Layou is a small town located on the island of Saint Vincent, in Saint Andrew Parish. There is a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a police station and a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. There are also two quarries.

History

Layou is located on the western coast of

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

and was one of the first areas of settlement by the French, who were the first Europeans to settle in St. Vincent and The Grenadines in the early part of the eighteenth century. Even before then the Caribs used it as one of their settlements, as it is evident from the

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

which are found in the area. In 1763, St. Vincent was taken over by the British and the lands in Layou were bought by them to cultivate sugar. Layou was still a small area formed around

Jackson Bay Jackson Bay / Okahu is a gently curving 24 km bay on the southern West Coast of New Zealand's South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the ...

. The cultivation of

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

started growing and larger estates were needed, so that the smaller holdings of the French were consolidated into larger estates. There were 3 main estates: Ruthland Vale estate, Akers estate and Palmiste Park estate. During

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, most people lived on the estates but began to leave after slavery was abolished and to establish villages. Immediately after Emancipation, the lands of one of the estates, Akers, were sold to form Cowdrey's Village. In 1861, Layou had a population of 140 people, Cowdrey's Village 227, while 333 people lived on the Ruthland Vale estate, 15 on what remained of the Akers estate and just five at the Palmiste Park estate. The Ruthland Vale estate was sold after the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in 1902. were set aside for refugees from areas affected by the eruption. Other changes began to take place in the area. The owner of what remained of the Ruthland Vale estates began to sell land to residents of Layou, and also residents of the estates began to move into Layou because employment possibilities on the estates were decreasing. Added to this, estate residents wanted to take advantage of social amenities, the school,

clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...

, church and

cricket pitch In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets. It is long (1 chain) and wide. The surface is flat and is normally covered with extremely short grass, but can be completely d ...

among others. This led to an increase in population of Layou and also an enlargement of the town, since many of the smaller villages and estates settlements eventually became incorporated into the town of Layou. Layou is located in the Constituency of Central Leeward.

Geography

Layou is located on the western coast of the island of

. Located after the small fishing village of Buccament and before the town of

Barrouallie Barrouallie is a town located on the island of Saint Vincent. It was established by French settlers in 1719, the first European colony on St. Vincent. With the rest of the island, it passed back and forth between the French and the British, fina ...

on the Central leeward highway.

Climate

Layou has a seasonal tropical climate with a wet season lasting from May to November and a dry season lasting from January to May.

Urban structure

Layou is divided into various sections: East: * Cowdrey's Village * Akers Downtown: * Bottom Garden * Plan * Bethrome Uptown * Swamp Gut * Texier Road * Ruthland Vale West * Bambereux

Education

Layou serves as an important educational centre for the people of Layou, Buccament and surrounding areas. The Layou Government School is located downtown in the Plan district of Layou. The Louis Straker Resource Centre is also an educational facility for evening classes and learning and literacy programs.

The waterfront project

For years the beautiful Leeward town of Layou has been threatened by the ocean. Years of wave action had seriously eroded the coastline threatening the main highway and access to the communities further north. In the late 1990s three storms wreaked havoc on the Layou waterfront and the problem became so critical that Government decided to move quickly to correct the situation. A parliamentary representative for the area visited the site in July 2002 and promised to transform the area. Four years later in 2006, the waterfront project was considered completed. Today, it is a beautiful site in the town of Layou. Various activities are held at the Layou waterfront, such as the Nine Morning celebrations, which was Introduced in 2007.

Culture and entertainment

Petroglyphs

The

Petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

in Layou are located a short distance inland from the Leeward Highway in Layou. They are more visible if you outline them with a chalk, or get a local child to do it for you. They were made by the

Caribs “Carib” may refer to: People and languages *Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America **Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs *Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...

, when they settled there before the eighteenth century.

Christmas lighting

Layou has its annual Christmas lighting where the waterfront becomes filled with Christmas lights and decorations to welcome the festive season.

References

{{refimprove, date=March 2013 Populated places in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines