Three Cabots

The likelihood of any of us being remembered 500 years from now is highly doubtful. But that could change if we should attain the status of the likes of a Giovanni Caboto - John Cabot.

Cabot’s arrival at Bonavista on June 24, 1497 garnered him fame beyond his wildest imagination. Nowadays, his name adorns the ordinary and the prestigious, be it a garage, catering business, insurance company, roadway, hotel, park, institution, or monument. We even have a piece of the ocean called the Cabot Strait, and appropriately, a Cabot Tower rum.

And it’s not only on this island that Cabot is held in high esteem. Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island are fond of his name as well. However, they use his name sparingly whereas we never seem to tire of sticking his name on just one more thing.

In the Grand Falls of my boyhood we had three Cabots - the road, the hotel and the bakery. And all were downtown. Today, the only surviving namesake is the road.

Cabot Road juts off the top of High Street towards the mill. Its red rock walls made from local stone is still a noted feature of the road. Over the years Cabot Road has been the home of many families including the Byrnes, Edwards, Gears, Gunns, Dunphys and Scotts.

At the top of Cabot at Carmelite (vacant lot) the AND Company once had its town manager’s (Jimmy Lind) office. I went there with my parents around 1952 as they presented plans for a new house on Gilbert Street just up from my maternal grandparents (Louie and Mary John). At the time we lived in their basement.

At the bottom of Cabot Road - opposite the traffic dummy - in the now huge vacant lot there once existed a formidable structure that was called Cabot House. It housed some permanent residents and was a place to stay for visitors.

My first recollected visit to Cabot House was on a warm summer day in 1950. I walked up High Street holding on to the baby carriage that my mother was pushing. Next, it was up the front steps and inside where I sat on a table and a man tossed a ball to me. That day was all about me and my baby sister (Caroline) having our pictures taken by a portrait photographer.

In the Grand Falls of my boyhood we had three Cabots - the road, the hotel and the bakery. - Andy Barker

Years later I was back at Cabot House selling the Daily News room to room. The hallways seemed so narrow and dark and the rooms, unimpressively small, as I peeked in as my knock was answered.

The Cabot House’s front right side had a restaurant that was amply lit with its long row of windows. That spot later became a barber shop. At one time, another barber shop was located in a building behind Cabot House, just off Cabot Road. The barbers, the Hynes brothers of St. John’s, did the cutting and like many barbers heard the yarns, tales, gossip, laughs and even lies.

Some times Cabot House would have special guests. One such time four midget wrestlers were in town for a match at the stadium. As they roamed around on the front veranda we gazed at them in wonderment. They looked tough and mean like wrestlers should. If they had snarled their hands and said err-err-err, we would have took off in fright. But they didn’t. They just cockily strutted around, stirring up interest in the match.

In the name of progress, Cabot House and the family home between it and Baird’s Hotel (Jimi-Jaks) were demolished. An Irving service station with the adjoining Ron Knight’s barber shop was erected in its place. The barber shop eventually closed and the space became a service bay. And just a few years ago the service station fell victim of demolition when Irving’s leveled it.