The Corey and Trina rock: Land & Sea digs into the story of some famous highway graffiti

Land & Sea usually takes viewers off of the highway and into the beautiful rural towns in Newfoundland and Labrador for stories.

But this season, we decided to tell a story about the highway and a particular sign that drivers have been noticing for many years now — 30 years to be exact. 

It's a quirky bit of Newfoundland and Labrador graffiti that you may have wondered about as you approach St. John's on the Trans-Canada Highway.

It reads "Corey+Trina '94" in white paint on a huge rock, just a few minutes before the turnoff to Bellevue.

For drivers of a certain age, it no doubt prompts memories of a popular musical and comedy duo. Corey Crewe and Trina Fulford played to packed clubs all over Newfoundland and Labrador for three decades in the 70s, 80s and 90s. 

Dubbed the Sonny and Cher of the province, they were celebrated for their songs The Wolf is as the Door, The Northern Lights of Labrador and their own version of a Dr. Hook classic, On The Cover of the Newfoundland Herald. 

Sadly, Fulford died of cancer in 2007. 

But Crewe, her husband, keeps her memory alive by still displaying their albums, costumes and show posters in his Mount Pearl home as reminders of their days of entertaining.

"I always wanted to be an entertainer and she wanted to do it just as bad as I did. She wanted to sing and be on stage. And, of course, I was in my glee to have a partner that wanted to be like me," he said. 

"I was always happy on stage because she was happy on stage. And the two of us, we portrayed that to the audience."

But contrary to popular belief, Crewe was not the artist who painted that succinct message of love on the side of the highway. Crewe says he and Trina always believed it had been put their by an appreciative fan.  

"We did Arnold's Cove and Sunnyside and Come By Chance and Bellevue and Morelands and, you know, we did all that area," he said. "So we figured somebody in that area must have put the Corey and Trina name on the rock and thought no more of it than that."

Over the years the musicians have always thought of it as their rock and have heard from fans regularly who also believed the message was dedicated to them.

"Yeah, all the time, even last week, a lady came from Clarenville. I still appreciate it very much that that was done. I'm sort of up there with Joey Smallwood," Crewe said. "Joey Smallwood got his rock in Gambo. I got my rock in Bellevue."

Who else?

It's a safe bet to say most people in the province who know of the duo's popularity and know of the rock, probably connect the two.

But, not everyone. Certainly not Corey and Trina Sharpe of Grand Falls-Windsor. 

They've been sweethearts since high school and married for 28 years.

One August day in 1994, long before they tied the not, Corey Sharpe's parents were driving his sister into St. John's to start nursing school.

Inspired by the smatterings of spray paint along the drive, Corey's sister decided to use a can of paint in her dad's truck that day to make her own mark.

Corey's father, Winston, remembers pulling to the side of the highway after his daughter spied the perfect rock.

The Sharpe's clambered down over the bank.

Winston, under the instruction of his daughter, proceeded to add an amorous message to the rock for all future drivers to see. 

"I can remember now like it was yesterday that we did it and it doesn't seem that long, really," said Winston Sharpe.

That was 30 years ago.

Corey Sharpe recalls the first time he saw it. He said he was surprised by its prominence along the roadway. 

"It's hard to miss. If you're driving to St. John's, you're going to see it," he said. 

Trina Sharpe says every time they drive into the capital city, they are filled with anticipation. 

"Corey will usually say the rock is coming up, so get out your camera. And we usually do a video every time we go," she said. "We're always, always excited to see it."

And other people they've met over the years are clearly talking about the rock, too.

Trina says whenever they introduce themselves as Corey and Trina they're inevitably met with a question about the highway.

"They'll say 'Are you the ones on the rock on the way to St. John's?' So we'll usually say yes, we are. It's not the singers, it's us. I can sing, Corey not so much. That's the standard line," said Trina.  

As for Crewe, he said he made the discovery of the true story of Corey and Trina rock on Facebook, on a Newfoundland history site. 

"[It] broke my heart because I didn't want to know. I've always wanted it to be me and Trina. But now, of course, I got to share the rock," said Crewe.

In recent years, the paint on the Bellevue rock had started to fade.

Corey and Trina Sharpe had good intentions to give their rock a touch up.

But, before they got around to adding new paint, they noticed one day, on a drive into St. John's, that the white gleam had been restored. Someone had repainted their rock. 

Corey Sharpe says he's convinced a friend of his had gone out on the highway and done it.

"He said 'Nope, didn't do it.' But we were convinced that he had done it. So eventually we were like, well, [if] he didn't do it, who did?"

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