Bird Cove Interpretation Centre

In Spring 2003, the Bird Cove Interpretation Centre was renovated with new colors, lighting and other décor that have enhanced the storyline of the Museum….Past, Present, and Future.

A tour guide is waiting to take you on a unforgetable journey through time.

Pre-Historic Cultures Display Area
As you enter the first room, the Pre-Historic Cultures Room, you are met with a red ochre façade. The first display case, houses artifacts discovered at the Maritime Archaic Indian sites (the Big Droke and Caines sites) which date 4500 to 3500 B.P. (Before Present). Moving around the room clockwise, you are met by artifacts and features representing various cultures through the ages; Groswater Palaeoeskimo, Dorset Palaeoeskimo, and Cowhead Complex Recent Indian. All of these treasures have been excavated from our archaeological sites; such as Peat Garden and Peat Garden North. Of our 28 registered sites, we have only begun to excavate 6!! You can be assured, that each visit you make to this room each year, will be awarded with a new discovery!

Early Explorers Display Area
As the tour guide pulls back a curtain, you are drawn into another age…the Contact Period. Early Europeans explored our local bays and coves. In the Early Explorers Room you can view a wall length copy of Captain James Cook’s maps, as a result of charting the very coastline not far from the Interpretation Centre. Here, you will discover stories of the Basque, English, French, Irish and Scottish; representative of most cultures which would eventually settle in the area. A Minke whale skeleton, collected from a beach on the Dog Peninsula, greets you, as it is suspended from the ceiling….Early European beach bird blinds and pathways are staged for your visual pleasure….. Corals are scattered on the floor…. And even a replica of Captain James Cook’s cairne (which can be visited on the Dog Peninsula) stands tall for a picture.

The Heritage Display Area
Moving ahead in time, you enter yet another room…The Heritage Room. Once, one of the old classrooms of Michael Hayes Elementary, this room has kept its school décor. You may be asked to sit at a desk and recite your ABC’s from the blackboard! Local residents have proudly donated or loaned numerous treasures from the surrounding communities for you to examine. Take the quiz…cork float? …splitting knife?… shoe lass?…shell reemer?…rum keg?…wood auger? Artifacts and household furnishings from local resident’s Great,Great,Great Grandfathers and Grandmothers await your curiosity. This room is a treasure trove of delights….everything from a piano, to a pot belly stove. Even World War I and II gunnery supplies and uniform decorations are displayed in exhibit cases.

The First Heritage Room at the Bird Cove Interpretation Centre held numerous historical treasures donated by local residents. This room has now been enhanced as part ofan intiguing three part display area.

Congratulations! You have succeeded in making it to the present. But, your journey is not over yet. You now have the option of bringing the museum even more to life….. You may choose to visit the actual archaeological excavation sites….hike to Captain Cook’s cairne on the Dog Peninsula…. comb the beaches in search of geological finds…touch rare and endangered plant species….see browsing moose and caribou in the offing…smell the cool Atlantic breeze….taste the saltwater on your tongue….you are welcome in becoming a part of our future!

Your adventures in Bird Cove have only just begun!