Ol' Outport Museum

"Ol' Outport Museum" is a song with lyrics written by Rob Starkes of La Scie, Newfoundland, in 2022. Music is based on The Great Rock Island Route published 1882 and later know as Wabash Cannonball.

Ol' Outport Museum

DOWNLOAD THE SONGSHEET

Ol' Outport Museum (C)(WORD)
Ol' Outport Museum (C)(PDF)


Ol' Outport Museum (G)(WORD)
Ol' Outport Museum (G)(PDF)

You can play along with Larry and Rob in the video below using the (G) songsheet to learn the song! On BUG night, we'll likely play it using the (C) songsheet.

You can see me (Sue) in the video, with my Bytown Ukulele Group t-shirt on, and the mummers at the family house party at time stamp 0:49 to 0:53  - what a surprise! I've put the screenshot up above. Below's the story of how it came about.

Mark and I had travelled to Newfoundland in the summer of 2013 to celebrate and play music for BUG members, Fiona and Gord's wedding in St. John's. Then we travelled for 5 more weeks all around Newfoundland and Labrador. We had the very good fortune when we arrived in La Scie, Newfoundland (for one night of camping so we thought), to stop in at the Outport Museum and Tearoom for lunch. When Valerie Whalen found out we were ukulele players, she phoned her husband, Larry Whalen, and said he should come and meet us. We had a wonderful home-made lunch, learned "Seagull Stew" from Larry, and were invited to a family kitchen party the next night at the tearoom. The building was Larry's family home growing up and he has lovingly turned it into an fabulous museum with lots of incredible memorabilia from the area and a fantastic tearoom. So amazingly cool! Together, Valerie and Larry not only operate this wonderful spot, but they are also members of a lively band called Codskiff. So we enjoyed another full day in La Scie and went to the party, thinking we'd hang out in the background. But to our surprise, as soon as we arrived, Larry and Val called out that they'd saved a spot for us amongst the band. Museum furniture had been pushed back to the sides of the room to make room for dancing, and family showed up as mummers! There was music, dancing, laughter, with a potluck feast at 11 p.m. and then more music and dancing! What a night!

If you ever have the good fortune to visit La Scie, Newfoundland, be sure to stop in at the Ol' Port Museum to see Larry and Valerie.

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