Article written by Mark Stevens. Photos by Sharon Matthews-Stevens.
While images of swaying palms and alabaster beaches may dominate your vision of the Caribbean, you’ll miss out on much of the appeal of this must-do paradise if you limit your next tropical adventure to sun, sea and sand.
For the Caribbean is a hotbed of history.
Learn about Carib and Arawak culture. Discover why the Caribbean was so sought after by French, English, Spanish, Dutch and even Danish explorers.
Explore an eighteenth-century great house or synagogue, stop to reflect at a staircase built by enslaved peoples or sample the story of rum. Worship in an august cathedral or survey the seas from the ramparts of sky-reaching forts.
Welcome to a history lover’s must-do.
FROM JUNKANOO TO PIRATES (NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS)
Magna Carta Court, in Nassau
Visit Nassau and Paradise Island and immerse yourself in a hotbed of both history and culture. Learn about a traditional Bahamian celebration called Junkanoo at the Junkanoo Museum and Resource Centre, the labor of love of a former schoolteacher named Arlene Nash-Ferguson. Check out flamboyant costumes from past parades, learn to play a characteristic Junkanoo rhythm on a Goombay, a characteristic Junkanoo drum.
Or maybe pirates are your thing. Then check out the Pirates of Nassau Museum: stroll a recreated quayside, board a pirate ship and channel your inner Captain Blackbeard.
Then continue your lesson in history with a bit of a reward at the end. Visit the John Watling’s Rum Distillery, housed in a seventeenth-century former great house to learn about all things rum. Then reward yourself with a sample.
Visit Nassau and Paradise Island and stroll streets decorated by highlights of august colonial architecture, discover two different forts, descend a staircase built by enslaved inhabitants.
No doubt about it. History abounds in Nassau.
POMPEII OF THE NEW WORLD (MONTSERRAT)
Soufrière Volcano, Montserrat
While the eruption of Mount Vesuvius may not have changed history, it did result in the burying of Pompeii – creating a fascinating much-visited historic site. But you don’t have to visit Europe to explore a land impacted by a volcanic eruption.
Welcome to Montserrat, the Pompeii of the New World.
Montserrat boasts friendly people, secluded beaches and great hiking, but its best-known for the volcanic eruptions that began in 1995. Tragic though those events were, they resulted in a somber and sobering experience for history buffs who explore the island’s Exclusion Zone. Just one caveat: you need to book a certified guide to explore this area buried in volcanic ash, an area highlighted by eerie visions of buildings almost completely engulfed by ash.
Furthermore, this barren site isn’t the only appeal for history lovers. Montserrat also boasts nearly two dozen significant historic or cultural sites.
A BACKWARDS FORT AND A SECRET CHAPTER IN HISTORY (ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES)
Learn some history at local churches, from St. George’s Anglican Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Assumption to the historic Kingstown Methodist Church (show above).
I’m standing on the ramparts of Fort Charlotte on the island of St. Vincent in St. Vincent and The Grenadines. Long a history buff, I’m puzzled by the fort’s orientation. Methinks it’s backwards.
Down in Kingstown, while exploring St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, I get the backstory. Unlike most Caribbean fortifications this redoubt was indeed built to repel attacks from land, potential incursions by a group of people I knew almost nothing about.
That’s when St. Vincent and The Grenadines Tourism Authority representative Marlon Joseph introduces me to the Garifuna, a mixed African-indigenous people who originally populated St. Vincent and resisted English domination until ultimately expelled to Belize. Leading me to a tomb located in the church’s main aisle, Joseph continues the history lesson.
“Chatoyer was a Garifuna leader, a national hero.” Marlon Joseph indicates the tomb. “This man killed him.”
It’s a fascinating chapter in history that I knew nothing about, even though I am both history buff and a lover of all things Caribbean.
Talk about a hotbed of history.
A TROPICAL AMSTERDAM (CURAÇAO)
The skyline of Curaçao’s Willemstad shows like a tropical Amsterdam.
During my first visit to the island of Curaçao, gazing at Willemstad’s skyline, two things struck me: the architectural similarity between Willemstad and Amsterdam, and the extreme color contrast between the two cities. The impression that I’d made landfall in a sort of tropical Amsterdam stayed with me for days. It also quickly struck me that Curaçao was as rich in history as Amsterdam itself.
Explore five centuries of Jewish presence on the island with a visit to the Jewish Museum and a stop at Mikvé Israel-Emanuel, the New World’s oldest synagogue in continuous operation.
Explore Curaçao’s nautical heritage at the Marine Museum, housed in a centuries’-old building or take a guided historic walking tour through the streets of Willemstad, a UNESCO-designated historic site, stop at Fort Amsterdam and check out the cannonball lodged in the fort’s wall, souvenir of yet more island history.
Venture further afield and visit Jan Kok Landhuis (a landhuis is a sort of Dutch great house) for a helping of both history and culture.
If you’re a history lover Curaçao deserves a place of honor on your Caribbean bucket list.
A LITTLE ISLAND WITH A BIG HISTORY (ST. EUSTATIUS)
Honen Dalim, the second oldest Jewish Synagogue in the western hemisphere
Just do the math and you’ll quickly realize that another Dutch outpost – St. Eustatius – is a must-do for history lovers. This island (also known as Statia) just northwest of St. Kitt’s boasts an area of a mere 8 miles, but it lays claim to more than a hundred protected historic sites.
The Dutch began settlement here in 1636, bringing with them a heritage that lives on to this day.
Statia is best-known as a dive and hiking destination but that sheer number of protected sites makes it a welcome addition to any history buff’s bucket list.
Stroll Oranjestad’s cobblestone streets during a guided historical walking tour or gaze seaward from the ramparts of the seventeenth-century Fort Oranje. Remember the math? Eight miles, more than one hundred sites. It’s a formula that offers one more unassailable piece of evidence to support my claim.
The Caribbean is a hotbed of history.
Article written by Mark Stevens. Photography by Sharon Matthews-StevensFor twenty-five years the writing/photography team of Mark Stevens and Sharon Matthews-Stevens has provided editorial and photographic Caribbean content to a multitude of publications.
They’ve worked with newspapers from The Washington Post to The Globe and Mail, magazines from Travellife to Caribbean Business and Travel, and online publications from ATasteforTravel.ca to VacayNetwork.com. They have hiked the rainforests of St. Vincent in search of the Vinci parrot, sailed the waters off countless islands and traversed Jamaica in search of the world’s best jerk.
In addition to numerous other writing and photography awards, they have been recognized for their writing and photography fifteen times by the Caribbean Tourism Organization during their Media Awards events. Mark and Sharon are true Caribbean specialists.
