Bermuda - Touting Pembroke Parish
Continued from Page 1
In the open country just east of the city, Fort Hamilton stands among beautifully landscaped gardens and offers spectacular views of Hamilton, the harbor and the sound. Go east, either on Front Street or Reid Street, turn left onto King Street and then turn right on Happy Valley Road. The fort is on your left. It’s quite a walk, but a pleasant one and well worth the effort as you step back in time to the 1860s. Built upon the orders of the Duke of Wellington, Fort Hamilton was obsolete before it was completed.
The passageways beneath the fort were hewnfrom the solid rock by soldiers of the BritishCorps of Engineers. The seacoast guns that
stand guard over Hamiltonand the harbor neverfired a shot in anger.
A stirring event held at the fort every Monday at noon, March through November, features the Bermuda Pipe Band, complete with drummers and dancers, all wearing kilts.
Watch parliamentary debates at the Sessions House just a
block east of the cathedral on Parliament Street. It’s recognizable
by its singular Victoria Jubilee Clock Tower, an outstanding
example of Italian-style architecture. Hours: 9:30
am-12:30 pm, 2-5 pm weekdays. The Bermuda House ofAssembly,441-292-7408, meets on the second floor and
is in every way the British establishment it is meant to be.
Proceedings are conducted with all the pomp and ceremony
of the House of Commons in London. The Sergeant-at-Arms,
bearing the Great Mace, precedes the Speaker of the House
into the chamber. The Speaker then calls the house to order
by banging an ancient gavel. View the proceedings from the
public gallery.
Perhaps an even more enjoyable spectacle is the SupremeCourt, 441-292-1350, on the lower floor of the Sessions
House. Bewigged and becloaked barristers argue their cases
before a panel of judges dressed in long, white wigs and
brigh red robes. The “Yes, me Luds,” “No, me Luds,” and
“m’learned friends” fly around the room and provide great
enjoyment to spectators. Call ahead to find out when they’re
in session.
Also on Church Street, a little farther west and opposite
Queen Street, sits City Hall, a magnificent white building
modeled after Stockholm’s city hall. It houses a number of
attractions, including the Bermuda National Gallery and a
theater. To the rear of City Hall on Victoria
Street is Victoria Park. It has lovely
gardens and a Victorian bandstand,
where concerts are held during the summer.
The park, dedicated to Queen Victoria’s
Golden Jubilee, was opened in
1890. Unfortunately, it has become a
gathering place for the low-life of the city;
thus, it’s not unusual to be accosted by
beggars and other such undesirables
here. Stay away from the park altogether
after dark.
Opposite City Hall on Church Street is the entrance to Washington Mall, a large two-story shopping center that stretches the entire block from Church to Reid Street. It hosts a diversity of stores, cafés and quaint little hole-in-the-wall shops – places where you can have a cup of hot tea and a sweet roll or find unique gifts for everyone at home.
Reid Street parallels Front Street just a block away to the south. It’s the second busiest shopping area in Bermuda. Just across from the Washington Mall is the Walker Arcade.
Turn east, walk a short
distance, and you’ll find Fagan’s Alley, another
neat shopping center that
runs from Reid Street all
the way to Front Street.
Turn west on Reid Street
and you’ll be back on
Queen Street once more
with the Bermuda Public
Library, the Historical Society
Museum, the Perot
Post Office, the Par-la-Ville
Gardens, and, just a short
walk away on Front Street to the south, the bird cage traffic
island. Before you leave Reid Street, however, be sure to stop
at the Fourways Pastry Shop at the entrance to the Washington
Mall. The pastries are a gourmet delight; bang goes
the old diet, but never mind, you’re on vacation!
Head south on Queen Street from Reid Street and you’ll
come to the Perot Post Office, _ 441-292-0952, a white
two-story building on the right. It was here that the island’s
first postmaster set up shop in 1818. As it’s been told, William
Bennet Perot met arriving ships in the harbor, collected
their mail and carried it around Hamilton inside his hat for
delivery. It was Perot who introduced Bermuda’s first stamp
in 1848, although his motives, so it seems, were entirely selfish.
Postmaster by trade and gardener by choice, Perot
begrudged the time he spent hand-stamping outgoing mail.
His friend, J.B. Heyl, came up with a solution. He suggested
that Perot hand-stamp a whole sheet of postmarks, sign
each stamp, and sell the sheet for a shilling. People could
tear off a stamp, glue it to the letter and mail it, all without
Perot, who was now free to pursue his gardening. His
stamps? Oh boy. They are extremely rare, each worth a halfmillion
dollars or more.
The Par-la-Ville Gardens, next door to the Perot Post Office,
now occupy almost an entire city block from Queen Street to
Par-la-Ville Road and are a favorite lunch spot for local businesspeople.
The gardens are beautifully
landscaped with lots of flowers
and shrubs and a network of paths.
Benches make ideal picnic spots to eat
those sumptuous pastries you bought
at the Fourways Pastry Shop.
In front of the Par-la-Ville Gardens on
Queen Street is a two-story house with
a balcony. The house, set back a little
from the street, was the home of the
Perot family. Today it houses the Bermuda
Public Library and the Bermuda Historical Society Museum, 441-292-0952. The old house is an
adventure in its own right and has a
number of collections, memorabilia
and artifacts. The public library,
founded in 1839, moved here in 1916. Its reference section
has copies of Bermudian newspapers dating back to 1784 on
microfilm. Among its collection of rare books is a 1624 edition
of John Smith’s Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Somer Isles. Along with portraits of William Perot and his wife, you’ll see magnificent portraits of Sir
John Somers and his wife, which are thought to have been
painted around 1605. There’s also a map of Bermuda, dated
1624, that shows the division of the islands by the Bermuda Company into 25-acre shares....
Know Before You Go!