The Vikings of L'Anse aux Meadows

Our first port stop after four sea days was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of L'Anse aux Meadows. It was overcast and a little dreary looking, but not windy or cold, so we set off on the tender to explore one of the most famous national historic sites in the country.

The view to the tiny town of L'Anse aux Meadows. Most
of it, as well as the Viking site, is behind the big rock

To begin, though, a few words on the community of L'Anse aux Meadows. Our tour guide, Bernice, was born here and has lived here all her life. Which is quite amazing, since the permanent population of the town is about 12! Outside of providing support for the Viking site and Parks Canada, fishing is the only industry. Bernice had worked for the RCMP, and probably had a 30 kilometre commute to work as the nearest larger town is St. Anthony.

Some of the fishermen's houses. The Parks Canada
ranger we were talking to said that he has lived
in one of them his whole life.

On the tender ride from the ship, we passed Norstead, one of the two sites at L'Anse aux Meadows. This is actually a recreation of a village of Viking time with people to demonstrate how things were made and explain what life would have been like at the time.

This Viking sculpture is on the highest point of the site near the Visitors' Centre. It would have been nice to get the views from there, but there was a little confusion regarding where we would be meeting the bus to take us to Norstead, so we didn't get a chance to climb the stairs to it.

The whole site is quite large and has boardwalks and trails with a couple of hiking options so you can explore more than just the archaeological site and the buildings. It would definitely be worth another visit with a little more time to explore if we would go back that way.

The actual site of L'Anse aux Meadows was discovered by a Norwegian explorer, Helge Ingstad, in 1960 with the help of a local fisherman. The local belief was that it was an old Indigenous camp, but once Ingstad and his wife started excavations, they found overgrown Norse buildings and some artefacts dating back to the 11th century. This is still the only recognized authentic Viking site in North America.

Bernice said that the children in 'town' all loved it when the Ingstads arrived every year for their digs as they would always bring the kids chocolate bars. Of course, the kids also all wanted to go and help them instead of staying at home and doing their chores.

A couple of the reconstructed peat and sod buildings

Parks Canada staff explain what life was like in the settlement. The Vikings only used L'Anse aux Meadows for a period of about 10 years, and only as a base for over-wintering while they explored the area all the way down to New Brunswick in the summers. The buildings were made with peat walls and sod roofs for insulation and protection against the winds and snow, shored up with wooden walls inside. There is a lot of bog in the area, and the recreated buildings here were all made in the 1980s with the same process and materials.

Is this not one of those famous scenes from the
Newfoundland and Labrador tourism ads???

Blacksmiths were among the most important members of the community, and this man showed firstly how they found the iron ore and extracted the usable iron from it, and then the process of making nails and other items the old fashioned way - with the open fire, an anvil and a hammer.

We moved over to Norstead, which is not in the Historic Site, but is a complement to it. It is a non-profit educational recreated settlement which is staffed by a troupe who used to travel to renaissance festivals and re-enactments. Now they recreate life in a Viking village for visitors to L'Anse aux Meadows.

One of the small buildings they would have used
for storage, perhaps of fish or foods they foraged
during the summer.

The main building at Norstead is a large one that houses Snorri, a recreated Viking knarr used to move people and provisions. The ship, fully masted with the sails up, would have looked spectacular sailing in to the cove from the description we were given. This one was built in Greenland in 1998 and was sailed from there to L'Anse aux Meadows with a crew of 9 to be a part of the re-creation.

The interior of the ship. It was made of two types of wood
and iron nails. 

The other main buildings at Norstead include a smithy where the blacksmith worked, a small church and a recreated house that includes sleeping quarters, the cooking and dining area, and demonstrations of weaving and knitting that the women did as well as the animal pelts used to make clothing.

The interior of the small church

The Norstead blacksmith

Women spinning natural yarn and doing single needle knitting

This is a small hand-weaving tool used to
make bands like the one hanging down by the lady's skirt. The
method is called Heddle Weaving and is still used today.

The cooking fire as well as some of the
grains and seeds that the Vikings would
have had in their diet.

A replica Viking shield and some
religious icons and other pieces

Even though our visit to L'Anse aux Meadows was short, we learned quite a bit about how the Vikings came to be here and what the excavations have shown us about them as they explored. It would be nice to come independently on a driving trip in Newfoundland so we could spend more time at the site and in the area. It is supposed to be some of the most beautiful scenery to drive through even though it is the most remote. The provincial government is actually building a hiking trail that goes all the way from L'Anse aux Meadows to Gros Morne National Park, a total of about 850 km.

We sailed out through the Strait of Belle Isle, headed for Bonne Bay and Gros Morne National Park under blue skies and with continued calm seas.