The Hard and the Aisey: A History of Open Hall, Red Cliff and Tickle Cove, Bonavista Bay

Melvin Baker is an archivist and historian at Memorial University of
Newfoundland, and the co-editor of Dictionary of Newfoundland and
Labrador Biography.

The Hard and the Aisey is a detailed historical account of three small
communities located in close proximity to each other on Newfoundland’s
northeast coast. Established in the late 18th century, the communities
were settled both directly by immigrants from Ireland and England and
migrants from other existing Newfoundland communities who moved up the
coast in search of less inhabited sites from which to fish. A listing of
the early inhabitants, based on census and other government records, is
provided.

The subjects covered include origins, business, fishery, churches,
schools, and politics. Parish registers, mercantile records, St.
John’s newspapers, and oral interviews are among the book’s sources.
Especially useful are the mercantile diaries; spanning the period from
the 1860s to the 1930s, they provide invaluable information on fish
catches, weather conditions, and local happenings in the area.

The author is to be commended for having produced one of the better
community histories to appear recently.