Exploring St. Kitts:

Basseterre

Basseterre, set against the irresistible backdrop of St. Kitts' emerald green hills and punctuated by elegant Georgian architecture, is one of the best of the Caribbean's small capitals.

Old Road Bay

It was here at Old Road Bay that Sir Thomas Warner, along with his family and 14 others, began the first permanent European settlement in the Leeward Islands. The settlers were at first on good terms with the island's Carib inhabitants, though such friendship lasted only a very few years. Rather than cultivating sugar, it was tobacco that had drawn Warner to the island, and it was the island's tobacco crop that first supported the settlement.

The Warner family estate served as the capital of St. Kitts until 1727, when it was moved to Basseterre. Outside of Old Road bay are found a number of interesting Carib petroglyphs.

Sandy Point

This second largest of St. Kitts' towns occupies the very spot on which Thomas Warner and his small party made landfall in 1623. During the 17th century Sandy Point was the center of the island's tobacco trade, and among Sandy Point's most fascinating sights are the large tobacco warehouses constructed during that time by the Dutch West India Company.

Frigate Bay Peninsula

Frigate Bay Peninsula stretches like the neck of an upturned wine bottle, connecting the main body of St. Kitts to the widened tip of the bottle's mouth at the Southeast Peninsula. One side of that neck--the dramatic windward beach at North Frigate Bay, is battered dramatically by the Atlantic surf. On the leeward side, the beach is met by the calm Caribbean waters of Frigate Bay.

Wingfield Estate and Petroglyphs

For hundreds of years before European navigators arrived in the Caribbean, the island's Carib community lived on this beautiful site. Three years after the first European settlers arrived, the Caribs were all but annihilated at Bloody Point. At the edge of the estate, standing as mute witness to the island's ancient, pre-Columbian history, is a cluster of large boulders marked heavily with petroglyphic symbols and human figures. Liamuiga, or 'fertile land,' was the Carib name for the island; in the 1980s, that name was given to St. Kitts' central mountain, a lush, 3792-ft volcanic peak known during the colonial period as Mount Misery.

Southeast Peninsula

At the Southeast Peninsula the narrow neck of Frigate Bay Peninsula broadens to a wide, undulating plain that contains some of the island's most stunning natural features. There are nine unspoiled beaches and lagoons here, as well as the eye-popping pink salt pond--its color comes from its innumerable, miniscule krill shrimp. This protected wilderness area is also populated abundantly by tropical birds, as well as by white-tailed deer and black-faced vervet monkeys.

St. Thomas Church

In the yard of this modest church is the tomb of Sir Thomas Warner, the leading figure in the island's colonial history. The memorial itself is a fascinating object, replete with a finely engraved Elizabethan epitaph to the 'much lamented gent.' Warner, who earned his knighthood as a colonizer of St. Kitts and a number of other islands, died in 1648. St. Thomas is located in Middle Island, which followed upon the establishment of the island's plantations as St. Kitts' first European village.

Exploring St. Kitts :

Brimstone Hill Fortress

By the late 18th century the sugar output of St. Kitts & Nevis was so high that the islands had become exceptionally prized--and equally coveted. In order to defend their possessions, the British built the enormous fortress of Brimstone Hill, a seemingly impregnable bastion situated nearly 800 feet above the Caribbean and surveying the waters all the way from St. Martin to Montserrat. In 1782, with the arrival of a great French fleet, Brimstone Hill became the site of one of the largest military conflicts in the Caribbean. Today the fortress has been painstakingly restored; the view, as always, is awe-inspiring.

Caribelle Batik

Located at Romney Manor, one of the island's most attractive estate houses, is this local artisans' centre. Working with locally-grown, exceptionally fine Sea Island cotton, the artists produce tie-dyed batik and hand-painted creations of all sorts.

Half Way Tree Village

Early in 1625, Thomas Warner's small colony greeted the unexpected arrival of a French ship, probably in the shallow bay on which Basseterre now sits. The French had suffered an unfortunate encounter with a Spanish warship, and they limped into St. Kitts in order to make much-needed repairs. The ship's captain, Pierre Belain d'Esnambue, must have been favorably impressed with what he found, as he returned shortly afterward with a small group of colonists. Warner and the English, like the Caribs before them, at first accepted the newcomers in friendship--or at least toleration. In order to avoid later disputes, the two groups of European colonists chose the great tamarind tree of Half Way Tree Village to mark the border between the French and British territories on St. Kitts. As the colonies grew and became increasingly prosperous, this border was sorely tested. War was narrowly averted during the first decade of the 18th century, for example, when it was discovered that the tamarind had thrown out new roots--and in theory extended to the British authority over many of the village's French houses.

Bloody Point

By 1626 both the British and the French settlements were expanding at such a rate that the Carib community began to perceive a threat to its very existence on the island. Joining forces with Caribs from a number of other islands, Chief Tegremare prepared to attack the European settlements. In the meanwhile, despite growing animosity between the French and the British, the two communities aside their differences in order to mount a combined, pre-emptive attack on the Carib. As a result, over 2,000 Carib Indians were massacred here at Bloody Point.

St. Kitts Sugar Factory

During the 18th century St. Kitts and Nevis were among the finest jewels of the Caribbean sugar colonies, and today on St. Kitts sugar is still a major crop. This modern factory, which replaced the island's local stone sugar mills, is supplied by means of a small highland railway circuit. St. Kitts sugar is still renowned for its exceptional quality, and this sugar factory also produces rum and Cane Spirits Rothschild (CSR), a fine sugarcane liquor developed by Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

Carib Beer Brewery

By appointment only, visitors are offered with both a tour and a complimentary tasting.

St. Kitts and Nevis are among the Caribbean's finest destinations for eco-tourism. Both islands possess a remarkable range of unspoiled ecosystems, from coral reefs and windswept rocky coastlines to the lush density of rare oceanic rainforests among the clouds. On St. Kitts, a rugged hiking adventure up Mount Liamuiga takes you through the exotic flora and fauna of the island's rainforest to the mile-wide crater rim of this dormant volcano. Among the vine-laden trees and tropical wildflowers of the misty cloudforest can be found a wide variety of rare and colorful birds and butterflies, as well as the elusive green vervet monkey. On Nevis, wander through the cloudforest that encircles the slopes of Nevis Peak, or ramble along the windswept eastern coast to learn about the island's diverse ecology and fascinating archaeological history.

Guided Hikes

Friendly and professional guides are available for all sorts of ecological, historical, and archaeological walks and hikes.

On St. Kitts:

• Kriss Tours (tel. 869-465-4042) and Greg's Safaris (tel. 869-465-4121/5209) offer half and full-day tours of the rainforest and, on the full-day tour, of the volcanic rim. Greg also offers a plantation safari exploring the rich agricultural heritage of St. Kitts. Another local favorite is Earl "The Duke of Earl" Vanlow (tel. 465-1899)

On Nevis:

• David Rollinson, Eco-Tours Nevis (tel. 869-469-2091 / email: droll@caribsurf.com). David Rollinson's eco-rambles are wry and informative introductions to the island's diverse botanical species.
• Jim Johnson, Top to Bottom (tel. 869-469-9080). Jim Johnson provides visitors with an enthusiastic look at the island's birds and plants.
• Michael Herbert, Herberts Heights (tel. 869-469-2501). Michael Herbert offers a half-hour hike to Herbert's Heights, a gentle, sloping hillside, 1200 feet above sea level that has the same panorama of vistas as Nevis Peak, without the steep climb.
• Linell and Earla Liburd, Sunrise Tours (tel. 869-469-2758).

Medicinal Plants

Here are a few of the plants that can be seen on the nature trails around St. Kitts & Nevis and their common uses in folk medicine:

This information was compiled by Pam Barry of the Golden Rock Nature Trail, Golden Rock Hotel, Nevis. All of the plants listed here can be seen marked on the trail.

Horatio Nelson

"I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me."

Horatio Nelson is Britain's greatest naval hero. In his dashing exploits at the Battles of Cape St. Vincent (1797), the Nile (1798), and Copenhagen (1801), his legendary romance with Lady Emma Hamilton, and his epochal victory and tragic death at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), Nelson seems always to be a little larger than life. The Nelson commemorated throughout the Caribbean, however, is younger, a little newer to the world, and if a bit less impressive, certainly more intimate.

It was in the Caribbean, on the island of Nevis, that Nelson met and married Fanny Nisbet, and the island still bears traces of the young captain's presence. His position at the time was commander of the Leeward Islands Squadron, a group that had as its home port English Harbour, on Antigua. Nelson's legacy is visible there as well, in the fine restored Georgian dockyard that now bears his name. What follows is a brief look at the life of Horatio Nelson. For those who desire a more extensive portrait, we recommend a visit to the Nelson Museum on Nevis, a modest institution that has the distinction of maintaining the largest collection of Nelson memorabilia in the Americas.