Where history and hospitality come together
The Punt Premises begins with the punt: a small wooden boat once essential to Newfoundland’s inshore fishery.
Fishers went out in these boats, catching cod by line, and knowing how to build these boats was essential to survival. The construction and restoration of the Punt Premises help tell a story of how a family made a living from the sea.
Today, the legacy of the inshore fishery lives through historical and cultural assets, shared by our Punt Master, PJ Decker, and the lived experience of Community Hosts.
Learn more about Fogo Island’s cod-fishing history.
The Beginning of The Punt Premises
In 2015, a traditional fishing premises, including a family home, two loft sheds, and a fishing stage, was donated to Shorefast. Two years later, Shorefast began restoring the site: reinforcing the structure of two buildings, repairing the cribbing underneath the stage, and building a new floating dock.
When renovating the main house, the construction team worked with the existing structure, conserving the layers of history that carry significance and weaving in the new where appropriate. Large double doors were installed at the back of the house, opening to the back bridge. The team also worked with Bonavista Creative Workshop to replace the plastic windows with wooden double-hung windows.
On June 8, 2019, the Punt Premises officially opened its doors. Collaborators, designers, builders, donors, and community members gathered to share their stories and experience the new space.
Read more about the construction process and opening.
A Space with a Purpose
The Punt Premises celebrates every part of life that surrounded the inshore fishery: making fish, building and repairing punts, artisan crafts, and cooking practices. The space is dynamic; a gathering place for environmental workshops, classes on cultural activities like rug hooking and playing music, and the sharing of traditional knowledge.
Even as you walk through the interiors of the main house and outbuildings, ingenious tools line the walls, many of them developed to make processes more efficient. A “spudgel,” for example, is a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to scoop cod liver oil from its barrel. And PJ Decker is on-site to give a history lesson
At the Punt Premises, PJ Decker brings these artifacts and traditions to life. He tells stories of the inshore fishery and shares the generations of inherent knowledge that shaped how people lived on Fogo Island.
PJ leads guests through the Premises, offering tours that connect Fogo Island’s past to its present, an expression of how inherited skill and local expertise are still relevant today.
Learn more about PJ’s work as Punt Master.
The Art of Boatbuilding
Building boats is an art at risk of disappearing, with only a handful of wooden boat builders on Fogo Island and Change Islands. To help preserve this knowledge on Fogo Island, Punt Master PJ completed a week-long boatbuilding workshop at the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland & Labrador in Winterton, led by master builder Jerome Canning.
During the workshop, PJ learned traditional building techniques through hands-on lessons that he has brought back to the Punt Premises. With this knowledge, he now shares these techniques with guests and residents and hopes to repair Shorefast’s own fleet of punts.
Learn more about how PJ is carrying on tradition.
Plan Your Stay
A visit to the Punt Premises is a meaningful way to connect with our island’s fishing heritage and the people who carry it forward.
Learn more about Fogo Island’s fishery, past and present, on activities like Fish & Ships, Introduction to Boat Building, and Cod Fishing.