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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

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Notes from an Interview

 

Eyewitness: Cyril Halbert Date: 28th January 2005 Place: National Archives Cyril Halbert was about twelve years old in January 1935. He was a student at the Grammar school which at the time was run by Mr. Williams, an English man. The teachers were Branch, Wooding and Matheson. There were about forty boys at the school. On the 29th January 1935, all the boys were sent home. They were urged to go home as soon as possible and to...

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Euclid Hanley

 

Euclid Hanley Euclid Hanley was born on the 22 May 1940 in Butler’s Village, Nevis and moved to St. Kitts at a very early age. He grew up in the household of the Stanleys who owned a grocery on the north western corner of Central and College Street and lived above it. Eventually he found work at City Drug Store until he was ready to start his own business. His johnny cakes, patties, fried fish and...

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Sir Probyn Innis

 

Probyn Ellsworth Inniss was born on the 18th November 1936 at Challengers Village.  he was a student of the St. Kitts Grammar School.  he attended Trinity Government Primary School from 1942 to 1949.  In 1949 he won the St. Kitts Nevis Trades and Labour Union Scholarship to the Grammar School from which he graduated in 1955.  For the following two years he worked in the Treasury and Customs Department then went to study at the...

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Our Places

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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...

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Lawyer Stephen's Cave

 

smoke hole at Lawyer Stephen's cave Photograph by permission of Gregory Pereira, Greg’s Safaris by Alex Robinson According to the oral tradition the cave was first fashioned by maroons out of the side of Olivees Mountain in the 17th century. In a series of local history programmes a contemporary griot, Tamboura Kitwana, from St. Kitts Ministry of Culture, described the site:“The cave is made of packed earth and rock, with a smoke hole and a door sized...

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Wingfield and Romney Estates

 

Wingfield The area now occupied by Wingfield and Romney estates, just outside the village of Old Road, was the site of the first permanent plantation settlement in the English Caribbean. It was close to the Kalinago holy places and the fortified buildings along with possible socially unacceptable behaviour may have provoked them into attempting to remove the intruders. Wingfield Estate was the property of the John Jeafferson, who along with his brother Samuel accompanied Thomas Warner in...

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Our Events

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The Christmas Sport - last week of December

 

Bull The Christmas Sports takes place in the days between Christmas and New Year.  These are street performances.  However some elements on the sport, particularly the Masquerade, is used as cultural performances throughout the year. THE BULLis based on a story that had its origins in St. Kitts itself. It is said that Arthur Davis, the owner of Belmont estate, and brother of Basil Davis, Manager of the Sugar factory bought a young bull for breeding purposes...

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An Account of the Damage to St. George's Church from the Earthquake of 1974

 

An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale occurred at about 5:55 a.m. on October 8th 1974, and did considerable damage to the St George’s Parish Church. The epicentre of this quake was some 40 miles east of Antigua, and 60 miles below the surface of the earth. The nave of the church consists of two rows of stone columns on either side. The first of these columns was separated from the east dome of...

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Flood of 1880

 

Sunday, 11 January 1880 was described as a fine day with some scattered showers.  At about 5.00pm the atmosphere became quite warm compared to the previous few days.   Then at about 9.00pm an intense cold set it.  There was a light shower which quickly came to an end.  By 11.00 pm the rains started falling and continued unabated till 3.00am of 12 January.  The night was very dark. The flow of water in the streets was...

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

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