The Road to Yesterday Museum and the Christopher Pratt Gallery are both located within the Western Union Cable Building on Water Street in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland.
Built by Western Union Telegraph Co. in 1913, the Cable Building served as a relay station for telegraph cables between Sennen Cove, Cornwall, England and Coney Island, New York, USA. As a more functional and specialized station than its predecessors on the island, the Cable Building would go on to be guarded throughout both world wars and into the Cold War. During WWII alone, seventy-five percent of all trans-Atlantic cable messages went through this building. Extensive restoration was undertaken by the Bay Roberts Heritage Society in the 1990s to create what is seen in the building today. The building houses the Bay Roberts town offices and council chambers on the first floor, and the Road to Yesterday Museum and Christopher Pratt Gallery on the second floor.
The Road to Yesterday Museum explores Bay Roberts history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Rather than compete with other local museums, such as the Fishermen’s Museum in Port de Grave and the Cable Building in Heart’s Content, the Society worked on depicting the commercial history and lifestyles of Bay Roberts at the turn of the century.
More than 3000 artifacts are currently on display. Additionally, there is an extensive collection of pottery artifacts recovered from Bay Roberts Harbour c.1500s. A dedicated military exhibit is the most recent development, with a particular focus on Bay Roberts’ role in the first and second world wars. The museum was first opened to the public in October 2000 and has been in operation ever since.
The Christopher Pratt Gallery is a three-room art gallery. The gallery features Newfoundland artists and other artists with deep connections to Newfoundland. While most of the artwork can be seen in the main rooms, some more can be seen in the main hallway.
Artist Christopher Pratt donated a permanent collection of his work to the Gallery in honour of his late mother, Christine Dawe, a native of Bay Roberts. He also played an active role in designing and developing the gallery. The success of the Gallery has resulted in many works of art being donated to the Society for the Gallery. The list includes, but is not limited to, (alphabetically) David Blackwood, Henry Bradshaw, Cliff George, Scott Goudie, Pam Hall, Ann Hart, Sheila Hollender, Gary Kennedy, Jennifer Morgan, Paul Parsons, Florence Pinhorn, Jean Claude Roy, Helen Parsons Shepherd, Reginald Shepherd, Ian Sparkes, Carl Stevenson, and Jon Wilkinson.
In 2013, Darryl and Marlene Fry voluntarily began loaning pieces to the Gallery from their private collection to promote the work of Newfoundland and Labrador artists and artists with a connection to the province. Currently, in addition to some of the artists listed above, there are pieces by Alex Balitski, Anne Meredith Barry, Allister Drysdale, Maurice Hall Haycock, Tish Holland, Brian LaSaga, George Noseworthy, Barbara Pratt, and Mary Pratt.
The Cable Building is a Registered Heritage Structure with HeritageNL and is a National Historic Site. Due to the significance of the building’s architectural style – an early 20th century commercial building with Classical Revival elements – it is also recognized as a Municipal Heritage Site in Bay Roberts with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland & Labrador.
