Fond Saint-Jacques

Fond Saint-Jacques was a Dominican estate founded in the mid-seventeenth century, and Jean-Baptiste Labat, the priest whose accounts of the Antilles were read across Europe, ran it for several years and rebuilt its sugar works. The chapel, the mill, the boiling house and the aqueduct survive in various states, and the site is presented with the history of the enslaved people whose labour the whole operation depended on.

What you actually see

• The sugar works - mill, boiling house and aqueduct from the estate's working life.
• The chapel - the Dominican building at the centre of the complex.
• The Labat connection - the priest whose accounts of the islands were read across Europe.
• The estate history - the presentation of the enslaved labour the works depended on.

When to go

Year round on daytime hours, closed some days. Mornings are cooler for walking the grounds. An hour or two covers it.

Honest expectations

Much of the complex is ruin with limited stabilisation. Interpretation is patchy and mostly in French. Opening hours change and closures are common.

Nearby

The Saint-James museum is nearby, and the Sainte-Marie tombolo is on the coast.