#BTEditorial – Our historic places need more than just a register

With the continued disappearance of older buildings and historic properties around Barbados in the name of progress and creating a “new-look Barbados”, we welcome the news that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and the Creative Economy is in the process of establishing a National Register of Historic Places.

The matter came up during the course of the Estimates sessions, where the officer in charge of the project, Sharon Johnson, outlined the approach the ministry would take as they sought to build it out.

She said: “We will move away from the traditional “top-down” approach, in that we will go into communities where the residents will identify places of significance to them.

“After that, we will go out with a technical team, collate the data, do research and video for film and oral history, which will include speaking to some of the elders in these communities because much of the information they have to share has not been documented.”

This approach is highly commendable, especially during the year-long We Gatherin’ celebrations highlighting each parish. The ongoing series on CBC TV8, where the corporation’s current General Manager, Sherwood McCaskie, speaks to some of the older people about their experiences growing up in the parish and shows some of the schools and other buildings they frequented, is a positive step.

The Minister for Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde, has long championed engaging with elderly Barbadians not only on what life was like in the “old days” but also to help in our development process because those who have lived in a particular area all their lives would know the natural watercourses and other features of the land and can offer counsel to would-be investors about any risk factors should they want to construct a building or a road in one of those areas.

In terms of getting people to share their stories, we tend to gravitate towards the celebrities in our midst, such as those who might have distinguished themselves in politics, sports, teaching or to a lesser extent entertainment, but the every day man or woman in the street has just as exciting and interesting a story to tell and we should concentrate more on that as time goes on.

Now, with apologies to George Orwell, “All old sites are historical, but some sites are more historical than others.” How do we define “historical significance?” Is it the age of the property? What it was used for? Who lived and/or worked there? What are its architectural features?

Many years ago the Barbados National Trust erected blue plaques on buildings they deemed of historical interest, but unfortunately, some of those buildings fell into ruin; in fact, the National Trust currently lists 118 properties in need of restoration, which is quite a large number.

Minister of Culture John King, said the National Register will start with the Rock Hall Freedom Village and the Newton Slave Burial Ground. Rock Hall in St. Thomas was the first free village in Barbados; that is, the first settlement that was not controlled by plantation owners where freed slaves lived immediately after emancipation.

The Barbados Government Information Service in association with now-retired UWI Professor Woodville Marshall produced a documentary on this village in the early 1980s, and the Owen Arthur administration made some changes to the area in an attempt to make it into a visitor attraction, but that project did not quite come off. Let’s hope this latest effort will be more sustainable.

Another historian, the late Ronnie Hughes, first spoke of the Newton burial ground in the 1980s, and given that it is the only one of its kind in the western hemisphere, we really should take it more seriously. King said in reference to these two sites: “We want to use these sites not only as tourist attractions but also for educational purposes.”

He also spoke of highlighting the efforts of people from other ethnic backgrounds who had contributed to Barbados over the years.

He spoke of the white indentured servants who came to Barbados in the first decade after the island was settled by the British, and noted that a group of investors from Ireland and Scotland, where many of those servants came from, was interested in putting up a monument in St. John to honour them since many of their descendants still live in that parish and other rural areas.

Sabir Nakhuda and others have also written books about the people from India who made Barbados their home in the early part of the 20th century.

Once we establish the National Register of Historic Sites, it is hoped that we take the whole matter of preserving these old buildings more seriously, especially when it comes to major capital works projects.

Owners must look beyond short term gain in terms of how much a would-be investor is willing to pay for their property and determine whether it is worth the price of losing yet another portion of our island’s history.

In fact, there should be restrictions on development in designated historic areas, as well as regular and consistent monitoring of the condition of the properties.

Owners will be required to keep them in good shape and face penalties for not doing so, and once a property is demolished or extensively remodelled, it should be struck from the register.