Ocean, Land, Home : A Stroll through Time and Place in Branch, St. Marys Bay

• Main Author: Branch Cultural Historical Association
• Other Authors: Thomas Nash and his family first settled Branch in the late eighteenth century. Nash immigrated from Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1765 and lived in Capelin Cove present day Calvert on Newfoundlands Southern Shore. He permanently moved to Branch in the 1790s and built a homestead around summer fishing accommodations he had already built. Nash fished in the summertime while clearing land, tilling the soil, growing vegetables, raising livestock, catching salmon and hunting wild game. He traded fish and excess produce for living supplies not available in Branch.
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Knowledge of the land/water and environment; Migration/settlement; Landscape; People; Seascape; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/ich_avalon/id/4371

This series of photos provides a virtual tour around the named places in Branch. The place names, some static, some changing provide a glimpse at the close relationship between people, land and ocean, and point toward a rich knowledge-base on how to lead self-sufficient, self-sustainable, environmentally friendly lives. (Most of the places pictured in the collection are identified on three satellite images at the end of this series.) The accompanying text contains words and phrases that many be unfamiliar to many. You are encouraged to discover the meaning of these words in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English, available online. A Google search of Dictionary of Newfoundland English will bring you to it. -- Branch is located in St. Marys Bay on the southwest tip of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland Canadas most eastern province. Branch was first settled in the 1790s by Irish immigrants lured to this part of the New World by teeming fish in the waters around the Grand Banks and Cape St. Marys.