Message from the Executive Director

School is out and summer has well and truly arrived! This means that Waterville will be buzzing over the next two months with children having fun at our holiday camps which bring Bermuda heritage themes to life with exciting outings and creative activities.

June saw the announcement of the winners of our Annual Awards, detailed below. Protecting and promoting Bermuda’s heritage is the Trust’s mission, but it is truly a community endeavour. The Awards give us the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contributions of so many individuals and groups that work in different ways to help realise the vision that we articulated in our new Strategic Plan: A sustainable Bermuda where our natural and cultural heritage is protected and valued by the whole community.

Our 2024 calendar is a good example of a collective project with a wonderful result. We invited photographers young and old, amateur and professional, to send us their photos on the theme of Built Heritage. The very best were chosen out of 250 entries to include in the calendar. Congratulations to the People’s Choice winner Laurie Zuill. The calendars cost $14 each and are now available from Waterville and at various bookstores and shops around the island. Pick up your copy soon, and they make wonderful gifts!

Annual Heritage Award Winners

The Bermuda National Trust’s annual heritage awards occurred at Verdmont Museum on Thursday, 15 June. Trust President Alana Anderson and Junior Minister for Culture Kim Swan presented the trophies and certificates.

The awards, sponsored by Butterfield & Vallis, recognise individuals, organisations, groups and schools that have worked to protect and promote Bermuda’s natural and cultural heritage or whose work has enhanced Bermuda heritage awareness or understanding.

Top award winners included the Architectural Heritage book team, the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI), Robert Steinhoff, The Bermudian Magazine, the St George’s Foundation (SGF) and James and Vanessa Peniston and contractor Travis Lewis.

Other awards, including heritage and preservation awards and awards for sensitive restorations of historic buildings, were presented to Dale Butler, Cheryl Hayward-Chew, The Friends of St Peter’s Church, Robert Powell, The National Museum of Bermuda, Otto Trott, Scott Hunter and Janet Kemp, Brian and Rosa Quinn.

The Trust also awarded several Honorary Life Memberships for exceptional service to the Trust. These went to Michael Spurling & Michael Whittall, Allen Van Putten, Robert Masters and Dr Michael Jarvis.

Dr Dörte Horsfield, the Trust’s Head of Development & Engagement, was recognised for 10 years of service and Commitment to the trust.

Natural Heritage Updates

Myles Darrell, Head of Natural Heritage

Enstar and the Bermuda National Trust teamed up on Friday, 16 June, for a volunteer day at Paget Marsh Nature Reserve. The team worked together to prepare over 100 trees for the summer heat by weeding, mulching, and planting various native and endemic flora. The day was a huge success, and the invasive species management will ensure healthy growth and limited impact on the native juveniles already planted. Enstar's commitment to preserving Bermuda's natural heritage is commendable, and BNT is grateful for their support. Together, we can make a positive impact on our local environment and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.

Darwin Grant allows Spittal Pond Project to get underway

Thanks to a significant grant from the UK, a plan to address the pollution of Spittal Pond from the nearby dairy farm is now underway.

The plan started to come together earlier this year, with the help of Dr. Mark Outerbridge of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. Spittal Pond suffers from eutrophication (a reduction in oxygen in the water due to high levels of nitrates) which can trigger harmful algae blooms. The cattle from the dairy farm are the main source of the pollution and stopping their access to the pond, and the run-off of farm waste into the pond, was a top priority in meeting our goal of a healthy pond and surround.

A few hurricanes ago, the fence that separates the farm from the nature reserve came down, allowing the cows access to the pond. We need to repair this fence and create a berm to stop the run-off of farm waste and nitrates during heavy rainfall. To support the berm, we will plant native and endemic trees and shrubs that will also increase biodiversity and carbon sequestering capacity. By keeping the cows from the pond edge, we will protect juvenile mangroves that have been trying to establish there.

The project was a perfect fit for a Darwin Plus Local Grant being offered to UK Overseas Territories to support small scale environmental projects that address concerns such as biodiversity, climate change and environmental quality. BNT was delighted to receive the news in April that we had received a grant of nearly £50,000 to bring the plan to fruition.

The work has already started: water samples have been taken and a conservation management plan has been submitted to Planning. We aim to complete the project by March 2024.

Spittal Pond is a critical habitat and recognised RAMSAR site (wetland of international importance). It also has great cultural value for all Bermudians as it has the first known sign of human contact with the island at Portuguese Rock, and it is part of our African Diaspora Trail as a site where an enslaved man named Jeffrey hid in a cave to evade his enslavers.

So, when you see activity on the north-west shore of Spittal Pond, you will know it is the Trust working to protect our natural and cultural heritage for everyone, forever!

When visiting a BNT property, please leave your drone at home

The price of drones has dropped so much that they have now become an increasingly common sight in outdoor spaces in Bermuda and abroad. Although recreational drones can be a lot of fun, they are not appropriate to use everywhere.

At the Bermuda National Trust we have recently put in place a drone policy modelled on that of the National Trust of England & Wales. In short, the use of drones is not permitted on BNT land without our written permission and we discourage the flying of drones over any of our properties for the reasons below.

Few non-commercial users have the correct training to operate drones, which creates a risk to our staff, volunteers, visitors, property and wildlife.
Should a drone cause damage or harm, pilots generally do not have the correct insurance to compensate BNT.
Drones should not be flown over people; as much of our land is open access we cannot guarantee an area is completely empty.
Drones should not be flown near property; the special nature of our properties makes the risk of damage more severe.
Many birds see drones as a threat and may abandon nests.
Many drones have cameras attached and these could infringe data protection laws (filming people without permission).
The presence of drones can be detrimental to the enjoyment of our sites by other visitors.

We will make exceptions for contractors or staff who satisfy Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) criteria and have been commissioned or authorised by the Trust for a specific purpose such as vegetation mapping.

Anyone seeking further information should contact Head of Natural Heritage Myles Darrell on 236 6483 or myles.darrell@bnt.bm.

Cultural Heritage Updates

Dr. Charlotte Andrews, Head of Cultural Heritage

Bermuda World Heritage Research

In a valuable development for Bermuda and our UNESCO-inscribed ‘Historic Town of St. George and Related Fortifications’, research examining how host communities and visitors understand World Heritage Sites is being conducted by researchers based at or affiliated with the Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre (the Centre).

‘Funded by a Leverhulme International Professorship and located in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, the Centre is home to a collaborative group of critical and creative researchers who engage with heritage. The Centre’s ambition is to interrogate how heritage is made, governed and understood in order to create new knowledge and reshape public debate. Rather than accept conventional understandings, the Centre’s research seeks to challenge existing heritage structures, frameworks and histories, as well as prevailing theoretical positions, in order to make space for new ways of thinking to emerge.’

As a heritage researcher myself, I am extremely excited for the Trust to assist the Centre’s Director and Leverhulme International Professor Emma Waterton and University College London Professor Jason Dittmer with their Bermuda fieldwork later this summer. Their Bermuda research forms part of a larger project ‘to examine British colonial heritage that has been curated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites’. We are helping to connect Emma and Jason with fellow Bermuda World Heritage partners and giving them use of the Trust’s museums and other spaces to conduct interviews, focus groups and other data gathering.

My hope is that Emma and Jason’s findings will directly apply to our World Heritage management plan and processes and the Site’s interpretive plan. I believe the Centre’s work here will also help to stimulate more heritage research in Bermuda and the World Heritage Site. More Bermuda heritage research by Bermudian researchers is an important goal. If you want to learn more about this local World Heritage research or participate in the Centre’s study, please contact me at charlotte.andrews@bnt.bm or 236-6483 x225.

Summer at the museum!

The Trust's museums are open all summer for you to explore all Bermuda has to offer. Visit our website for opening hours before planning your next visit. BNT members and INTO Places members are always free!

Visit Verdmont off Collector's Hill in Smith's Parish. Our growing corps of Verdmont volunteers are helping us to open the historic house and African Diaspora Heritage Site more days throughout the week. Verdmont's main house, detached kitchen and enslaved quarters is not open to the public but the surrounding gardens are always accessible for an outside walk, rest or picnic to take in the built heritage and hilltop views.

St. George’s Town Crier E. Michael Jones at Tucker House Museum.

Take in Tucker House and Globe museums, both within close walking distance of each other, when exploring the World Heritage Site of St. George's. Displays of one-of-a-kind collections, the incredible story of African American Congressman Joseph Hayne Rainey, and archaeological finds from Tucker House can all be found as you weave through the mid-18th century merchant's house and site of enslavement.

Globe Museum's exhibits on settlement in the early 1600s, the Civil War story of Bermuda's 'Rogues & Runners' in the 1860s, and Boer War prisoners kept in the east end in Bermuda from 1901 all give glimpses into the story of St. George's and Bermuda. Stop in at the Globe's Trustworthy Gift Shop, where purchases support the Trust's heritage mission and local artisans. We look forward to welcoming you to our museums, perhaps for the first time!

Smith's Island Archaeological Project Season’s Success

The Smith’s Island Archaeology Project’s (SIAP) 2023 season was successful on multiple fronts, despite a huge amount of rain and other unexpected hurdles thrown at the team. The team of supervisors, students, and local volunteers, led by Dr. Michael Jarvis, made important progress following up on last season’s leads to their research questions.

Their painstaking excavations of features and artefacts at the isolated island site has yielded some exciting discoveries, such as fragments of daub associated with very early building practices. The dig team also expanded their site profile and recording with new postholes used to support timber framing and other telling traces of human activity across four centuries. Maritime archaeology also played a role this season, with Texas A&M graduate students leading a survey of the coastal areas and two bays adjoining the main excavation sites.

Some members of the 2023 SIAP team in front of St. Peter’s Church.

A separate lab team, working out of the cellar of the Globe Museum, was able to process finds from the excavation as they were brought out of the ground and across the harbour by boat to Kings Square. This summer’s experimental use of the rough but expanded lab space has helped inform our evolving plan for a BNT and World Heritage lab in the five-room cellar, which will appropriately feature archaeological processes ‘below ground’.

Community involvement and cultural tourism are part of the evolving plan for the Globe Museum overall, for which BNT intends to invite input from broader St. George’s partners. It’s great that the SIAP team has welcomed visitors to see fresh finds and the lab’s workings.

Such ‘public archaeology’ has long been built into SIAP seasons by Dr. Jarvis, and this outreach continued with lab access and a full day of boat tours to Smith’s Island organised by our Heritage Education Coordinator, Anna Stevenson. Some 77 people enjoyed the tours, and dozens took in talks by Dr. Jarvis with the senior SIAP team hosted by the St. George’s Foundation and the Trust. Dr. Jarvis has generously donated his speaker’s fee for a third talk for the Department of Culture’s Historical Heartbeats Series to BNT for the archaeology lab. Our thanks and congratulations to the SIAP team on another successful season of Smith’s Island archaeology!

Dr. Jarvis, left, leading the Smith’s Island public tours.

Somerset Re at Tucker House

Thank you to Somerset Re, who fulfilled their semi-annual Corporate Social Responsibility day at Tucker House in St.George's on Tuesday, 6 June.

The team of twenty gave back to Bermuda and our World Heritage Site by lending helping hands to our museum and African Diaspora Heritage Trail site in the heart of St. George’s.

For more details, view the article on Bernews.

Heritage Education

Anna Stevenson, Heritage Education Coordinator

As another academic year draws to a close, Heritage Education was busy with many field trips and activities. Spittal Pond was a main attraction as we welcomed students from Harrington Sound, BHS, Saltus and Somersfield Academy to the site to learn about native and invasive species, and explore habitats.

During June we once again partnered with the Department of Education to host middle and primary school students at Waterville and our museums in St George’s. Linking the causes of Bermuda’s settlement to the development of slavery, students visited St Peter’s Church, where they undertook a compare and contrast activity; we also visited Pilot James Darrell’s home and the shop of Joseph Hayne Rainey on Water Street. In addition, we were able to take some students into the new archaeology lab at Globe, where they handled some of the latest finds from the Smith’s Island excavations.