By Ines Keane
In 1992 the northern cod fishery closed. Wikipedia gives the date flatly, and it is the fact the rest of Fogo Island’s recent story is built on.
The island sits off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. It is about 25 kilometres long and 14 wide, with an area of 237.71 square kilometres, according to Wikipedia. The 2021 census counted 2,117 residents, down 5.7 per cent from 2,244 in 2016. A ferry, the MV Veteran, links it to the mainland, and the island has an aerodrome.
Old settlements
Fogo Harbour and Tilting Harbour were the first settlements. Irish settlement in Tilting began in the 1750s, says Wikipedia, and Tilting is now designated a National Cultural Landscape District of Canada. Bleak House, built in 1826 and 1827, was designated a heritage structure in 1986. The island was incorporated as the Town of Fogo Island on 1 March 2011.
The fisheries used to be seal, salmon and cod. Crab and lobster now dominate, Wikipedia reports.
A charity, an inn and a workshop
This is where the island’s recent story is most unusual. Shorefast is a registered Canadian charity set up to help build economic and cultural resilience on Fogo Island.
Fogo Island Arts launched in 2008, Wikipedia says, for contemporary art residencies.
The Fogo Island Inn was completed in June 2013. Shorefast describes the inn as a social enterprise.
Fogo Island Workshops grew from the furnishing of the inn. The workshops describe themselves as making contemporary furniture, textiles and smaller furnishings, locally made on Fogo Island, partnering local makers, artisans and woodworkers with international designers. It is, in its own words, a community business owned by Shorefast, with operating surpluses reinvested in community economic development. The workshops also publish what they call Economic Nutrition, a transparency tool showing what a purchase pays for and where each dollar goes. That is a claim from the maker’s own page, and we have not audited it.
Getting around the facts
There are two stories here and both are worth holding in your head. One is the older island, with Tilting, Bleak House and the fishery. The other is the newer one, built on a charity and an attempt to make things locally and keep the money on the island. A visitor can see both on the same afternoon.
How we would do it
Plan the crossing, by ferry or by air. Allow time for Tilting on foot, and for Brimstone Head. Ask at the workshops, the inn or any craft stop what is made on the island and by whom, and where the money goes. Check ferry and opening times yourself, because we have not.
We are not recommending any purchase here, and we will not name a maker we cannot source. Learn the place first. Roam first. Shop later.