A Road Well Travelled

Remember the Short Cut? (No: Not the one to your desktop) the short cut that we travelled between the two villages.

Some of your younger subscribers may never have heard of it, and certainly have never walked it.

The eastern terminus was, of course, in Seal Harbour and started toward School House Cove from the By-Road, at a point roughly between Granville Mason's house and Alden’s. Travellers would take the path there and after a few yards would come to the eastern bank of school house cove and if the tide was low cross the gravel flat at the head of the cove. In the event of the tide being high, one began off the main road just on the western side of the bridge by Perce Langley’s.

The trail wended its way to the sou'west along the School House Bank along the shore past the gravel point that makes the north shore of Bark House Cove. Leaving the beach, the trail again turned to the land and made its way toward Hodgson Hill passing south of Ralph’s as it did so, finally coming to an end beside Ab Hodgson’s barn, and just to the left was Aunt Sades (Sarah) Farrell’s house. Coming out where it did, it put the traveller right in the commercial end of Drum Head, i.e., the fish plant and lobster factory.

As the Short Cut crossed the height of land south east of Ralph’s it was conjoined with a branch that had it's beginning at Walter Farrell’s yard, and anyone going this route would enter Walter's yard and passing his step and kitchen window, would exit his yard and pass through a spruce swamp to emerge on the barrens and the main Short Cut.

Another feeder started at Uncle Henry Crooks’ field and was short........coming on the By Road just north of Everett and Muriel’s.

The road served for years as a connector between the villages and was used by everyone, especially those working at the factory or plant. Legions of berry pickers used it to access the foxberry barrens that it passed through. It can still be traced, being worn in the soil, in places a foot deep, but where it passes through the swamp between Ralph's and Hodgson’s Hill, what had only a few stunted cat spruce trees in my younger days is now an almost impenetrable jungle the same genus.

There were several short cuts in DH, one from Harold Burke’s yard coming out at Emma Burke’s, one leaving Wallace Burke’s and coming out at Gammon’s store and a third between Harry Flick’s and Will Fanning’s. I used to travel the latter pursuing the education I never got, generally getting my feet wet in the bog.