A few weeks ago while in the Town of Conche, I just had to stop and admire all the fishing stages and rooms that dominate Crouse Drive.

These vernacular wooden buildings were commonplace, scattered all along the shores of the Great Northern Peninsula as the cod trade dominated the economy. These stages were the place of commerce, where men and women would engage in the process of preparing the cod on splitting tables and then begin the process of salting and drying fish. The fish would be scattered along the rocks or on flakes. The traditional colour was of the buildings was always the red ochre colour, but I’ve also seen paint brands calling it “fishermen red”.

These vernacular buildings are quintessentially rural Newfoundland & Labrador and reflective of our outport lifestyle, culture and heritage. Today marks the opening of the Fall Food Fishery, so if you get the opportunity to take to the water and jig a few cod think about the red rooms scattered along the shorelines and the importance of cod to settlement and the economy of the Province.

Live Rural NL –