Indian Harbour was a summer fishing station located at the mouth of Groswater Bay on the mid-Labrador coast. Like Battle Harbour, it was a hub for the Labrador fishery, with many of the fishing schooners from Newfoundland gathering there on the way north and south. Grenfell established his second hospital there in 1894. The building was constructed during the summer of 1893. Dr. Eliot Curwen and nurse Cecelia Williams were stationed there that first summer. Indian Harbour operated as a summer hospital. Under Dr. Harry Paddon, who arrived in 1912, winter quarters were established at Northwest River, and he and other staff members moved between the two locations.

Indian Harbour Hospital. The original building, Aug 1893. The Rooms Provincial Archives, VA 152-119.

At Indian Harbour 1912: Harry L. Paddon (physician), Austin Reeve, Frank J. Babbott (physician) and Mina Gilchrist (nurse). The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 129-35.2.

Indian Harbour hospital. ca. 1920. The Rooms Provincial Archives, IGA 15-242.

By 1929, the Grenfell Mission was making plans for major changes on the central Labrador coast. The decision to build a new school at Cartwright after the loss of the Muddy Bay School to fire in 1928 also led to a decision to build a new, modern year-round hospital at Cartwright. The number of seasonal fishermen and planters at Indian Harbour had been declining for a number of years, and a full size hospital could no longer be justified there. The building was also falling into disrepair. Indian Harbour would become a nursing station staffed in summer. Dora Burchill, an Australian nurse, was the last to be stationed at Indian Harbour in 1938. This was most likely a result of the difficulty in finding staff to come to Labrador once war broke out in Europe.

Dr. James W. Wiltsie, a medical student at Cornell University, first went to Spotted Islands during the summer of 1912. Spotted Islands is located about half way between Battle Harbour and Indian Harbour, so was an ideal location for reaching fishermen working between the two hospitals. In the beginning there was no intention to build a hospital at Spotted Islands, as the mission was more concerned about making sure what it already had established was properly funded and staffed. It was however, meant to be a student station — students paid their own travel expenses and did not receive a salary.

In 1913 funds had been raised for a building and it was constructed during the summer by Dr. Wiltsie and Princeton student T.K. Brown. The residents of Spotted Islands gave free labour to help build the dispensary, creating a permanent place for it in the community. In 1913 the College of Physicians and Surgeons agreed to take the Spotted Islands station under their wing and send a volunteer student each summer to staff it.

On a fishing stage, Spotted Islands, 1931. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 42-146.

Wilfred T. Grenfell and two women at the Mission building, Spotted Islands, 1931. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 42-144.

Miss Bean inside hospital at Spotted Islands, 1937. Doug Cook photos: http://www.fromshetome.com/cook-gallery

In 1915 a new motor boat called the P & S was given to the Spotted Islands station by Dr. Neil C. Stevens of the College of Physicians and Surgeons to replace the Pomiuk, which had been lost in a storm the previous fall.

Dr. Louis Twyeffort and his wife Elizabeth, from Princeton, New Jersey, spent the summers of 1932 and 33 at Spotted Islands. In addition to providing medical services, the Twyefforts are remembered for their work helping the residents create their own gardens. Every house had at least one garden and a community canning centre was set up to help people preserve food for the winter.

The first presence of the Grenfell Mission at Seal Islands was during the summer of 1913, when Dr. Howard Brasted from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, who was serving as assistant to Dr. Arthur Wakefield at Battle Harbour, spent some time there. The people of Seal Islands were asking for a teacher for their children. Ethel Gordon Muir, who led the volunteer summer teacher program, was inspiring the girls at her school in New York to raise money to support teachers in Labrador, including at Seal Islands.

People outside a house, Seal Island. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 26-195.

Physician Wilfred Grenfell with man and young girl on step of log house, Seal Islands 1932. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 33-65.

Sir Wilfred’s cottage and garden, Seal Island. 1933. The Rooms Provincial Archives NA 24070.

The first teacher, Miss Gertrude Bond from Richmond Hill, New York, was placed there in the summer of 1917. In 1922 Miss Frances Kellogg from Vassar College was at Seal Islands. In addition to teaching the children, she also held evenings at the schoolroom for the adults in the community to listen to Victrola records or stories being read aloud. Lila C. Fisher from Boston came in the summer of 1924. The Hopkins family provided her with a house in which to live and teach the children: thirteen of them ranging from age 5 — 13. By the time Miss Fisher left at the end of the summer it was apparent that the Mission needed a building to continue.

In 1927 A. Burns Chalmers, who signed up to be a volunteer deckhand on the Strathcona II, was assigned the task of building an 18' x 24' cottage at Seal Islands. This cottage became the headquarters for summer teachers and industrial workers for a number of years. Alice Simms from St. Anthony was Industrial worker in the summers of 1928 and 29. Summer teachers included Newfoundlanders Winnie Grandy from Garnish in 1934 and Seneth Rowe from Heart's Content in 1936.

One of the most compelling stories from Seal Islands is that of the Morris sisters: Clara and Mary Ellen Morris were blind from birth. They were born at Seal Islands in 1903; in 1908 they were taken to Battle Harbour and then to St. Anthony. Eye surgeries improved their vision a little and they were educated at the School for the Blind in Halifax. The twins eventually settled at Red Bay, where they worked with Minnie Pike at the Industrial Centre there.

The blind twins at Battle Harbour. The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 93-48.

Blind twins some years after treatment. While attending school in Halifax. ca. 1920. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 23-435

Eleanor Storr spent the summer of 1925 as a volunteer teacher at George's Cove. Storr had run the orphanage at St. Anthony about 15 years prior to this and was also involved in setting up an office for the IGA in London. She began a program of health education at George's Cove that carried on at least until 1941.

The house I lived in, Fred Burdens, George’s Cove, summer 1925. (coloured slide). The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 1-341.

Crew and passengers aboard the SS Cranley. May 1925. Eleanor Storr is at centre of back row, en route to George’s Cove. The Rooms Provincial Archives MG 167.2.

In 1927 a nurse's cottage was built, enabling summer volunteers to make more progress with health and education in the village. The person who became best known for her association with George's Cove was Mabel E. Thorne from Fort Wayne, Indiana. For several years between 1930 and 1935 she travelled to George's Cove as a volunteer teacher. Both during this time and afterwards she was instrumental in influencing others to follow her. For example, in 1940 she helped teacher Donna Lewis and nurse Celesta Gerber prepare for a summer at George's Cove. Miss Gerber did not return to Indiana for a long time — she married Gordon Acreman of Mary's Harbour and made Labrador her home.

After 1941 the station at George's Cove remained closed; it was reopened briefly in the summer of 1949 by teacher Marie Antoinette Robbins and clothing store director Kathleen C. (Corrie) Hodgson.