We were fortunate to meet Catherine Forter Chee-A-Tow and be invited into her home to learn more about her art. She and her husband Don Chee-A-Tow moved to Barbados in the nineties and restored this beautiful historic building. It was slated to become the national gallery, but when plans fell through, they bought it and made it their home.
Find more artwork by Cahterine Forter Chee-a-Tow at her website, caribbean-art-barbados-catherine-forter-chee-a-tow.com
I met a few other artists - Ayissa of Ayissa Textile Designs Facebook and Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman and Susan Gregg of Earth Mother earthmotherbotanicals.com. Ayissa makes beautiful tie-dyed silk scarves and other textile arts. Earth Mother makes natural skin care products with organic herbs grown in Barbados. All agriculture in Barbados is organic.
At age nineteen, George Washington stayed in Barbados for two months, and it had a lifelong impact on his worldview. The house is part of the British Garrison that used to protect the island from invaders during the heady sugar cane years, during the 18th and 19th centuries.
This is the house (below).
George Washington House has a café in the gardens.
The soldiers would muster and march, but what really occupied their time was digging underground tunnels. The tunnels were discovered in 2011 and opened to the public. The purpose of the tunnels was to drain water from the Garrison Savannah, store supplies, and transport troops. This is the entrance to the tunnels (above).
The tunnels go all the way to Needham's Point, so British soldiers could get out to their cannons at the beach without being seen. Wikipedia
A short walk up the hill from the George Washington House you will find the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The building is a historic element of the Garrison grounds and was a military prison. barbmuse.org.bb
Needham's Point is where the Hilton is located, and you can see the guns preserved there, too. Note the cannons in the water, below. Wikipedia
Carlisle Bay - day and night.
I snapped these photos from my hotel balcony.
Scuba dive or swim with the turtles!
This is the Barbados Blue boat that takes people out in the bay.
Barbados Blue is located in the parking lot of the Hilton. Drive up the hill toward the hotel and hook a right into the parking lot just after you pass the small guard building on your right. Drive to the back of the parking lot and you're at the dive center. divebarbadosblue.com
People bring their horses to the beach to wade into Carlisle Bay. It's not just to bathe them, but it also calms them. I saw horses nearly every morning between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. Wikipedia
This is how they button the place up in a storm.
There's Tropical Storm Kirk raining as it passes by the island. On Thursday night, many streets flooded and I heard there were waves, making it even more dangerous. By Friday afternoon, the storm was moving on.
If you go to Barbados, I hope you feel as happy as I felt there.
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