The Ryan Premises is a Canadian National Historic Site located in the town of Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador

Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador

Bonavista is a town on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Unlike many Newfoundland coastal settlements, Bonavista was built on an open plain, not in a steep cove, and thus had room to expand to its current area of 31.5  square...

. It is preserved as an example of a large-scale merchant operation in a Newfoundland outport

Newfoundland outport

An outport is the term given for a small isolated coastal community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Originally the term was just used for coastal communities on the island of Newfoundland but the term has also been adopted for those on the mainland area of Labrador as...

.

The site consists of the proprietor's house, a carriage shed

Carriage house

A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...

, a retail shop, a retail store, a fish store and a salt store. The staff house, adjacent to but not part of the historical site, is a Registered Heritage Structure. Earlier, the premises also included a larger salt store, a cooperage

Cooper (profession)

Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...

, a powder magazine

Magazine (artillery)

Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...

, a telegraph

Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...

 office, wharves, fish flake

Fish flake

A fish flake is a platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying cod-fish on the foreshore of fishing villages and small towns in rural Newfoundland, Canada. Spelling variations for fish flake in Newfoundland include flek, fleyke, fleake, flaik and fleack...

s, a lumber yard

Lumber yard

A lumber yard is a retail location for lumber and wood related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects. Lumber yards can also provide services such as the use of a planer and other large machines....

 and a shipyard

Shipyard

Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...

.History=
James Ryan Ltd. was established in the Bayley's Cove section of Bonavista in 1857 where it operated a pub as well as a retail store. The main operation was relocated to its present location on Bonavista harbour in 1869 and liquor was only sold in bulk and the fishery became the main focus. The company bought and sold salt cod

Dried and salted cod

Dried and salted cod, often called salt cod or clipfish , is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is called stockfish....

, supplied salt and other materials for the cod fishery

Cod fisheries

Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to the three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod....

, and sold general merchandise. By 1895 James Ryan Ltd exported 100,000 quintals (approximately 5,000,000 kg) of salt cod, approximately 10% of the total for Newfoundland. James Ryan Ltd. exited the fishing industry in 1952 and continued on as a general store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

 until closing in 1978. In 1987, the Ryan Premises at Bonavista were designated as a national historic site. Parks Canada

Parks Canada

Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...

 took over the property and it was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on June 24, 1997 to mark the 500th anniversary of John Cabot

John Cabot

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...

's landfall at Bonavista.