LAVENTILLE -
GREAT TOURISM POTENTIAL
Introduction
In order to showcase Laventille’s Great Tourism Potential, Trini Riddims has developed the Tour dé Laventille experience. Our proximity overlooking Trinidad, gives you 3 hours of panoramic views, 6 historical sites spanning over one hundred years, and more! Trini Riddims will give you the best of Laventille and its great tourism potential. There is so much to explore in Laventille, as we will discover in coming episodes of this blog series. This first episode is to highlight these historical treasures, with an aim to justify that these landmarks should be recognized for their true historical significance, and as premium tourist attractions.
“The beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”
Tour Dé Laventille
Laventille Road is bounded by Piccadilly Street on the western end, which is the first street east of Port of Spain. Laventille is just around 15 minutes from any part of the city, and much less weekends and public holidays. We will be Starting East of the Dry River on Laventille Road, moving east toward the Rose Hill community, named after a cocoa estate, owned by Edward Jackson, born in England in 1798, arrived in Trinidad around 1825. The Rose Hill Moravian church (now demolished), was named after the Rose Hill estate that was established in the area in the 1820’s, The church built 1892. See pictures here
Makandal Daaga's Birthplace
At the top of Quarry Street and Laventille Road, stand the birthplace of the Chief Servant Makandal Akhenation Daaga ORTT. A recipient of the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Born in Laventille with the name Geddes Granger on August 13, 1935, died on August 8, 2016. A political activist and former revolutionary, became the President of the Student’s Guild at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in 1970. He was the leader of the 1970 Black Power Revolution. Arrested and charged during the unrest, he then changed this present name after the 1970 Black Power Revolution of Trinidad and Tobago.
Home of Desperadoes
Originally based in the heart of Laventille, Desperadoes Steel Orchestra was originally called the “Laventille Band, is known for their steelpan innovations, through their charismatic leader and steelpan innovator Rudolph Valentino Charles, who is responsible for a host of extended range of instruments now used in all modern day steelbands.
Fort Chacon/Churruca’s Observatory
Fort Chacon/Churruca’s Observatory started around 1783 and completed in 1792. Built for the Spanish astronomer Don Cosmo Damien Chucurra, who accurately surveyed the first meridian of the new world. Now used as a repeater site for the police radio units. Were the last place where the Spanish soldiers held garrison when Trinidad was seized by Britain’s Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Observatory Street in Port-of-Spain was created for the Spanish astronomer Chucurra to get to the observatory in Laventille.
Our Lady of Montserrat/Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima Shrine has been the devotional centre for a religious society dedicated to Marian devotions since 1875. Fr. Marie Jules Dupoux, the first priest and architect built the first wooden church. In a letter dated 27 August 1885 written to his Superiors in France, Rev. B. Cothonay, O.P., gives a graphic description of the celebration of the Feast in honour of Nossa Senhora do Monte, the Day of the Assumption, which took place in Laventille that year. The Virgin Mary statue stands on top a 16-metre belfry of church was a gift from France in 1876. Each year Pilgrims journey to the Laventille Devotions from all over the country.
Fort Picton
Fort Picton also called St. David’s Tower, was erected in 1798, one year after the British invasion. Named after British Lieutenant Colonel and second British Governor of Trinidad, Thomas Picton. Copied the design of a tiny round-shaped Martello Tower he encountered in the battle of Cape Mortella in Corsica. Fort Picton is forty feet high, and on the upper level, mounted an 18 pounder and a 6-pounder cannon. The lower ground floor was the storerooms, magazine, and water supply. The cannon proof fort major flop was, its rifle loopholes in the walls pointed inland, hence the name Picton’s Folly. There are 74 Martello Towers in the world. Fort Picton may probably the only one in the Western Hemisphere. It was completed and operational on 18 November 1798.
Laventille Water Trough
Laventille Water Trough along the Eastern Main Road was constructed under British governor of Trinidad Lord Harris in 1853. This trough catered fresh spring water for the animals to be refreshed from their journey to or from Port of Spain. The water came from the nearby Madame Monéreau Spring, the main public source of water in the East Port of Spain. In 1846, a tollgate was erected in the area of this trough, where a fee was charged to carts entering the city. This was revoked in 1878 with the opening of the railway in 1876. A monument erected in 1918 to mark the spot, but was removed to the National Museum when the roadway was widened.
Read more here
Church of St Matthias
The Church of St Matthias fell under the jurisdiction of the Trinity Cathedral that lasted for over one hundred years. The church was consecrated in June 1855, by Bishop Parry. The land the church occupies according to some accounts was donated by a prominent slave owner William Pashley. The actual construction began before 1838 the year in which slavery was officially ended. The new section of the church was completed in 1996 and was consecrated on June 3rd, 1997, by the then Bishop Rawle Douglin.
The House of Angostura
Founded around 1830 in the Venezuelan, by a German doctor, Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Sieger. By 1875 the family business moved to Trinidad and was run by Carlos, Alfredo and Luis Siegert, sons of Dr. Siegert, under the name J.G.B Siegert & Hijos, establishing ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters as an integral ingredient in cocktails and in food. A tour of the Angostura facility is approximately 3 hours, and there is a professional tour guide on the compound. The tour highlights include:
- a visit to Angostura’s Museum – history that spans almost two centuries.
- Barcant Butterfly Collection – only one of its kind in the Caribbean and over 5000 specimens of butterflies.
- Angostura’s Art Gallery – works of the featured artists that embodies Angostura’s legacy, and impression of Trinidad and Tobago through the years, and more.
Tours daily Monday to Friday at 10:00 am, and 1:00 pm.
For any further enquiries please email: [email protected]
The Lady Young Lookout
Named after the wife of Hubert Winthrop Young, Governor of the island from 1938 to 1942. Commissioned the Lady Young Road around 1939 with the assistance of the US army corps of engineers. Construction took seventeen years of digging and delay due to the rugged terrain of the mountain. Finally opened to motor traffic on June 3rd, 1959. The Lookout is approximately 3 kilometres or 7 minutes away from Port of Spain via Belmont Circular. Known for its panoramic views of Port of Spain, it has become a main tourist destination where you can get lovely gift items.
Conclusion
There are 6 historical gems in Laventille spanning over a century, from late 1700’s to late 1800’s. These sites leave a colonial trail of the Spanish, Portuguese and British in close proximity. The significance and the roles that these sites played in the shaping of not just Trinidad’s history, but also, the entire world, is precious; the surveying of the first meridian of the new world by Spanish astronomer Don Cosmo Damien Chucurra from his base at Fort Chacon, and what about the round-shaped Martello Tower in Fort Picton? Are there anymore in this hemisphere? Please give feedback!