Don Ladolcetta was good enough to forward along the following report to the Blog. Joan Greene, his mother, is descended from the family of lighthouse keepers, back before the Point Verde lighthouse was automated. She recently turned 90, and although she's spent almost 57 of those 90 years in the USA, her big birthday bash was decided Newfoundland-themed.
As Don says in his report, photos of the old lighthouse are hard to come by, and these (plus one other he sent which I did not post in the interest of space) are the only ones he could come across. Does anyone else have any pictures of the old Point Verde Lighthouse? I'm sure everyone would be very pleased to see them.
Joan Greene daughter of Joseph and Louise Greene (who were the lighthouse keepers at Point Verde for many years) turned 90 last month. Joan had 8 brothers and sisters in the family including Mary, Bridie, Monica, Angela, Madge, Leonard, Fred, Gussie all of whom grew up in the Placentia area. Joan moved to the US in 1951. Her family threw her a big birthday party where many of the descendants of Joe and Louise Greene turned out. The attached photos are of the lighthouse and surrounding buildings which may be the only photographs of the
site in existance because the buildings were torn down quite some time ago. Additional photos are attached of the recent Party activites such as a screechin in for all the Yanks in attendance and playing the Newfoundland Reel on the spoons by Joan and son Don complete with Norwestern headgear. The party included Codfish with scrunchins, corned beef and cabbage, toutons, figgy duff and a variety of other Nefoundland cuisine. A good time was had by all. The Greene family intends to come out to Placentia this coming August for the first ever Greene Family reunion
6 comments:
Hello there, I have just returned from Newfoundland,where I visited the Point Verde lighthouse. My GreatGrandfather was a lighthouse keeper there also. He died in 1913 at the age of 57. His name was Nicholas Cosgrove, he was married to Katie Miller. My mother and I went to Mount Carmel graveyard and found a lot of her relatives there. It was such a wonderful experience for us as this was the 1st time my mother had been to Newfoundland. I can't say enough about the people of Placentia as they were so gracious and helpful to us.
Thank you so much for posting the picture of the lighthouse,you are correct, the pictures are very hard to come by. This one is the first for me.
Colleen Kane
e-mail: jk2970@telus.net
This is a correction to the information on the Pt. Verde Lighthouse. Augustine "Gus" Greene was the light keeper from the 1920's to 1947. His uncle, Joe Greene, was the assistant keeper. I have a number of photos of the lighthouse and buildings from the late 1940's/early 1950's. In addition, Les Noseworthy painted a wonderful rendition of the original lighthouse (1879). The painting, a watercolor, is on display at the Cape Spear Lighthouse.
I used to live across the small pond from the Point Verde lighthouse in 1957.
The McGrath family managed the lighthouse then.
Hi Michael Lentz I am Heather McGrath, I grew up on the lighthouse, my parents were Marion and Leo, I remember my mother talking about there friends the Lentz family.
Hi Michael. When you lived in Placentia/Point Verde, did you play guitar at Bussey's around 1964?
I grew up in Placentia as well.
Best Regards,
Jim Patterson
jim@staticclean.com
I wrote the entry above several years ago. I am the granddaughter of Gus Greene, the lightkeeper. It is not my mother's memories alone that validate Gus' position as keeper. The Eleventh Census of Newfoundland (1945) identifies Augustine Greene as the lightkeeper and Joseph Greene and Leonard Greene as assistant lightkeepers. Mary Waight
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