I have lived in Conception Bay South NL for over fifty years. We moved to Manuel’s from Creston, PB back in 1958 and this area has been home to most members of my family since.
One of my favorite places was and still is Manuel’s River. We swam in the area known as The Flats, Bubble Pond, The Falls below the bridge and The Upper and Lower Canyon. The Flats was our favorite spot. This area has changed over the years as the grassy banks have washed away and have become covered with bushes.
We would fish the river from Bubble Pond to the Train Trestle and beyond. I recall one day, my brother Sam and our friend Johnny walked the river to Paddy’s Pond. Most of our walk was in the river. We only caught a few trout.
We would climb the banks, along the river and in the winter we would toboggan down the steep hills across the river from Bubble Pond. There were few trees so you would almost fly down the hill and across the frozen river.
In the winter, hockey was out favorite past time. There were years that the river would be a sheet of ice from Bubble Pond to Squire’s Beach.
Conception Bay South has changed and is now a vibrant town that stretches from Topsail, in the east to Seal Cove in the west.
An offshore vessel just outside the Port Of Long Pond.
