Brookfield Drive-In Movie Theatre

Owned by US-based businessman Chuck Baldwin, the screen was set up in 1973 and managed by Bud Fowler. The drive-in was located on Tobin’s Road, tucked away amidst farms and the Old Mill nightclub. In the years before home VCRs and video rental stores became commonplace, the theatre had been known to attract as many as 600 vehicles a night. The cost ranged from $1.75 to $3.50 a person in the 1970s to $7 per car by 1986. Over nearly twenty years, Brookfield Drive-In showed a gamut of films, including Gone with the Wind, Porky’s, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and many a Charles Bronson flick. By the late 1980s they were regularly showing blockbuster movies like Top Gun and Thelma & Louise—often as double features. Potential moviegoers would search The Evening Telegram for that familiar logo amidst either the movie or “Nite Life” listings of the day, and—if you were lucky—on a summer’s eve, a film or two would be showing.

This being Newfoundland, showings were at times cancelled due to fickle weather. Refunds or ‘fog passes’ would be issued if the weather rolled in mid-movie. Ultimately it was also bad weather that got the better of the Brookfield Drive-In: the screen was destroyed during a windstorm in October 1992. A front-page photo in The Evening Telegram noted that “parts of the screen were blown into the field behind the drive-in, coming close to landing on Pitts Memorial Drive.” Despite Baldwin’s plans to reopen the following year, ‘92 was, unfortunately, the last summer for drive-in movies. The boarded-up snack bar and projection booth, along with several lonely speaker poles, stood sentry in the field until the building was destroyed by fire in 2003 (www.thescope.ca)

Fairytale House

I can't describe the feeling that came over me when I found this place.  It was like reading a storybook and I was the main character.  I had the day so I decided take the dogs in the car, grab a Tim Horton's English Breakfast Tea, Apple Juice and toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with Plain Cream Cheese for breakfast and head up towards the Conception Bay South area.  I was very excited because I have read about some beautiful abandoned structures up along this route.  It was the beginning of Autumn (my favorite season) and the sun was shining brightly through the crisp air.  My mood could not have been any more joyful.  I figured I would go as far as Colliers because I have discovered that my family has decedents from Colliers while researching some ancestry for  my Father's surname (Hearn).

As I finally reached Colliers I immediately fell in love with the charming little Community.  The first little road I explored was Old Road which I was very impressed with to say the least.  I decided to park the car and take the dogs for a little walk while I took some pictures.  We found this calm road called North Shore Road along the Collier's Harbour.  It felt so peaceful as the street signs rattled in the wind and the sea gulls squawked at each other from a distance.  I wished at that moment that I could call this Town home.  There was not a person to be seen, which is the way I like it being the introverted person I am.  While taking in the beauty of this area and I seen a structure nestled in trees and shadows, as I got closer I realized it was an abandoned house!  This was like hitting the jackpot for me to find such a beautiful abandoned home nestled away in the trees, making it easy to have a look around.  The entrance of the property looked magical with some old Newfoundland heritage mixed in.  I could picture the an old skipper in front of the door with his salt and pepper hat while his wife collected fallen fruit from one of the trees in front of the house.  There was no driveway, all grass and a little bridge above a picturesque brook which sang a cozy little song as it flowed.  I carefully peeked threw the window and could make out a one artifact, an old stove with an iron kettle on top and everything else in a big mess of paint cans and garbage laying about.  I am thinking someone thought about restoring the old place but sadly changed their mind.  There were still vintage curtains in the windows which was interesting to see.  The house had those aged windows which date back more than a hundred years.  I looked to the left and their was a sunbeam shining above a little barn belonging to the house.  It was simply stunning and even had one of those old lobster traps laid in front.  I scurried over to investigate the shed and threw the window could only see a mess of shed materials, nothing of interest.  I walked up a overgrown path behind the house and there was a little area with some wood scraps and an old rusted metal beam which could have belonged to the house.  It was a relaxing area where I imagined the man of the house would probably go to get some time to himself.  

I did some research on the fairytale house and found out that the last resident was Jack Whelan , a life long bachelor.  His grandfather, Matthew Whelan, purchased the house and land for 12 shillings sterling money. He still had the "Queen Victoria Grant" to prove it. The Grant is Volume 4, Number 103, dated November 15, 1853. Prior to the Whelan Family acquiring ownership, The Mulcahy.  Family resided there.  Jack Whelan has told the story numerous times about the Lady Norman built on the yard in front of the house.   Jack passed away in 2001 at the age of 90, taking all his memories and stories with him. 

The stove in the house was older than Jack Whelan.  It was an "Acme" cast iron, coal and wood stove which was made by the Newfoundland Fondary in 1909 and cost $20.00, delivered to the Avondale Railway Station. It also has a Singer Sewing Machine from the 1880's.  There was never electricity in the dwelling and only lit by Kerosene Lamps which adds pure essence to the story.