Places to Visit in St. Kitts

“Beautiful and pristine!”
“What a unique landscape!”
“People are so friendly!”
“I love your island!”

These are some of the words of praise showered on St. Kitts by past visitors. If this is your first trip or you’re making your umpteenth return, here’s a personal guide to what
you can do and see here. And if you think you did it all on your last trip, read on. There’s always something new to increase your pleasure and knowledge of our island.

St. Kitts is steeped in history and boasts historic sites to be shared with our visitors: prehistoric Carib Indian grounds – plantation houses turned into hotels and guest houses, remnants of working sugar estates featuring sugar mills bases and chimney stacks – A
fortress designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site – underwater caves and ancient wrecks – black and tan-coloured sandy beaches – a glorious botanical garden - majestic mountains to climb, thick verdant rainforests to explore – and guides to guide you to them. New and creative and innovative activities are being introduced. Look for a thoroughbred racetrack that will also feature greyhound racing at the north end of the island. A place to swim with
dolphins will be appearing at South Friars Bay. Another championship golf course is due north of Sandy Point.

So join me for a walk and drive going clockwise around St. Kitts. Don’t forget your camera. I’ll point out some photo ops along the way.

BASSETERRE – OUR CAPITAL CITY

To start your personal walking tour, find the centre of town designated as the Circus. At its centre is a green clock and water fountain built in 1883 named The Berkley Memorial. This
roundabout, or traffic circle for you North Americans, creates an interesting focal point for getting around town. Once claiming the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the Caribbean, Basseterre town is going through its share of inevitable modernization while
trying to hold on to the past through its buildings, public squares, and the efforts of the business community to maintain some historic authenticity. Here is the bustling centre of commercial, financial and trading activity, alive with colour and chatter and the vibrancy of our people.

From this central point, a quick saunter in the easterly direction, along Bank Street takes, you to Independence Square. It was renamed when St. Kitts & Nevis gained political Independence from Britain on 19th September 1983. Formerly the site of a slave market, a
memorial is being planned there to honour the memory and achievements of our people.

We have our share of imposing church edifices. On the eastern side of Independence Square with its numerous examples of vernacular Caribbean architecture, some wood and some built in Georgian style out of brick and stone, is the Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It was built in 1927, replacing an earlier church built in 1856. Heading north, one block to Cayon Street, our main Island road, turn left, walk three blocks and you will see the St. George’s Anglican Church, which was first, Notre Dame, a Catholic church built by the Jesuits in 1670. Burnt to the ground by the English in 1706, it was rebuilt, renamed
and rededicated to the Anglican Faith in 1710.

Destruction by an earthquake and fire caused it to be rebuilt once more in 1867. It also houses one of the finest wooden pipe organs in the Caribbean.

Many other churches of different denominations are within easy walking distance. Ask for directions. Looking south from the clock towards the waterfront you can see the very imposing Treasury Building. The large archway signifies a time when sea travel was the only means of entry into the island. Today, it houses our new National Museum and shop and the St. Christopher Heritage Society offices.

The entrance is through the archway, which was once the gateway into St. Kitts. A walk through this archway leads to Port Zante, our new cruise ship dock, which extends over 25 acres of a modern landfill. The Amina craft market, a growing number of local businesses and international duty-free shops can be found there.

The War Memorial, a Cenotaph built to recognize those who fought in the World Wars is located at the northern end of the Irishtown Bay road near Ocean Terrace Inn. The
Springfield Cemetery and chapel can be seen as one travels out of Basseterrre.

HISTORICAL SITES AROUND THE ISLAND

There are over two hundred and fifty (250) recorded historic sites on St. Kitts. The adventurous explorer may choose to rent a car, grab a St. Kitts map and weave in and out of marked and unmarked entrances to old Estate grounds. Others will take a taxi and our wonderful ambassadors will give you colourful stories of our glorious past: The days when Sugar was ‘King’. Many old estates houses and grounds are today plantation inn hotels,
research facilities, artist studios, galleries, or private residences.


BLOODY POINT AND RIVER

As you head west on Cayon Street, past the Springfield Cemetery, you be travelling on the island’s main road. Just outside Basseterre, on your left, stop to admire the natural white
egret sanctuary where hundreds of yellow-billed white egrets perch in the prickly Acacia trees. A sign there indicates The Potter’s House, pottery studio and gallery, located just
down the road at Camps Estate House. (A live demonstration of pottery making, as well as the beautiful finished pieces can be seen and acquired there.)

As you continue in a north-westerly direction on the island main road, you will pass the new Ross International School of Nursing and the Ross University of Veterinarian
Medicine. After a couple of curves you reach Clay Villa Plantation House in Challengers. Just past the town, is Stonefort Estate. A short walk takes you to see the pictographs, evidence left by the indigenous people – the Carib Indians - of their way of life. A sign in
this area indicates that you are at Bloody Point and Bloody River, so named in remembrance of over 2000 Carib Indians massacred there in 1626 by the English and French militia, who pre-empted a plan by the Caribs to drive them from the island and take back their native land.

Now the road takes a sweeping right turn and one of the most stunning views on the island with the mountain range on your right and Brimstone Hill, the islands of St. Eustatius and Saba before you: A good place to pause for a picture.

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