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There are many historical sites to visit on the island of Nevis. Some of the most striking are the churches.
Funky Monkey Tours offers a unique way to see the entire island while riding on a Polaris 4x4. My tour was so much fun and our tour guide seemed to know everything about Nevis!
The historical part of our tour started at St. Thomas Lowland Church. Built in 1643, this church is the oldest church on Nevis and the first Anglican Church in the Caribbean. It is still used today for church services!
When first walking into the church, I noticed the vaults on the floor, where people are actually buried. Since Nevis is a volcanic island, it's near impossible to break through the ground to bury anyone six feet deep (like in America), so graves are mostly above ground.
It's a charming old church that sits high on a hill, above the Caribbean sea and overlooking the island of St. Kitts. There are even vaults on some of the walls inside the church. Can you imagine going to the same church as your family members from the 1600s?
We next visited The Cottle Church, built in 1824. It stands on the Thomas Cottle plantation. It has the distinction of being the first Caribbean Anglican church where blacks and whites worshipped together.
Although it no longer hosts church services, it's the site of many weddings on the island of Nevis. The walls are made of rock and the gorgeous arched doorways and windows are the perfect backdrop for beautiful wedding photos.
Nevis is the site of many plantations, originally producing sugar, so the island is dotted with old sugar mills. Although the mills are no longer used, some of them still stand high while others are beginning to break down.
Some of the sugar mills that are in good condition have been repurposed, like the one at
Montpelier that is now Mill Privee and hosts private dining with candlelight within its 300 year old walls.
Golden Rock Inn has converted an old sugar mill into a beautiful two-story hotel room where you can stay the night.
We toured several of the old sugar mills and found one filled with bats hanging from the ceiling. They didn't much like us visiting because we woke them up and some of them started flying around. I was assured they would not bite me.
Another old sugar mill housed a huge honeycomb. Thankfully it was many feet up from the ground so none of the bees even noticed we were there. It's fascinating to imagine the earlier settlers in Nevis building these sugar mills.
As we worked around the island to the Atlantic side, we saw more old sites right down near the beaches. I have a love for old historical sites, so I really enjoyed this part of the tour. While down near the water, I enjoyed a Ting With Sting, which is a popular fizzy drink with a shot of rum.
This side of the island seems to be the rocky side of the island and the Caribbean side the more sandy side. Both are beautiful in different ways. The Atlantic waters are a deeper blue color and the Caribbean waters are more turquoise.
Nevis is an incredible place to visit! Tomorrow I will share my photos of some of the most beautiful plants and flowers I've ever seen. I took those photos on the second part of the tour, when we visited some of the more jungle-like settings on Nevis.
Check out the Nevis Tourism Authority at
www.nevisisland.com for more information about visiting Nevis in the West Indies. I really miss being there and can hardly wait to one day return! Read more about my visit to Nevis
HERE.
