Brimstone Hill is on St. Kitts, one of the Leeward Islands
of the Lesser Antilles.
St. Kitts is a nickname for St. Christopher. Columbus, who visited and claimed the island for
Spain in 1493, named it after his patron saint.
Between 1538 and 1783, the British and the French fought repeatedly over
this tiny bit of sugar-producing turf until the Brits finally won out for good.
All this hostility gave birth to the Fortress at Brimstone Hill,
a military complex built on a steep hill at the westernmost point of the island
overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The
British placed the first cannon there in 1690 and, using African slave labor,
continued to build up the site over the next hundred years, until it was so
large and imposing, it was dubbed the Gibraltar of the West Indies.
In 1783, in Brimstone Hill’s last decisive battle, the
French Admiral Comte Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse laid siege to the
fort. After a month, heavily
outnumbered, the British Admiral Hood surrendered. But then, less than a year afterwards, the
French ceded it back to Britain in the Treaty of Paris. Nevertheless, the French Navy made another
try for it in 1806. They failed. The British, secure in their possession of
the island, abandoned the site in 1853.
My visits to this
historic fort took place thirty-seven years apart. The only battle on the site in between my
trips was the one for its survival.
In 1973, the cannon were still there, as were roofless buildings, walls
in disrepair, lots of vines and tropical weeds, and quite a few vicious
insects. That very year, HRH Prince
Charles also visited Brimstone Hill.
Then, restoration began in earnest.
In 1985, HRH QEII unveiled a plaque that declared the site a National
Park. Then, in 1999 UNESCO named
Brimstone Hill as a World Heritage Site.
By our second visit in 2011, it was obvious that the good guys (the
preservationists) had finally won.
Here’s more of what it looked like on January 11th of
2011, or as I like to write the date 1/11/11.
Annamaria - Monday
Annamaria - Monday
Posts
If my memory serves me right, I think "St Kitts and Nevis" have provided us with a few great moments on the running track in the last few Olympics. Fabulous to see what the place actually looks like.
ReplyDeleteCaro, It is still largely and agricultural island--with sugar cane. There are more and more resorts, but it has not been overrun with them. I like its down to earth atmosphere, as compared to some of the glitzy, jet-set locations in the Caribbean.
ReplyDeleteOh, and by the way. That island that you see in the distance is Nevis.
DeleteThere's history in every nook and cranny of the planet, if you take the time to look for it. Thanks, AmA!
ReplyDeleteAmazing what the Brits have fought over, down the centuries, and who they got to do their fighting for them :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for some great pix, Annamaria
Fire and Brimstone. Appropriate from you, Sis. :)
ReplyDelete