Search results
This Garrison Historic Area is situated about 3.2 km (2 mi) south of Heroes Square in the capital-city Bridgetown, and just west of the village of Hastings in the neighbouring parish of Christ Church. It is dominated by its historic horse race-track, located on the 12 ha (30-acre) parade ground called the Garrison Savannah.
Take an interactive tour of Historic Bridgetown and Its Garrison, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Barbados Garrison, largest in the British Colonies during the 18th and 19th centuries, is of great historic interest and offers many features, other than military, for those so inclined.
The Barbados Garrison Historic Area contains a network of well-preserved sites of historical and architectural interest which aid in telling a well-told story of the largest British military complex built in the Caribbean.
- Barbados Parliament Buildings and Museum. Location: National Heroes Square, Parliament Square, Bridgetown, Barbados. The Barbados Parliament Buildings, with a neo-Gothic style reminiscent of the Victorian era, were built in the early 1870s in an area of Bridgetown known as the New Burnt District, which was part of a 10-acre area destroyed by fire in 1860.
- Blackwoods Screw Dock. Location: Cavans Lane, Bridgetown, Barbados. Blackwoods Screw Dock in Bridgetown is the only surviving dry dock with a screw-lifting mechanism of its kind in the world.
- Nidhe Israel Synagogue and Museum. Location: Synagogue Lane, Bridgetown, Barbados. Nidhe Israel Synagogue in Barbados is the oldest Jewish consecrated ground in the English-speaking Americas.
- Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Location: Dalkeith Road, Bridgetown, Barbados. Since 1933, a former military prison has been the home of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.
The tour of the Garrison Historic Area offers a captivating journey through the sites that were once occupied by the British military in Barbados. This walking tour is the perfect choice for history enthusiasts who want to delve deeper into the island’s past.
The Garrison Historic Area, also called St. Ann’s Garrison, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes downtown Bridgetown. Among the must-see sites is the George Washington House, where the first American president once stayed, before he was president in 1751.
Highlights of Garrison Historic Area include the Barbados Museum set in an old barracks, the clocktower-topped Main Guard, the George Washington House–where he stayed in 1751–and the Garrison Tunnels.
