A Family Returns Home

• Downhome Magazine
• Posted: Feb 29, 2008 10:55 AM

Through a series of photographs, reader Karen Leonard of Moncton, New Brunswick tells the story of a family revisiting the land of their forefathers.

My family, the Leonards, are originally from British Harbour, Trinity Bay. My husband, Rodney Clarke; my father, Don Leonard; my grandfather, Phillip John Leonard; and I visited the community for an afternoon last summer and actually spent time on the land that once belonged to my great-grandparents.

We left for British Harbour from the dock in Old Bonaventure, in a longliner belonging to Lance Short and his son, David. There was an iceberg in the harbour that we photographed along the way. The gravestones at British Harbour belonged to relatives of mine and are the only ones that remain in the Leonard family cemetery in British Harbour. Here is a collection of photos from our visit.


There used to be homes and businesses on this rock.


Don Leonard, Philip John Leonard and my husband Rodney Clarke on family land in British Harbour


Evidence of what once was in British Harbour


Iceberg near Old Bonaventure


Pop (Philip John Leonard) on the dock at British Harbour