Welcome to Bridgetown, the capital and largest city of Barbados, on the southwestern coast of the island along Carlisle Bay. Locals rarely call it Bridgetown: it is simply Town, or sometimes The City. English settlers established the present city in 1628. During the short-lived Federation of the British West Indies, Bridgetown was one of three cities considered as the federal capital. Today it is a major tourist destination and cruise ship port of call, and in 2011 Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Let us take a stroll.
Garrison Historic Area
Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWelcome to the Garrison, a small historic district just south of the city centre. Its heart is a horse racetrack laid out on the old parade ground called the Garrison Savannah, surrounded by historic buildings, including barracks. In the 18th and 19th centuries this was the headquarters of the British West India Regiment on the island. And here is a surprise: in 1751 a young George Washington, the future first president of the United States, stayed here for six weeks with his sick brother, in a house now known as the George Washington House.
Parliament Buildings
Photo: giggel · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsIn front of you are the Parliament Buildings, the seat of the Parliament of Barbados, on the north bank of the Constitution River in the very heart of the city. Built between 1870 and 1874, these two neo-Gothic buildings recall Victorian Britain. Both chambers of Parliament have met here since 16 June 1874, and the buildings once housed the colonial administration too. For many years they were called the Public Buildings, until an Act of Parliament renamed them in 1989.
National Heroes Square
Photo: titilayo · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsHere is National Heroes Square, right in the centre of Bridgetown on the northern shore of the Careenage. Until 1999 it was called Trafalgar Square, and its new name honours the National Heroes of Barbados. For two centuries a bronze statue of Lord Nelson stood at its west end. Unveiled in 1813 to mark the victory at Trafalgar, it went up around 27 years before the far more famous Nelson's Column in London. The statue was removed in 2020.
Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels
Photo: Sachiko Haraguchi · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Wikimedia CommonsTwo blocks east of National Heroes Square rises the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, the tallest Anglican house of worship in Barbados. Hurricanes have shaped its story. The parish church was destroyed by a hurricane in 1780 and rebuilt nine years later, then damaged again by the great hurricane of 1831. In 1825, when the new Diocese of Barbados and the Leeward Islands was created under Bishop William Hart Coleridge, the church became a cathedral.
Nidhe Israel Synagogue
Photo: Rennboot · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOn Synagogue Lane stands the Nidhe Israel Synagogue, whose name means Synagogue of the Scattered of Israel. It is the only synagogue in Barbados and one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. First built in 1654, it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1831 and rebuilt. Together with its excavated ritual bath, the mikveh, it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jews who arrived from Recife in Brazil were skilled in the sugar industry and passed their knowledge on to Barbados planters.
Carlisle Bay
Photo: Pontificalibus · CC0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur tour ends at Carlisle Bay, the small natural harbour on which Bridgetown stands. The bay has been turned into a marine park and is a favourite spot for scuba diving, where anchors, cannonballs and other ship relics lie on the sea floor. It takes its name from James Hay, the 1st Earl of Carlisle, who claimed the island by royal grant in 1627. In 1665 a Dutch fleet led by Michiel de Ruyter was driven back here by English defenders.
Lomakuume
