L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland July 7, 1995

Written for The Viking Network by Robert W. Easton

At the cliff's edge, looking over the water, I can see the southern coast of Labrador across the Strait of Belle Isle. Dim through the haze, it is fading quickly out of sight. In the water, icebergs move slowly with the current, and I scan the sea hopefully for the spouts of whales. Even though this is July, the wind has an icy bite to it; part of the Labrador Current flows south through the Straits to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Cold fog tails are beginning to show over the headlands, and they block my view across the straits. From my rocky outpost, looking down at the small harbor below me, I can see back about a thousand years. A small boat glides towards the crescent of rocky beach. Over the steady crash of breaking waves, pebbles crunch as a Viking knarr, with its gracefully curved bow and stern, grounds on the rough shore. The crew shout to each other as they leap over the gunwales, splashing in the water, pulling the boat up beyond the waves. They grab their few belongings and hurry up the beach. The fog is thickening and it's getting dark, so they have returned just in time. Their hump-backed sod huts are dark shapes waiting silently for them to come home. Finally, the last man disappears into a low doorway, and I am alone again.

I have been inside those huts, but just as a tourist. The low flickering fires make dark shadows, and fill the rooms with smoke. Almost a thousand years ago, the talk among friends and families filled these rooms with life. Fresh fish went on a spit over the fire; flat bread and vegetables came out from their bins, and all shared an abundant meal. Old tales and new stories mingled with the smoke, and the lonesome shadows of this Viking outpost disappeared for another evening. That was long ago.

This is L'Anse aux Meadows, at the furthest end of the Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. In the year 1000, it was the site of a Viking encampment, the only documented Viking site in North America. This is where Europeans first came to this continent. Leif Eiriksson might have slept here, along with 80 or so other Viking men and women. This was probably a base camp, that could be reached easily from Greenland. Small groups of explorers left from here to explore the land and waters to the south, possibly sailing to Vinland. Described in the Icelandic Sagas, Vinland was a place with a mild climate that abounded with timber, salmon, and ample supplies of grapes. According to the sagas, the grapes gave the site its name, but the sagas don't give quite enough information to find its exact location. It could have been anywhere from here in Newfoundland, to the southern coast of New York's Long Island.