Bermuda Department of Tourism

Our island's history of slavery and bondage fortunately ended by 1834. Today you can catch a glimpse of that legacy by taking a self-guided tour along our African Diaspora Heritage Trail. See the slave graveyard at St. Peter's, one of the oldest churches on our island. And imagine the labourers who helped build the most important British naval base in the Atlantic.

The tour will take you from one end of our island to the other, and will bring our important role in Black history to life.

St. Peter's Church and "slave" graveyard

Meandering through the St. Peter's Church graveyard offers a fascinating glimpse of life and death in the 16th through 18th centuries. Take a look for yourself at this nod to our history.

• Fearing rebellion, slave owners kept black and white burial grounds segregated
• Epitaphs written upon St. Peter's tombstones reveal ancient occupations, cherished family members, abbreviated histories and a chronicle of illnesses

Duke of York Street, Town of St. George
St. George's Parish

St. George's Post Office

"John Stephenson, Methodist missionary, was imprisoned in this cell six months and fined fifty pounds for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to African Blacks and captive Negroes - St. George's, Bermuda, June, 1801."

So reads an inscription written upon the wooden floor of what is now St. George's Post Office. The preacher was imprisoned just two months after his arrival on our island for boldly preaching to the black community. He left Bermuda in 1802 - ill, disillusioned and unfit for the missionary duty he once loved.

Water Street, Town of St. George
St. George's Parish

St. George's Historical Society Museum

A visit to the St. George's Historical Society Museum will reward you with further evidence of island history. Among other treasures, this 18th century Bermuda home contains:

• The barred cell windows of imprisoned missionary John Stephenson
• A display of an 18th-century Bermuda kitchen, complete with utensils from the period
• A Native American axe heads left here by early Native American settlers

Duke of Kent Street, Town of St. George
St George's Parish
Tel: +1 441 297 0423
Call for hours

The Bermudian Heritage Museum

Bermuda's dynamic cultural and social history is highlighted at the Bermudian Heritage Museum in the Town of St. George. The museum illuminates island sports, social history, politics, professional and personal accomplishments - even a bit of scandal. The Enterprise incident, our beloved Cup Match, the historic fate of slave Sally Bassett and a storehouse of unique memorabilia are featured.

Water and York Streets, Samaritan's Lodge Building
Tel: +1 441 297 4126
St. George's Parish

Tucker House Museum

When Confederate soldiers began to draft Free Blacks to work on Charleston's fortifications, Joseph Hayne Rainey and his wife Susan escaped to Bermuda aboard a blockade runner. The Raineys quickly embraced Bermudian life, Joseph becoming a member of Alexandra Lodge 1026 of the Grand Order of Odd Fellows, and later the first Black man in the House of Representatives.

At Tucker House, you will find the Rainey memorial room, where you can view copies of speeches he made during his term in the House of Representatives, and other memorabilia.

Water Street, Town of St. George
St. George's Parish
Tel: +1 441 297 0545
Hours: 10am-4pm Monday through Saturday, closed New Year's Day, Good Friday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day
Admission: BM$5 (adults), BM$2 (children ages 6-18)

Cobb's Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church

Cobb's Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church was the first organised church for Free Blacks and slaves on our island. Slaves and Free Blacks - who carried quarried stone upon their backs from the surrounding hills - laboured on holidays and in the evenings by candlelight to erect this Warwick Parish church, which was finally dedicated in 1827, seven years before Emancipation in Bermuda.

Warwick Parish
Tel: +1 441 236 8586

Commissioner's House at Bermuda Maritime Museum

Visit the magnificently restored Commissioner's House, which sits upon a hill overlooking the ocean on the grounds of the Bermuda Maritime Museum at the Royal Naval Dockyard, and you'll find an impressive exhibit highlighting both the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in Bermuda.

Here, words, images and original artefacts recovered from shipwrecks found in local waters such as iron slave restraints, glass trade beads and cowry shells, bring the chilling and unforgettable story of transatlantic slavery to life.

The Keep, Royal Naval Dockyard
Sandys Parish
Tel: +1 441 234 1418
Web: www.bmm.bm 
Hours: 10am-4pm daily, except Christmas Day
Admission: BM$10 (adults), BM$8 (seniors), BM$5 (children ages 5-15)

Royal Naval Dockyard

During the War of 1812, "American Refugee Negroes" (Free Blacks and Bermudian slaves), hired as labourers, worked side by side to build the most important British naval base in the Atlantic. Still others enrolled as troops to guard the Dockyard.

Today, the Royal Naval Dockyard has been converted into a lovely village of shops, art galleries and eateries, but is still steeped in Bermudian history.

The Royal Naval Dockyard
Sandys Parish