Architecture

Arlington House Museum, Barbados

Arlington House Museum is an eighteenth century building located in the historic northern town of Speightstown and features three floors or exhibits, including an interactive and audio visual visitor communications.

The museum provides an abundance of interesting information, while entertaining and educating all ages about the Barbados heritage.

The ground floor represents typical lifestyles in coastal Speightstown; the second floor features "Plantation Memories"; and the third floor invokes "Wharf Memories," illustrating the prominence of Speightstown as an ocean trading "hub" to the New World.

Experience fascinating interactive technology, featuring the latest multimedia functionality.

Bajan Chattle House

The Bajan Chattel House is as distinctly Barbadian as the local dialect and accent. It is a result of historical circumstances and local ingenuity.

After Emancipation, the slaves were still landless, since most of the land was owned by the plantations. But former slaves were subsequently allowed to build their humble homes on marginally productive plantation lands, paying very little rent. However, the plantation owners reserved the right to evict tenants from these tenantries at short notice in the event of a landlord-tenant dispute, or the worker quit.

The houses therefore had to be "chattel" which means "movable possession" and so these modest houses were built of timber, on foundations built with coral blocks, and constructed so they could easily be dismantled in sections, put onto a cart and moved to another spot.

The steep gable roof is most often constructed of corrugated iron and its angle deflects the wind rather than provides a platform for the wind to lift it off. The fretwork around the windows and openings provide shade and a filter against the rain. Over the years, fretwork has become an attractive architectural feature in its own right and is a distictive feature in West Indian housing design.

Today, even though most Barbadians live in more modern structures, there are still some who live in chattel houses. The architectural beauty still stands out today but the houses tend to be larger and more elaborate with sash windows and foundations made of concrete blocks instead of stones.

So, when you hear a Bajan saying he is moving house, he means .... literally, moving house!

George Washington House Museum

The George Washington House is the only house outside the USA where George Washington ever resided.

The young George Washington and his ailing brother, Lawrence, resideded in this historic plantation house, also known as Bush Hill House, for two months in 1751.

The handsome Georgian-style house has been restored and furnished as a typical, but not luxurious plantation residence of the mid-18th Century.

A museum has been installed on the upper floor of the house. It focuses on the story of the rich, cultural heritage of the island in the 17th and 18th Centuries. This was a time when Barbados was one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere, Bridgetown one of the three biggest cities with Boston and London when the Barbados Adventurers set off and colonised North and South Carolina, and when the British established the largest Garrison in the colonies. It also features an examination of the shameful practice of slavery that dominated plantation life in the Caribbean and the southern USA.

Start by viewing a film featuring George Washington in Barbados in the small theatre, and then join a guided tour of the main floor of the house and upstairs to tour the museum. Visitors can also explore the grounds, enjoy the gardens, shop in the Gift Shop and enjoy cool refreshments in the cafe.
Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 4:30pm
Web: http://www.georgewashingtonbarbados.org/

St Nicholas Abbey, Barbados

St. Nicholas Abbey boasts an exceptional natural beauty with over 400 acres of sugar cane fields, tropical gullies, mahogany forests and gardens.

Its true masterpiece is the Jacobean great house, featuring elegant curvilinear gables, cornerstone chimneys and fireplaces, unusual elements in a Caribbean home.

Now owned by a Barbadian family, the first in its history, the Warren family has meticulously restored the property to its original splendour.

St Nicholas Abbey is likely the last remaining authentic house of the 17th Century that exists anywhere in the "New World". When this residence was built around 1658 of brick and limestone, many of the structures in the North America were made of timber, and have long since perished.

The residence was built only 30 years after Barbados' settlement by the British in 1627, so it is of significant historical value to the island.

Listed today by the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) as one of the 'Seven Wonders of Barbados', St Nicholas Abbey is believed to be the oldest building in Barbados, and one of three existing Jacobean houses in the Western Hemisphere (the other two being Drax Hall in Barbados and Bacon's Castle in Virginia).

At the moment only the ground floor of St Nicholas Abbey is open to public viewing. There is a collection of period furniture including a four poster bed said to be owned by Napoleon's second wife, Empress Marie Louise. The Dining Room table and chairs is thought to be Barbadian made round about 1840, possibly earlier.

The formal garden, tropical vegetation and striking cabbage palm trees all lend to the English Manor setting.

Enjoy a 20 minute home movie taken by Col. Stephen Cave's father in 1935 which shows a fascinating and surprising glimpse of life on a plantation at a time before modernisation.

One of the few distilleries of its kind, St Nicholas has embraced the traditions that made Barbados rum famous over 350 years ago. Under the guidance of Richard Seale, renown for distilling aged rums of quality and distinction, the plantation is developing aged rum. Barreled in the finest oak bourbon casks and aged in the old stables, the rum benefits from the cooling tradewind breezes of the plantation's highland location, developing a distinctive character and resulting in genuine, unblended liquor.

Hours: Sunday - Friday 10:00am to 3:30pm (including most holidays)

Sunbury Plantation

Sunbury Plantation is over 300 years old and steeped in history. Featuring mahogany antiques, old prints and a unique collection of horse-drawn carriages, it is the only Great House in Barbados with all of the rooms available for viewing.

Sunbury Plantation was built around 1660 by Matthew Chapman, an Irish/English planter, one of the first settlers on the island.

Located in the tranquil St Philip countryside, a leisurely 25-minute drive from Bridgetown along Highway 5 through the rolling hills of St George and into St Philip. You'll see the sign just before Six Cross Roads.

The Courtyard Restaurant and bar offers refreshments to visitors daily.

Open 7 days a week, 9am to 5pm (last tour at 4:30pm)

Web: http://www.barbadosgreathouse.com