Preservation in Paradise by David Rollinson

Our volunteers come from all walks of life and a variety of backgrounds, but all share an interest in history and travel and a commitment to making a contribution to helping preserve the heritage of the Caribbean. For a number of years CVE has offered Caribbean-based programs in conjunction with Elderhostel, in addition to its own, offering a dozen programs over the winter through this organization. New programs are being added this season to this very successful partnership. This year CVE is offering programs on eleven different Caribbean islands.
 
Alive with history, and just a short ‘plane ride away from the bustle of San Juan St. Kitts, and its nearby sister island of Nevis, have proven to be popular destinations for volunteers. The first CVE foray to Nevis in 1996 saw volunteers battling thick bush and masses of vines in order to find, clear and document the standing remains of the 18th century shipping port of St. George, located on cliffs at the south end of the island. Succeeding trips saw volunteers exploring abandoned windmills, sugar factories, great (and some not so great) houses and forts, with the drawings that resulted from these expeditions making their way into the archives of the Nevis Historical & Conservation Society. One week, the volunteers undertook emergency repairs to the house where it is thought that Alexander Hamilton was born, and it was agreed that this work made a fine alternative to battling scratchy trees and biting insects. It is rewarding to be able to report that in later years the Hamilton House withstood a number of hurricanes, thanks to those repairs, and it is now a prominent tourist attraction.
 
Eventually, word of our exploits on Nevis reached St. Kitts and the St. Christopher Heritage Society, and in 1999 CVE undertook its first St. Kitts Elderhostel project, a cemetery survey.

With a decreasing population to care for the islands cemeteries and the ravages of time and weather, the grave markers found in the numerous parish church cemeteries are in danger of becoming lost and illegible. As no early burial records survive for these churches, we were asked by the St. Christopher Heritage Society to undertake a historic cemetery inventory as part of a genealogical archive. Historic cemetery surveys apparently hold a particular fascination for many people, and this has proved to be so for our St. Kitts programs. We have now completed surveys of all of the country churches, and for the past 4 years we have been working at the massive Springfield cemetery in Basseterre, the islands main town. Established in 1858, the cemetery covers an area of 60 acres and is home to an interesting collection of tombstones. Each winter we offer two historic cemetery surveys in St. Kitts, and each winter these two programs fill quickly.
 
With our early focus on the recording of historic buildings it was natural that CVE projects on the island would be involved with this work and an Elderhostel program was held at the 17th century Wingfield Estate, where we recorded the standing remains of a sugar works (including the site of a water wheel) and excavated various small foundations and features. Located at the side of the Wingfield River, and in the shade of centuries-old tropical trees Wingfield was, and remains, a wonderful place to spend a week. We returned to this site in January of 2008 and will continue to help in its development as a nature and heritage centre.

St. Kitts is also home to Brimstone Hill Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and for the winter of 2007/08 we were pleased to be able to offer a new Elderhostel program at this unique site. With its spectacular views over the mountains and to the Caribbean Sea far below, the fortress provides program participants with a host of new opportunities to explore the history and culture of the island and the wider Caribbean, whilst contributing to the preservation and development of this very impressive and important part of world history.

Archaeology is another interest common to our volunteers, and the Bahamas program CVE offers in conjunction with Elderhostel features a week-long dig on the island of San Salvador believed to be the first new World landfall of Christopher Columbus. Past weeks have seen participants working on Indian, early Spanish and later European sites on this island.

The island of St. John in the US Virgin islands has been a popular destination for CVE and Elderhostel programs since 19991, and today we continue this long tradition by working with the US National Parks Service to clear and document the many remaining historic sites within the islands National Park. This program is one of our more physical jungle clearing weeks and at the end of the week participants will have earned their “Machete Swinging Certificate’! Less strenuous, but no less interesting, are the historic preservation programs offered on St. Croix and in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.