chattel-house-st-kitts.jpeg
discover us for yourself
Scroll Down

Discover

the stories of our proud and friendly people, our charming and colourful villages, our fascinating ruins, our intriguing rain forests,
and our traditions that span centuries.

Our People

Prev Next

Sir Clement Malone

 

Clement Malone  Clement Malone was born in 1883 in Antigua into a coloured family whose members had risen to prominence as merchants, clergymen, lawyers and schoolmasters. He was educated at the Antigua Grammar School and after leaving school was employed as a teacher for one term. It was a position that young Clement did not regret leaving. He entered the civil service of the Leeward Islands and, for a number of years, was assigned to St...

Read more

Sir Joseph Nathaniel France

 

Joseph Nathaniel France Joseph Nathaniel France was born on the 16th September 1907 to Thomas and Mary France at Mt. Lily, Nevis. Thomas who was a road driver and a small plot-holder sent his son regularly to Combermere School. At age thirteen, young France went to St. Kitts to spend his school holidays with relatives in New Town. But before the vacation was over he was offered a job as office boy with the St. Kitts-Nevis Universal...

Read more

Zenaida Katzen

 

Zenaida Katzen Zenaida Katzen was born in Eastern Siberia in 1911 to a Russian Orthodox mother and a Jewish father. Due in great part to her father’s allegiance to Tsar Nicholas II, her family had no choice but to flee Russia or face certain death at the hands of the Bolsheviks as the October 1917 Russian revolution advanced to the Russian Far Eastern town of Nikolaevsk-na-Amur. The family took refuge in Shanghai, China. After completing high school...

Read more

Our Places

Prev Next

Challengers

 

Challengers Is a village in the Parish of Trinity. It was a rather small estates on sloping ground that once belonged to John Challenger. Challenger also owned a plantation in the Parish of St. Thomas, called New Invention. In his will he divided his property between his four sons and one daughter. To his son Clement, he left the small property he had in Trinity as well as one thousand pounds and 5 slaves. Clement Challenger...

Read more

College Street

 

When the tiny settlement of Basseterre was founded in 1627 College Street was very likely its western boundary but with the growth of the population and the construction work undertaken by Governor De Poincy, the settlement gradually grew into a small town. College Street got its name from the Jesuit College which was erected north of the town (now Douglas Estate). The Jesuits had replaced the Capuchins in 1642 after De Poincy expelled them for what...

Read more

The Circus

 

Circus   The Circus is the hub of Basseterre.   It is a recognised landmark and a popular meeting place.   The Circus owes its origins to the fire that destroyed Basseterre on  July 4th, 1867.  The whole town east of West Square street was devastated.  The inefficiencies of the fire department were, at least in part, responsible for the magnitude of the disaster.  When Basseterre was rebuilt, it was decided to make its streets easier for the fire...

Read more

Our Events

Prev Next

Disasters in Basseterre

 

Hurricanes Wars were not the only dramatic events to effect the development of Basseterre. Natural disasters played a very significant roll.The 1642 and 1667 hurricanes destroyed all the houses on the island. In 1667 French Governor Laurent reported I hold myself obliged to inform you that this island is in the most deplorable state that can be imagined and that the inhabitants could not have suffered a greater loss, or been more unfortunate except they had...

Read more

Good Friday

 

  Good Friday is a quiet day in St. Kitts. Many go to the various church services that commemorate Christ’s Crucifiction . At home, there are hot cross buns for breakfast while lunch consists of cooked saltfish, mackerel, or fresh fish served with a mixture of starchy foods (potatoes, sweet potatoes, breadfruit, green figs, yams, cassava, dasheen, edoes) and greens. In St. Kitts, Good Friday and the rest of the Easter weekend is also the time...

Read more

The Arts Festival - 18 Aug 1964

 

Arts Festival - String Band, St. Kitts   On the 18th August 1964, the Education Centre, now the Basseterre High School, was the venue of “an evening of One Act Plays”. The plays were The Doctor in spite of Himself, by Moliere produced by Eustace John and Sunday Costs twenty-five dollars produced by Aimee Dinzey. This was the beginning of the first Arts Festival in St. Kitts that was to last for 15 days. The idea of an...

Read more

"In this  bright future, you can't forget your past"

Interactive Map

Move your mouse over the red map markers to view information about each particular location. To read more, click the marker for further information. Locations may also be selected using the adjacent listbox.