Bermuda was first discovered by a European explorer and adventurer in 1503, when Juan de Bermúdez spotted the islands and reefs. Bermuda is very low lying and the top of an ancient volcano that has sunk underneath the water with only a tiny bit of reef sticking up above the water line. And the island is still slowly sinking.
Bermuda was first settled by the English, when a ship on its way to Jamestown in America (1609) was bought in a Hurricane and began to founder. They spotted the reefs on the east coast of Bermuda and decided to deliberately sail upon the reef to save the crew and passengers. And they succeeded with that and roughly where St George is today on the eastern end of the island, the shipwrecked crew and passengers stepped ashore, every one of them saved.
A couple of years later the first settlers were brought out to Bermuda and they formed its first capital, St George, in 1612. St George is the oldest town in America that has been continuously inhabited since its formation.
Jennifer and I visited Bermuda as part of a judges meeting for the World Superyacht Awards. And of course we had to see St George, Bermudas first capital. Above is the “Towne Hall” of St George, built in 1782. The other images show different parts and buildings of the old town and harbour.
In 1874 the town wanted to build a new church, but it was never finished. The congregation split and the Reformed Episcopal Church built their own place of worship. And 10 years later the Cathedral in Hamilton burned down and money aimed for St George’s new church was siphoned off to the rebuilding of the cathedral. And when it was nearly finished at last the congregation decided to instead renovate the old church, so the new church remained unfinished and a hurricane damaged it badly in 1926. Now the roof has completely vanished and the floor is gone but much of the outer wall and supporting pillars are still there forming a beautiful setting for contemplation and as a motive for an aspiring photographer.
Not far from St George is a fantastic cave with stalactites and stalagmites and underground lakes. The cave system was discovered by accident, when two young boys of 12 years were playing with a cricket ball that went into a cave and fell deep down. I finish this little story with a couple of images of the caves. The cave system is around 500 metres long. It is wonderfully lit now, but imagine it, when the boys crawled down and swam in the lake in 1905 in total darkness!
