8/9/2019 Day Trip: St. George's, Bermuda

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TRES RIOS . RIVIERA MAYA . MEXICO haciendatresrios.com 800.224.423

Nestled amid

nature park i

heart of ancie

Mayan cultur

is a resort lik

no other. A place of innite eco-adventu

offering cenote diving, snorkeling, kayaki

even a surprising eyes-shut sensory tour.

place where you can be at peace with na

while staying in ultimate all-inclusive luxu

Some of our guests takecenote diving seriously.Others simply unwind...

sparked by nature

shaped by luxury

flled with adventure

22 caribbean travel+life c ar ibb ea nt rav el mag. com ap ril 2010 caribbean travel+l

bottomleft:ellenbaronel/houserstock;bottomright:dougwilson/corbis

Back outside, get lost in a maze o

winding lanes and narrow brick streets

lined with whitewashed 17th-century

cottages, pastel-hued colonial-era shop

houses, and a prousion o palm trees

and owering hibiscus and rangipani.

On nearby Aunt Peggys Lane stands

tiny Pilot Darrells house, originally the

home o James JemmyDarrell, a slave

who won his reedom in 1796, at age 47,

ater guiding the British warship HMS

Resolution through treacherous wa-ters and saely into the harbor. Just

around the corner on Queen Street,

300-year-old Stewart Hall houses the

amily-owned Bermuda Perumery.

If you want to do more than just soak

up the history, quirky small museums

abound in St. Georges. The Globe

Hotel, built around 1700 as a private

home for a reportedly corrupt governor,

houses the Bermuda National Trust

Museum. Its well-curated exhibition

Rogues & Runners: Bermuda and the

American Civil Warrecounts Ber-

mudas support of the Confederacy

during that time. St. Georges prospered

as a rebel entrept where Southern

cotton was traded for E nglish ironware,

weapons and luxury goods, which were

subsequently smuggled into port cities

such as Wilmington, North Carolina,

by blockade runners. The St. Georges

Foundation recently renovated one of

the towns wartime warehouses; the

new World Heritage Centre now holds

historic exhibits, a gift shop, maps and

brochures about the town.Stroll 10 minutes north to check out

the atmospheric Unnished Church, a

Gothic ruin rom the 1870s that endured

a litany o roadblocks during 50 years

o construction: unding woes, a split

among parishioners and, nally, a hur-

ricane that destroyed it s roo. Tobacco

Bay, one o the east ends most amily-

riendly beaches, is another 10 minutes

away. Enormous limestone ormations

shelter the shallow cove and its small,

arcing beach. Vendors hawk every beach

essential: snorkel gear, burgers, beer and

sot drinks. Although theres not much

coral to admire, the waters are thick

colorul ree sh, including sergeant

jors, bluehead wrasse and French gru

A hal-mile east o Tobacco Bay stand

Fort St. Catherine, a squat stone cita

thats changed little since the late Vic

torian period; the gun oor still hold

18-ton muzzle-loading cannons, wh

the powder magazine displays sword

and historic rearms on its 25-oot-t

walls built to last, like St. Georges

itsel. CHRISTOPHER R. COx

St. Georges is accessible by swit

erries rom the Royal Naval Doc

or buses and tais rom Hamilton

The World Heritage Centre (Penno

Whar; 441-297-8043; bermudawo

heritage.org) opens rom 10 a.m.

4 p.m. daily ecept Sunday (April-

October) and Sunday and Monda

(November-March). Admission is

The Bermuda National Trust Muse

(32 Due o Yor St.; 441-297-1423

bnt.bm) opens rom 10 a.m. to 4 p

Days vary seasonally. Admission i

teatime traveler

island hopping

a troll throuh the treet of st. geore, bermud,i voye cro four centurie of colonil hitory.

Above, from left: St. Peters Church is Bermudas oldest; bobby hats are reminders of theislands British origins. Top: In 1609, survivors of the wrecked shipSea Venture named

Tobacco Bay a 10-minute walk from St. Georges after nding the plant growing there.

d a y t r i p

aRRIVING B Y SEA MAk ES

or a lasting rst impression o

historic St. Georges, Bermuda.

From the salute o a Gates Fort cannon

to the bell-ringing greetings o the town

crier, its all very, very proper, betting

a thoroughly British colony established

some 400 years ago on the northeast

end o this hoo-shaped Atlantic atoll.

But crier aside, there is little artice

aoot in St. Georges, a modern, ully

unctioning town that also happens tobe a charming open-air museum.

Here, you really step bac in time,

says Sharon Jacobs, eecutive director

o the St. Georges Foundation, which

successully lobbied or the towns

UNESCO World Heritage Site status

in 2000. Its a waler-riendly little

burg with access rom the mid-island

gol resorts near Hamilton, as well as

the Docyard megaship terminal on

the west end, and an aternoon spent

wandering its streets ofers an enjoyable

primer on Bermudas colorul history.

For all its grace and ambience, the

oldest continuously inhabited English

town in the Americas began with a

disaster, one that possibly became an

inspiration or William Shake speares

The Tempest. In July 1609, a hurricane

struck a relie-supply eet bound or

the struggling New World settlement o

Jamestown, Virginia. Blown of course,

the agship Sea Venture ran aground

on Bermudas treacherous rees; the

castaways established St. Georges in the

10 months it took to construct two new

ships rom the wreckage. The survivors

then sailed on to Virginia, about 700

miles to the west, saving the Jamestown

settlers rom imminent starvation.

Realizing the value o a sheltered

harbor on a strategically located island,

Britain established a permanent colony

in St. Georges originally called New

London in 1612. The same year, the

settlers ounded St. Peters, the oldest

Anglican church outside the British

Isles and the longest-serving Protestant

church in the New World. Pee inside

to nd gleaming communion silver

presented by king William III and the

churchs longtime organist, who may

be persuaded to pull out the stops on

Amazing Grace.