Pompey Museum

Vendue House on Bay Street was the market where goods and enslaved people were sold in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and it is now the museum of slavery and emancipation, which is an unusually direct piece of reuse. It is named for Pompey, an enslaved man on Exuma who in 1830 led around seventy others in refusing to be moved to another plantation, escaping to Nassau to petition the governor; they were flogged but their case contributed to the pressure that ended the practice. The displays cover the Middle Passage, plantation life in the Bahamas, resistance and emancipation in 1834, alongside a permanent Amos Ferguson collection upstairs.

What to look for

• Vendue House itself - the building where people were sold.
• The Pompey story - the 1830 Exuma revolt the museum is named for.
• The emancipation displays - the 1834 abolition and what followed.
• The Amos Ferguson collection - permanently installed upstairs.

When to go

Year-round; closed Sundays. Mornings are quieter. Emancipation Day at the start of August brings commemorations and events. The museum is small and takes about an hour.

Good to know

It is small and has been closed for extended restoration periods, so confirm it is open before walking down. Displays are modest and funding is clearly limited. It sits on Bay Street among the duty-free shops and cruise traffic, which makes the contrast jarring in a way that is arguably appropriate.

Nearby

The straw market is next door; Parliament Square is a short walk.

Key facts