Peggy's Cove

On this trip we are discovering that it is really about people… I should say “Real People.” The scenery is great, especially for a photographer, but photos of lighthouses and quaint fishing villages fail to tell the real story. At Peggy’s Cove I watched as a tour bus offloaded its passengers in front of a posh hotel/restaurant overlooking the cove. Like a hoard of ants at a picnic, they descended upon the granite outcropping with digital cameras held out front to frame a shot of the famous Peggys Point Lighthouse. They buy postcards and visit the gift shops. I had to wonder how much they learn about the 40 to 50 people who actually live in Peggy’s Cove.

It is not a criticism, for I am as guilty of being a “tourist” as any of the bus passengers. I photographed the lighthouse, the boats and weathered sheds from every angle. Then a man came down a gravel pathway from a house on the ridge. He pushed a young child in a plastic stroller shaped like a yellow car. We smiled, exchanged greetings, then Bob said, “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?” The man chuckled a little, “Sure, I’m used to it.” Bob asked for suggestions about a good place that served seafood. He pointed to the restaurant on the hill where the tour bus was parked, “I live here, but I haven’t eaten up there yet, so I can’t tell you how good it is.” He didn’t say so, but I wondered if the prices were a little too high for him, or if there was some resentment about the place from locals. He named a few other places, “Not sure if they are open now. Is this Wednesday? This time of year the restaurants are closed different days of the week. There aren’t enough people around here to staff all the restaurants in the summer, let alone now. I got fish and chips at the Finer Diner once, and they were pretty good.”

As we stood in the fading light of day, we learned that he is a lobster fisherman, he pointed to his boat tied up at the government dock. He said that the lobster season for this region doesn’t start until the last weekend in November. “We fish through the winter until May,” he says. He worked out in British Columbia for a couple of years, fished and hand logged. His sister still lives in Prince Rupert, the same area of northern British Columbia that we are from. His son sits quietly in the stroller as we talk, but when we turn to go, he calls “Bye,” and his dad wishes us a good journey. I wish I had taken a photo of this father and son… it would represent Peggy’s Cove far better than all the lighthouse and picturesque docks.

I later learned online that Peggys Cove has been declared a preservation area to preserve its rugged beauty. And the regional municipality and provincial government passed “The Peggys Cove Commission Act” in 1962, prohibiting development in and around the surrounding village, and it restricts development within Peggys Cove. Similarly there are restrictions on who can and cannot live in the community to prevent inflation of property values for year-round residents. It is nice to know that the value of a community is recognized in more than dollars and cents.
...P. L. Morningstar