This is all that remains of Fort Nassau, on the Berbice River, Guyana. Only one 18th century description of this building remains, from a Dutch traveller called Hartsinck.
In “Beschrijving van Guiana of de Wilde Kust”, he’d described a structure 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, which had served as a church, a storehouse, the government, and the home of the ‘corp de guarde’.
This is all that remains of Fort Nassau, on the Berbice River, Guyana. Only one 18th century description of this building remains, from a Dutch traveller called Hartsinck.
In “Beschrijving van Guiana of de Wilde Kust”, he’d described a structure 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, which had served as a church, a storehouse, the government, and the home of the ‘corp de guarde’.
On 8 March 1763, the Dutch – faced by a massive slave revolt – spiked the guns, and the fort was set on fire. Now all that remains are a few outlines (the hall, and some stables, according to Hartsinck, two smithies and some barracks). But, inside the forest, it’s cathedral-cool, and, on the day I visited, we also found the old ramparts, a small brick bridge, some glazed tiles, and a stash of hand-blown bottles. The caretaker (the wonderful Mrs Grimmond) also showed us coffee plants (thanks to the Dutch) and a tree on which to summon help. The kumaka was like a waterfall of wood, pouring out of the canopy, and Mrs Grimmond said that, if we beat its buttresses, the noise could be heard for twenty miles around.
Back in 1763, the booming of the kumaka would have signalled the start of the revolt.
