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Newfoundland Coat of ArmsNewfoundland OutportNewfoundland Seal
Welcome Mat
Hope you enjoyed your trip. Click our Welcome Mat to become a Honorary Newfoundlander or to read the Screech Story .

We have had many requests for information about Newfoundland Chat rooms. Since we were unfamiliar with chat in general, we set out to find a place for Newfoundlanders to have a "gab" - in the end we created our own. You can join fellow Newfoundlanders in a "gabfest" at Outport Chatter.

We are proud to announce that Newfoundland Outport has been "written up" inYahoo! Canada's Quirkily Canadian: A Tribute to Canadians on the Web. The creators of Yahoo! Canada said "In the course of creating Yahoo! Canada, we realized that there are so many things that make Canada unique, it seemed appropriate to kick off Yahoo! Canada with a roundup of Web sites that highlight this uniqueness.".


Mom and Dad with Flag Quilts

Patriotic Quilters

My Dad and Mom (Reg and Joyce Burt) have been making quilts for years. The picture above is taken from the Humber Log. Dad said it took about a hundred hours to complete each flag quilt. The Newfoundland Flag was the more difficult of the two to do.


John Cabot: Cabot 500 Celebration

In 1497, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) set sail for "the new world". 500 years later, in 1997, we celebrated the anniversary of the discovery of "New Founde Land".

We have every reason to be proud of our long history and our unique culture. January 1, 1997 marked the start of the Cabot 500 Celebrations. The Celebration welcomed an additional 100,000 people to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1997. This was a unique event in Newfoundland and Labrador's history, and was the only event of this magnitude planned for 1997 anywhere in Canada.

500 Years of Newfoundland Outports

An outport was traditionally a temporary port used by Newfoundland "shore" fishermen. It usually had salt stores, fish sheds, "flakes", and a winter boat-building industry. After 500 years, Newfoundlanders are still establishing "outports" all over the world. Toronto has been called Newfoundland's "biggest outport". To see some of the diverse places Newfoundlanders have "planted" new outports, check out the current hometowns of the Newfoundlanders who have signed our guestbook.

Newfoundlanders that live "up along" have managed to retain their heritage, and remain, for all intents and purposes, separate from the melting pot of the Mainland. The Newfoundland stores demonstrate the differences in taste, the Newfoundland Clubs show the differences in social structure, and the Downhomer shows we still love to read about "back home". We are, in most cases, ethnically separate from the rest of Canada. This does not mean that we do not "fit in", but that we are a tough and tenacious people, proud of our background, proud to call ourselves Newfoundlanders.

According to Stats Canada, Newfoundlanders are "poor". We have the highest unemployment rate in the country. In reality, we are rich, and we know it. We have a greater cultural wealth, a greater ability to "make do" and "get by" with less, a greater sense of optimism and sheer "love of life", and a greater sense of humour, than any other people in Canada. We know for sure that we will come out on top, because we always have, in spite of everything.

Some sections of the above have been paraphrased by me, but are mainly attributable to Harold Horwood, a well known Newfoundland novelist, editor, columnist, and politician. He has written such notable books as "The Foxes of Beachy Cove", "Tomorrow Will Be Sunday", "Joey - The Life and Political Time of Joey Smallwood", "White Eskimo", and my favourite "Historic Newfoundland".


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A Little About Us

Hello... from Kent, Cathy (nee Quilty), and Caitlin Burt. We currently live in Edmonton, Alberta. We moved here from Oshawa, ON, Canada, another fine "Newfoundland Outport".

I am originally from Corner Brook and Cathy is from St. Fintan's. Like most Newfoundlanders we have lived all over; St. John's, Labrador City, Stephenville, Edmonton, Toronto. No matter where we are we always feel the call of home.

I am a Consulting Manager/Systems Project Manager and enjoy wandering the "strands" of the Web. Cathy has gone from webling to Webmaster in a few short months. Cathy enjoys browsing guest books looking for "old friends". I enjoy the latest toys (Java, ShockWave, etc.).

Our Home Page is dedicated to all Newfoundlanders (those still on "the Rock" and those "up along"). It is our "hand across the water" to fellow Newfoundlanders, and of course to those who "wish they were". Our page has evolved from a "whim" to an "obsession" - it is our chance to show the world a small "piece of the Rock".

www.downhomer.com
by Downhomer.com

Our site was chosen byon January 28, 1997

Our site was selected as on December 28, 1996.
 


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