The Nevis Historical and Conservation Society has planned a series of activities to mark the 13th History and Heritage Month.

The society’s premiere event, the Evening with the Arts soiree, on Saturday, February 24th will take place at 7 pm at the elegant Bath Hotel, the first luxury hotel in the West Indies, built in 1778 to cater to the rich and famous. The theme of the evening will be life in Nevis in the 1780s and the era of Alexander Hamilton.

To create the ambiance of this formative period, guests are encouraged to wear eighteenth-century costumes. The event will also feature music, dance and food. Tickets for singles cost EC60 and EC100 for two. Tickets can be purchased at the Alexander Hamilton Museum.

For further information call 6614148.

The Bath Hotel and hot springs

The Bath Hotel was built around 1778 and is considered to be the oldest hotel in the Caribbean. During the late 15th century, voyagers to the New World benefited from the curative powers of the mineral waters of the Bath Springs that continue to be used today, and are reputed to provide relief from aching bones, rheumatism, gout and other ailments.

This famous spring was used by the indigenous inhabitants before the arrival of Europeans and was mentioned in the memoirs of Captain John Smith when he stopped in Nevis in 1607 on his way to Jamestown, Virginia, USA, to establish the first permanent English Settlement in North America.

In the mid-19th century, a nine-hole golf course was built on the grounds, becoming the first in the Caribbean and one of the first in the Western Hemisphere. The hotel operated for nearly a century, closed and then re-reopened in World War 1 to house troops of the

British West India Regiment. The building also housed troops during World War 11. The imposing stone structure, which remains in active use, represents the earliest and most lasting example of a tourist-centered economic enterprise in a region that is today largely dependent on tourism for its income.

Source,Historic Charlestown: A Case for Inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

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