Adelaide Village

Adelaide was established in 1831 to settle Africans taken from the slave ship Rosa, which had been intercepted by the Royal Navy after Britain's abolition of the trade; the survivors were landed and given plots here. The village that grew from it sits on the southwestern shore, low-key, with wooden houses, a church, a school and a beach that is usually empty. It is one of the oldest continuously occupied Liberated African settlements in the country.

History

Adelaide was founded in 1831 by the governor, Sir James Carmichael-Smyth, as one of several settlements for freed slaves, and the British Crown set the community up around a church built for and by them. St James Anglican Church, still the village's only congregation, was consecrated in 1849, and a primary school opened later. A hurricane wrecked both the church and the schoolhouse in 1926; they were restored, and both were rebuilt again in 1948 (Wikipedia, Adelaide, Bahamas).

Highlights

• The village - wooden houses and lanes on the low southwestern shore.
• The church - the settlement's small chapel, at the centre of village life.
• The beach - a quiet shallow shore, usually empty of visitors.
• The founding story - the 1831 settlement of Africans freed from the Rosa.

When to go

November to April is the dry season. Weekdays are very quiet. Sunday brings the village out for church, which is when it is at its most alive.

Before you go

There is very little laid on: no museum, no interpretation, and the history is carried by residents rather than by signage. It is a lived-in village and should be treated as one. The beach has no facilities.

Nearby

Nassau is half an hour northeast, and the south coast road runs east towards Coral Harbour.