L'Anse aux Meadows

The next day we headed back south and we stopped at an historic site in L’Anse aux Meadows which is a UNESCO world site.  It contains excavated remains of an 11^th century Viking settlement.  It is the first and only known site established by Vikings in North America and the earliest known settlement in the new world.  What I keep finding out is that some things we have learned just don’t stay with us as we used to learn so many things by rote, and history was NOT one of my best subjects. I had forgotten that the people were actually Norsemen from Norway and that Viking was actually means raider which is what they did as explorers.  When Eric the Red left Norway, he went to Iceland and from there to Greenland.  They headed for Newfoundland looking for lumber and other goods that they could not have.

 

Soddy - Chieftains hall

Inside

Viking church

"Viking" and ship the "Snoori"

Helmet in blacksmith shop

Inside church

 

Parks Canada has several exhibits which were along a walking tour which we did not take – it was COLD and I am still a fair weather traveler!  We did take in the view and the information on the Vikings.

There was also another area Norstead, a Viking settlement with several buildings and reenactments.  There was a shipbuilders building that had a 52’ ship the “Snorri” which was a replica that was built in Maine, shipped to Greenland and rebuilt, then sailed from there to L’Anse Aux Meadows by 9 men; there was a replica of a Chieftain’s hall that they had women showing the interiors and actually cooking in the traditional style which was over open fires and pits.  In the actual day, the majority of the women only lived until around 25 as they quite often died from smoke inhalation as there was very little ventilation in these huts as they were also built to protect everyone inside in case of invasion. There was also a church and several outbuildings for the animals – very interesting and worth a visit – for $6.00 each, it is a must see.

 

When we left the next day, we were rounding a bay and in front was another iceberg, further out but we were really excited about seeing any of them and we did see quite a few so was well worth it.