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Newfoundland

YOUR ARTICLE on Newfoundland ["Newfoundland: A Trip off the Old Rock," April 22] brought back delightful memories:

· Sampling the province's tasty berries, such as the bakeapple, a kind of golden raspberry (check it out at the Dark Tickle Co.'s Web site, http://www.darktickle.com/);

· Listening to live Celtic music in a pub, where the young audience knew the words to the old folk songs, and then picking up a few souvenir CDs at Fred's music store in St. John's;

· Learning about the region's diverse heritage, including its Native American history, at the provincial museum.

There is so much more to do. You have rekindled my desire to return to this quirky, charming place.

Chris Morehouse

Shepherdstown, W.Va.

IT'S OBVIOUS that Paula Stone enjoyed her stay in Newfoundland, but her history of the island is nothing if not fanciful -- perhaps induced by imbibing too much "screech."

First, the local patois has nothing to do with Irish dialect. The place was colonized principally by emigrants from Cornwall, England. In fact, the island was a British dependency until the late 1940s.

As for Lord Baltimore, he never intended to settle there and was long promised territory on the Chesapeake Bay by the king. Newfoundland was nothing but a way station to his royal grant in what became Maryland.

Brian T. Petty