Saint Peter, officially the Parish of Saint Peter, is a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...
on the island of Antigua. Saint Peter borders
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
to the south,
Saint Philip Saint Philip, São Filipe, or San Felipe may refer to:
People
* Saint Philip the Apostle
* Saint Philip the Evangelist also known as Philip the Deacon
* Saint Philip Neri
* Saint Philip Benizi de Damiani also known as Saint Philip Benitius or Fili ...
to the east, and
Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
and
Saint John to the west. Saint Peter is dominated by farmland, savanna, and undeveloped fields, and its borders are not well-defined. The largest city fully within the parish is
Parham, which is also the capital. However, the portion of the city of
All Saints in Saint Peter is significantly larger than Parham. Saint Peter was created with the other five original parishes on 11 January 1692. It had a population of 5,325 in 2011.
Saint Peter is mostly dominated by agriculture and industry, with the few populated places in the parish being portions of All Saints,
Diamonds
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
,
Freemans
Freemans is a British online and catalogue clothing retailer headquartered in Bradford, England. Freemans offers a range of products, predominantly clothing, footwear and homewares.
History
The company was founded as Freemans & Co in 1905 by ...
,
Pares
Pares, Parès or Parés may refer to:
* Pares, Antigua and Barbuda
*Pares (food), a dish originating in the Philippines
* ''Pares'' (butterfly), a genus of butterflies in the subtribe Moncina
*Portal de Archivos Españoles (PARES), a Spanish gove ...
,
Parham, and
Vernons
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
. Most of the parish lives on the western border with Saint John. Pares is the only major settlement in the center of the parish. There is almost no settlement in the eastern portion of the parish other than the hamlets of
Coconut Hall and
Gilberts
The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...
. In the northern areas of the parish, Saint Peter is home to
Guiana Island
Guiana Island (or Guana Island) is an island off the northeast coast of Antigua, between the Parham Peninsula and Crump Island. It forms the southern coast of the North Sound, and is the fourth largest island of Antigua and Barbuda.
Flora ...
and the
Galley Islands, as well as the
Crabbs Peninsula.
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, home to three permanent inhabitants, and
Maiden Island are legally part of Saint George, but are politically and statistically part of Saint Peter. Long Island and Maiden Island are counted as parts of Saint Peter for purposes of the census.
Saint Peter is not home to many tourist attractions, and the mainland portion of the parish is home to very few, if any beaches. Parham Harbour is sometimes used by local residents, specifically children, for swimming. Saint Peter is however home to many historic Amerindian villages, and the
Betty's Hope
Betty's Hope was a sugarcane plantation in Antigua. It was established in 1650, shortly after the island had become an English colony, and flourished as a successful agricultural industrial enterprise during the centuries of slavery. It was t ...
sugar plantation, one of the major symbols of the island. Saint Peter also has populations of
European fallow deer
The European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), also known as the common fallow deer or simply fallow deer, is a species of ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. It is historically native to Turkey and possibly the Italian Peninsula, B ...
on Guiana Island. On the offshore islands, there are many clear waters and reefs, and many of the offshore islands, like
Great Bird Island
Great Bird Island is a tiny islet lying almost three kilometers north-east of Antigua. Measuring just , it is smaller than most city parks. It is a private island but open to the public.
Flora and Fauna
The island is the only place on Earth ...
, are frequented by tourists.
Along with four other parishes, Saint Peter was established on January 11, 1692, with the primary objective of providing for the parish church. The majority of the parish's lands were, and still are, used for agricultural purposes. Numerous historical relics from the parish can still be seen today, including the Mercer’s Creek and Coconut Hall plantations.
History
Amerindian presence
Twenty Hill, which is located in Parham, and Jolly Beach, which is located in Jolly Bay, are the two locations in Antigua that hold the distinction of being the earliest and most significant sites of human occupation (c.1775 BC).
British period
On January 11, 1692, the parish of Saint Peter was founded. Saint Peter was originally composed of the divisions of New North Sound Division, Old North Sound Division, and
Mercers Creek Division. However, New North Sound split off to form its own parish,
Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
, in 1725. According to a map published in 1782, the parish had a small pond named Pinns Pond, and a small church near Pares. There were 27 slave plantations in the parish.
Geography
Although the parish is mostly flat and suitable for habitation, most of the population lives in the dense eastern cities on the western border. Very few localities are located outside of this region. The parish is home to most of the country's minor islands, and the parish is home to many creeks and bays. Most of the creeks are near the parish's borders. Most of the parish's water bodies are located in the southeastern portion of the parish, with
Potworks Dam, shared with Saint Paul, being the largest. The parish is enclosed by many of Antigua's historic rail infrastructure.
Demographics
Saint Peter is not a particularly diverse parish. In 2011, the parish had 5,317 people. As of the 2011 census, the parish has many ethnic groups such as African descendants (92.85% of the population), whites (0.39%), East Indians (0.75%), mixed black/whites (1.12%), other mixed (3.24%), Hispanics (0.50%), Syrians/Lebaneses (0.04%), others (0.33%), and didn't know/not stated (0.79%). The largest religious groups were Anglicans (20.29%), Adventists (15.46%), Pentecostalists (11.22%), Methodists (10.87%), and irreligious people (7.68%). Additionally, 1.19% of the population was Rastafarian.
In 2011, there were many country of birth groups in the parish; those born in Africa (0.04%), "other Latin American and North American countries" (0.17%), Antigua and Barbuda (76.10%), "other Caribbean countries" (0.56%), Canada (0.27%), "other Asian countries" (0.02%), "other European countries" (0.04%), Dominica (2.93%), Dominican Republic (0.54%), Guyana (7.36%), Jamaica (3.06%), Montserrat (0.40%), St. Kitts and Nevis (0.46%), St. Lucia (0.15%), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (0.83%), Trinidad and Tobago (0.31%), the United Kingdom (0.52%), the United States (3.14%), United States Virgin Islands (0.50%), and not stated (2.58%).
Economy
In 2011, 1.61% of the 2,285 workers in the parish were paid a daily salary, 44.35% were paid a weekly salary, 20.31% were paid a fortnightly salary, 30.85% were paid a monthly salary, and the remainder were paid at another time. 20.76% of workers were paid government employees, 6.74% were paid statutory body employees, 54.53% were paid private employees, 3.22% were paid private home employees, 2.63% were self-employed with paid employees, 9.96% were self-employed without paid employees, 0.89% had another worker status, and 1.27% didn't know or didn't state. Out of the 212 business owners in the parish, 28.99% made less than EC$1,000 per month from their business, 21.74% made $1,000 to $1,999, 19.81% made $2,000 to $2,999, 14.01% made $3,000 to $4,999, and 15.46% made $5,000+.
2.35% of people practiced subsistence farming.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20231014153430/https://redatam.org/binatg/RpWebUtilities.exe/reporte.pdf?LFN=RpBases%5CTempo%5C116969%5C~tmp_116969181.pdf]
References
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter Parish, Antigua And Barbuda
Parishes of Antigua and Barbuda