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Little-known memorials
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JULY 2004
Little-known memorials
Ancient gallantry remembered
Suppose you?re walking back downtown after a Bahamian lunch of fried snapper, fries, plantain and coleslaw at one of the many little restaurants at Arawak Cay.
As you stroll along the Western Esplanade, under the shade of the sea grapes, you?ll see the yellow British Colonial Hilton hotel ahead of you,
and to the left of that a row of spotless white cruise ships, lined up at Prince George Dock.
What you might not see, unless you?re looking for it, is a 20-ft obelisk on your right, just past the battery of four 16th-century cannon trained on the entrance to Nassau Harbour. The monolith, in a sad state of disrepair at the moment, is a 143-year-old tribute to heroism, made all the more poignant because the words are now almost obliterated. It says:
Dr Keith Tinker, Director of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, says plans were under way at press time to restore this monument to its former condition.
Step back in time
This obelisk is only one of many little-known reminders of the past. All around town, you can find plaques, mementoes that will give you a sense of the broad sweep of history, and some of the little-known vignettes too.
For example, there?s a plaque on the west wall of the unassuming building at the corner of Market and Bay Streets, now home to one of the Pipe Of Peace shops. It says:
There are several plaques on the Parliament Buildings in Parliament Square, including one that commemorates the grant of The Bahamas by Charles I to Robert Heath, Attorney General of England, back on Oct 30, 1629.
Behind the Parliament Buildings is the Cenotaph with touching poetry that remembers the courage of Bahamians who served in the two World Wars.
Stroll up to the octagonal library (formerly the city jail) on Shirley Street. Across the street, a few steps to the east, you?ll find Royal Victoria Park, once the site of the Royal Victoria Hotel, opened in 1861 to accommodate visitors from the US during the American Civil War. It was closed in 1971, and is marked by a commemorative plaque.
Up on West Hill St as you walk west from Cumberland St, on the left, you?ll see a plaque that says:
At the end of West Hill Street is the magnificent new St Francis Xavier Cathedral, consecrated this year. If you go around the back, you?ll find an unassuming little plaque that speaks about the beginning of The Bahamas. It says, simply: ?Columbus AD 1492.?
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