spot, backed in the camper, and disconnected so we could go find the historic sites we wanted to see.

Our first stop was L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site. It is the only authenticated Viking site in North America and has the earliest evidence of Europeans in North America.  An expedition of Norsemen from Greenland landed here about a 1000 years ago. Viking is the name for the bands of Norsemen who were pirates, plunderers, and conquerors - a small percentage of the men (women could not be Vikings). The Norsemen who came to this place set up a sturdy encampment of turf-walled buildings that served as an over-wintering base for exploring to the south via the Gulf of St. Lawrence. For the next decade or two successive expeditions traveled to this region which they called “Vinland”, mainly in search of hardwood for their boats. They reached as far south as the east coast of New Brunswick where they found wild grapes. The Norsemen came in contact with the Aboriginal peoples and learned that the areas were inhabited and that they were greatly outnumbered.

The cost of operating the Vinland enterprise was not sustainable for the returns. In a short time the base here was abandoned and the buildings burnt. The Viking presence here was not discovered until 1960. The area was originally thought to be an old indian camp. The encampment has been reconstructed with peat block walls, wooden rafters, wooden roof supports, and local grasses on top to keep out the weather. The inside was laid out just as they were back home with a chieftan in charge.  Here are a couple of pictures of the buildings, inside and out.

There were little doors on the roofs throughout the buildings that could be opened to allow smoke from their fires to escape, much like the flap on Teepees. 

The area was designated a National Historic Site in 1975 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978. It is internationally significant for what it tells us about the worldwide movements of people.

One of the docents told us we needed to go down the road to “Norstead” a 'Viking Village & Port of Trade” park. The big draw there is the authentic fifty-two foot long Viking boat called the "Snorri", which was built in Europe and sailed here in 1989. The crew sailed here in thirty-one days. The Vikings did it in ten to fourteen days we were told. The crew that sailed it over here was so distraught by the voyage that they would not sail it back and abandoned it here. Here are some pictures of it.

It is kept under cover to protect it. The boat is fifty-two feet long, the mast is a forty foot single piece of spruce, and the sale is 1,000 square feet and made of wool. It is an amazing piece of engineering. Different woods were used for different purposes on the boat. It can hold up to thirty tons of supplies, cargo, and crew, and only has a draft of three feet. It was made to ride the waves sideways, not point into them like we do with today's boats. Quite an impressive boat. I can’t imagine living on it for over two weeks, there being no decks, everyone is out in the open 24/7.  

On the way back to the RV park out in the bay we saw several icebergs. Here is a picture of the closest one. I estimated it is about a city block long and it rose way up and down with the waves or tide.

We planned on staying in Quirpon for two days but since we got here early and saw the two attractions that drew us to the area, we will leave in the morning headed for Gros Morne National Park.