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HOME	APRIL 09th, 2005

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In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan to historic buildings in St George's last September, the Grenada National Trust announced this week an initiative aimed at designating a section of the town of St George's as a "historic district".

The plan is to restore the area and equipping it to generate fees and contributions from visitors and residents with an interest in the town's history. The historic district will initially be composed of Fort George itself, the former Ministry of Education building, the building currently occupied by the Grenada National Museum, the drill yard, and the former Ministry of Communications and Works complex.

Taken as a self-contained area rich in public heritage assets and situated adjacent to the Financial Complex and the Library, the historic district will provide a visitor-targeted presentation of the town's heritage, particularly for users of the recently constructed cruise ship dock alongside Melville Street.

President of the Grenada National Trust, Basil Harford said that the purpose of the project is to arrest the decaying process of this historic part of St George's and to derive economic benefits from its remaining public heritage assets. "In one easy 60 minute conducted tour", says Harford, "visitors will be exposed to a presentation of the town's (and the island's) history spanning some 300 years. "This curtain raiser presentation will stimulate demand for peripheral side visits to the cruise ship shopping complex, the Carenage, Church Street and the Parliament areas and, using bus and taxi services, to the rest of the island.

"It will thus become the prime focus of orientation to the island's history and southern geography - the definitive "getting to know Grenada" familiarisation tour." The project will be spearheaded by the GNT Buildings and Monuments Committee and the Trust is confident that it will stimulate interest in the historic inventory of the island and give visitors a far better impression of St George's than the current ravaged "war zone" look.

"At present," says Committee Chairman John E Albanie, " these assets are in no condition to impress visitors, let alone attract financial support for their preservation. "Their deterioration has been continuous and has expanded exponentially as the ravages of time, inexperience, indifference, inappropriate usage (such as the location of the Police Headquarters and training unit in the fort) and a savage Category 4 hurricane, have taken their toll. They now lie as an embarrassment to the country rather than an asset.

"We see the GNT Post-Ivan Initiative 2005 as a relatively low-cost measure designed to turn this embarrassment into an income-earning show-piece" Among the entities that have expressed their support for the project is the Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC), National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, which is linked with the American charitable and educational institution, Portcullis Limited and its Grenadian counterpart, Portcullis (Grenada) Inc.

Portcullis was first mandated to work on the Fort George project by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell as far back as 1997. To get the project off the ground, the President of the Grenada National Trust has committed the efforts of the GNT volunteer membership to undertake the bush clearing, to plan the landscaping of the area under the fort walls and to train volunteers willing to serve as "guides" to the walking tour.

The bush clearing and landscaping plan has generated tremendous support from a variety of unrelated groups and associations, from the Horticultural Society to the Grenada Arts Council and even the Hash House Harriers running group.

Display plaques will be affixed to historic sites explaining to the public what damage was caused and soliciting contributions for their restoration. Ironically, Hurricane Ivan arrived a few weeks after the publication of a new book by ex-Prime Minister of Grenada, the Rt Hon George Brizan and local historian, Michael Jessamy called "St George's, the Prettiest Town in the Caribbean". Harford said: "The town is no longer pretty after Ivan but we shall be inspired by the book to make it so again".