We welcome the launch of a new non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving the Virgin Islands’ heritage. The group is badly needed in this territory, where too much history has been lost to time.
During a ceremony last week, the Association for the Preservation of VI Heritage announced that for its first project it will restore the graveyard at St. Philip’s Church in Kingstown.
This effort will be invaluable. Though the church’s remains have been stabilised in recent years, it is a poignant example of how the VI’s historic sites have been allowed to deteriorate over time.
St. Philip’s, which is believed to be the oldest surviving free African church in the Western Hemisphere, has global significance, and its preservation certainly should be a priority.
Sadly, there are many other important historic sites around the territory that have been similarly neglected through the generations.
One particularly frustrating example is Fort Purcell, which was cleaned up in a collaborative community effort in 2011. At the time, leaders promised that the fort would be turned into a park and interpretive nature centre. Since then, however, no progress has come, and the area is once again overgrown. This is disheartening.
Besides helping to give residents a sense of the territory’s past, such sites benefit the tourism industry. The 1780 Lower Estate Sugar Works Museum, the Old Government House Museum, and the Arundel Estate Callwood Distillery prove this much. And one need only look to neighbouring St. John to see how the territory might expand on such offerings.
It is important to note, though, that most historic sites likely won’t pay for themselves. But given the number of tourists who visit here annually, we suspect that some landmarks could be preserved and maintained at a reasonable cost that could be offset by charging admission.
Of course, cost is only one obstacle. Many important historic sites are on private land, where landowners’ cooperation would be needed in any preservation initiative. Though we hope that most landowners would be inclined to assist, stronger legislation is also badly needed. The territory currently lacks a dedicated preservation law, and related provisions in the Physical Planning Act are weak at best.
Legislators, then, might consider passing a law similar to the United States’ National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
In all of these endeavours, of course, time is of the essence. In other words, the members of the new preservation association have their work cut out for them. We applaud their efforts and wish them the very best of luck.
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