Health Fitness

Stroll through the historic area of ​​the Barbados garrison

We bring Barbados’ past and heritage to life in our unique way of storytelling, show and tell, so that it forms a strong and lasting mental image.

This is a comfortable, narrated, guided walk through the historic Garrison area, the former headquarters premises of the British Armed Forces in the Caribbean until 1905. This heritage walk begins with a tour of the Barbados Museum, site of the former British military prison.

This tour highlights the George Washington Home and Museum, this is the house where the first President of the United States of America, GEORGE WASHINGTON, and his half-brother Lawrence stayed for approximately seven weeks. The only time GEORGE WASHINGTON ventured outside the North American continent was when he visited Barbados in 1751 at the age of nineteen.

An excerpt from GEORGE WASHINGTON’s personal journal indicates his impression of Barbados: “The wholesomeness of this island is sufficiently shown in the countenance of the Country Knights and they are said to live to very old ages where they are not intemperate.”

The Barbados Defense Force facilities, the Barbados Museum, the military cemetery, the Main Guard and the popular Garrison Savannah are among other highlights.

For many years, almost two thousand soldiers were stationed in the garrison, ready to protect the British colonies in the Eastern Caribbean against the French, Spanish, Dutch and pirates. Barbados itself was protected by more than three hundred guns along the vulnerable south and west coasts.

At the height of its operations, the Garrison facility spanned over sixty acres, from Hastings to Bay Street.

We shared about how the soldiers lived, as well as the medical treatments provided for that period.

Barbados was the only British colony that was never invaded by other colonizers, we explain this peculiarity, compared to the fact that many Caribbean colonies changed their colonizer several times, some up to thirty times.

The walking distance for this tour is approximately three and a half miles, and the duration is two and a half to three hours.

The trail is flat with two minor inclines, and the walking surface is primarily paved surfaces.

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