Bridgetown, also known as Willoughby Bay, is a ghost town in

Saint Philip, Antigua and Barbuda Saint Philip (), officially the Parish of Saint Philip, is a civil parish of Antigua and Barbuda, on the easternmost portion of Antigua island. Its capital is the village of St. Philip's. Saint Philip borders Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Saint Phi ...

Geography

Bridgetown was located in the southeast of the island.Lage des Orts und die Grenzen der Divisions finden sich etwa in der Karte ''Antigua''. Robert Baker,

Thomas Jefferys Thomas Jefferys ( 1719 – 1771), "Geographer to King George III of the United Kingdom, George III", was an England, English cartographer who was the leading map supplier of his day.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004. He engraved and ...

, 1775 ( Datei:Antigua 1775.jpg) It was located on the coast of Willoughby Bay, on its north shore, where the high plateau of the southeastern peninsula of

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

meets the sea.

History

Willoughby Bay is one of the natural ports of Antigua, protected by a reef bank with passage, but shallow and relatively poorly accessible, the terrain level is steep, the inner bay, the Christian Cove, is a more extensive wetland. An English trading post was created here c. 1675. This post was protected by the eastern Fort William.vergl. The Anglican Church, St. Philip's Rectory, the main church of the Parish of Saint Phillip, was located at the top of today's place of St. Phillip's. Politically, the area belonged to the Willoughby Bay Division of the island. The other ports, such as Falmouth, Parham or St. John's, quickly became much more important. Around 1750, Fort William was already in a desolate state after hurricane damage, and only occupied by two men. In 1820, the Methodists (today Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas), who had been proselytizing in Antigua since the 1760s and from 1812 ran a school in Bethesda village, founded a congregation with a chapel.' und weitere Details auch
History: Part 3 The work takes shape
' Emancipation Day was observed with much fanfare on 1 August 1834. Coconut fronds were used to decorate the Wesleyan Chapel, and cakes and lemonade were served to the elderly and schoolchildren. The majority of the citizens attended church during the day, and in the evenings there were dances and celebrations. There was not a disturbance anywhere on the island. Following the holiday, laborers resumed their jobs on an equal basis and sugar cane production continued. After the abolition of slavery in 1834, a large part of the population moved to the free city of

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

and also to Bethesda. The Methodists therefore moved their congregation to Bethesda in 1841 and also built a chapel in Freetown.' und weitere Details auch
History: Part 3 The work takes shape
' During an earthquake in 1843, the settlement was largely destroyed, and the rest of the Black inhabitants migrated to Bethesda and Freetown. For a while, the Methodist pastor was still resident in Bridgetown until the new mission house in Freetown was completed in 1847.' und weitere Details auch
History: Part 3 The work takes shape
' In 1856, the place had only 17 buildings and 47 inhabitants.Census 1856; nach . Ordered to be printed 1858 In the course of the following years, the settlement was then completely abandoned. Today, the

Crossroads Centre The Crossroads Centre is a substance-abuse rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol addiction located on the Caribbean island of Antigua in Antigua and Barbuda. It was founded with support from guitarist and singer Eric Clapton in 1998. He ...

is located here, an upscale drug rehabilitation center founded by musician Eric Clapton.Crossroads Centre, Antigua (crossroadsantigua.org)
→ en:Crossroads Centre; das Projekt wird durch die Konzertreihe ''

Crossroads Guitar Festival The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variet ...

'' unterstützt The ruins of Fort William are still there.

References

{{reflist Former populated places in Antigua and Barbuda Saint Philip, Antigua and Barbuda