Hampstead is a village in northeastern

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

. Along with

Bense Bense is a village on the northern coast of Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is locate ...

, the area has a population of 495,Commonwealth of Dominica, ''Population and Housing Census — 2001''. Roseau, Dominica: Central Statistical Office, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Kennedy Avenue, 2001. and was used as a filming location for 2006's '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest''.piratesdominica.com
. Retrieved October 6, 2006.

History

The area surrounding Hampstead was known by the Caribs as Batibou. The village gets its name from an estate, which was sold by the British and named by the first owners after the suburb of Hampstead, London. During British colonial rule, a sugar factory was powered by water and operated near the banks of the Hampstead River. Today the water wheel remains one of the surviving examples of 18th-century technology. The estate shifted to

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and lime production and by the 20th century it had changed again to coconut and

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

. The estate was owned by the McIntyre family, but in the 1930s, when the family got into financial difficulties, the government took over the management until R.B. Douglas bought it in 1946. His descendants still own the estate today. Filmmaker and director

Gore Verbinski Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and musician. He is best known for directing ''The Ring (2002 film), The Ring'', the ''Pirates of the Caribbean (film series), Pirates of t ...

used Hampstead as a filming location for scenes of a three-way sword fight from '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest''. Since then, tourism has developed in Hampstead and the Batibou Beach is a popular tourist attraction.

References

Populated places in Dominica Saint Andrew Parish, Dominica {{dominica-geo-stub