Flatrock is situated 12 kilometres northwest of the capital city of
St. John's , Newfoundland and a short walk
around the shoreline will quickly show visitors
how the community got its name.
Flatrock was settled in 1762 by Norwegian and
Irish families as well as people from England,
Scotland, France and Norway.
Among the first settlers was a French officer
named Balone who lived in "Boyles", which is
commemorated by the road name "Boyles Lane". The
area was lived in by the Wades. Balone had left
St. John's when the French were fighting over
Signal Hill. He was an educated man who knew he
was fighting for a worthless cause.
Another settler was Stoyles. He was from
Ireland. Stoyles Cove is named after him today.
The third man was a McDaniel. He was from
Scotland. He lived over on the beach area. The
first child born in Flatrock was a McDaniel.
In 1782 a man and his wife by the name of Mayo
came to Flatrock. They lived on Red Head. Mayo
would take long walks with his dog over the
hills in Stoyles Cove, back northeast to Three
Island Pond. It would remind him so much of
Scotland that he would think he was still there.
In 1827 a vessel owned by Bowrings was on its
way to Bonavista Bay with a load of cargo. It
was shipwrecked just off Stoyles Cove. Mr.
Mayo's dog barked, bringing his attention to the
disaster. Mayo succeeded in saving most of the
vessel's crew - all except a Mr. Cooper.
Cooper's duty on the vessel had been to make
barrel hoops. At that time fish was exported in
barrels.
In the history of Flatrock, it has been said
that because of the dog's barking to save the
crew, that very spot is called "Dog Rock" today.
In the middle of the 1800's two other men lived
at Stoyles Cove - Paddy Rogers and Michael Goff.
Paddy and his wife, Peggy, owned a large piece
of ground. They had one of the best vegetable
gardens ever to be seen. The garden is
recognized as "Peggy's Garden".
Paddy Rogers and Michael Goff build a wooden
ladder to go down to the beach to fish. This was
later replaced with an iron ladder which was
used for many years.
In 1840 a man named Bill Dawe came to Flatrock
from England. Communication was bad in those
days and word of mouth was the only means of
hearing any news. As the story goes, Bill Dawe
had heard that a woman living out in
Harbour Grace had a horse and long car for sale, so Bill Dawe went over to see her. Bill was an Anglican,
but he married the widow woman, and the two came
back to Flatrock on the horse and long car,
united as man and wife. Bill Dawe had turned
Roman Catholic.
In 1818 Denis Maher from Tipperary, Ireland came
to settle at Flatrock. Previous to that he had
lived in Nova Scotia and St. John's.
The Powers settled in Flatrock in the early
1800s. Then came the Burkes, Wades , Graces,
Carews, Masons and Martins. Edward Everson came
from Norway in 1858. The Stamps, Corcorans,
Allens, Kehoes, Hogans, Houlihans, Maynards,
Parsons, and the Moreys settled in Flatrock
around 1871.
The chief reasons that people settled here at
that time were fishing and a chance to own their
own piece of land. People moved from Ireland
because time were bad in Ireland at the time. A
lot of people from Ireland were potato farmers.
It is believed that twenty-five came over here
on the "Old Polina".
People lived here years ago went through many
hardships. They cleared all the land by hand;
the only tools used were a pick and a shovel.
Rocks were carried off the land in bags on a
man's back. The ground was then ready for
plowing. These people planted enough vegetables
to last all year. The women did most of the
garden work and the men tended to their fishing.
Fishing was not easy. There were no engines
until 1916. The fishermen would row to the
fishing grounds early in the morning, fill their
flats, row back to shore and split and salt
their fish. The women helped a lot with the
splitting and salting of the fish spending many
hours in the fishing stages. During the fishing
season the fish was sold to the fish merchants
in St. John's. No money was received for the
fish. The merchant gave the fishermen supplies
instead; people would always owe the fish
merchant. The fish merchants brought them here,
and it seemed as if the merchant owned them.
In the Spring the men would walk to St. John's
and try to get a berth on the sealing ships. If
they were lucky they would get a job to go to
the ice fields and hunt seals.
Women in those days carded sheep's wool, spun
the wool to knit socks and other clothing which
they traded in St. John's for some material
needs. They made all their own clothing and
household effects. Picking berries was another
way of earning some money.
The first houses build in Flatrock were built
from sods. Studded tilts were built from logs
and moss. The houses had saddled roofs and
screens were used to partition off the rooms.
Pipes made from stone were used to bring the
smoke to the outside from the stoves. Later
homes were built out of chopped sticks and sawed
lumber but they still had saddled roofs, with
rock chimneys and open fireplaces. Food was
cooked and bread was baked in covered pots over
a fireplace. They used what were called "crooks
and hangers" and pots were made from iron.
Houses were lit up at night from the light of
cod oil lamps. The oil was obtained from the
livers of the cod fish, placed in containers
with moss used as a wick. There lamps were hung
from rafters in the ceiling of the house. Later
kerosene lamps were used. In 1927 Flatrock got
its first electric lights.
The first road connecting Flatrock with Torbay
was along the shoreline going through Gallows
Cove and along the Torbay beach. When people
went to church in Torbay they would go by this
route. Because of this they named it "Church
Cove". After a period of time a Michael Wade
obtained permission to build a road but when he
wasn't paid for it he build a house across the
road and refused to allow anyone to pass. When
the government finally paid him, he removed the
house. Great difficulties were met in building
the new road which is called Wind Gap today. The
road to the new line now known as a section of
Pouch Cove Highway was built in 1830.
During the years of the first settlers, people
had to walk to
Torbay to go to Mass. In 1827-30
Father Troy, parish priest of Torbay, would come
down over the hills of Flatrock to visit the old
people. This went on for many years - walking to
church in all kinds of hard weather - until 1882
- when the first Roman Catholic was built which
was known as St. Michael's.
The cemetery was built in 1915. The first man to
be buried there was a Thomas Martin. Prior to
this the people of Flatrock buried their dead in
Torbay.
The old church was torn down in 1967-68 and in
1970 the new church was opened.
The first school in Flatrock was at the location
where Jack Burke lived on Wind Gap Road and was
built in 1876. In the 1900's a little red school
house was built across the road from where the
church is today. In 1929 another school was
built which was replaced by a new school in 1962
which is now known as the "Flatrock Community
Centre".
The children years ago were never compelled to
attend school. They usually went from the ages
of seven to nine. Some never went at all. A lot
of the children then had to stay at home to get
the firewood and do all the chores as their
fathers would probably be away fishing in places
like Boston.
Flatrock had a colorful history going through a
depression and two wars. In the Second World War
Flatrock lost two native sons : Joe Houlihan and
Joe Maher.
A memorial plaque exists today on a rock near
Houlihan's Lane.
People who settled in Flatrock years ago made up
songs about everything that took place. They
lived a simple life, but had their own ways of
creating entertainment. One tradition during
Christmas was the "Ribbon Fools". The men would
dress up with garments made from flour sacks.
The shirts were covered with necklaces,
broaches, and colored ribbons. The men would go
throughout the community borrowing all the
necklaces they could find. They would sew these
on their shirts. They also wore big caps made in
the shapes of boats with sails on them. They
would visit every home in the place. Each house
would be obligated to entertain them and have a
dance. This went on for the twelve nights of
Christmas and a great time would be had by all.
People in the community who were good singers
would sing for all the dances. There was also a
man named Pat Dooley who played the fiddle for
two dollars a night. People would dance until
four in the morning and then leave and go out to
their fish nets.
The first paving of any roads in Flatrock took
place in 1966. Flatrock was starting to grow in
population and in 1975 a Town Council was formed.
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