Around the Island Tour: The Forts

Yesterday, the SO's planned an "Around the Island" Tour.  There were 30 SO's in attendance and I think everyone had a really good time.  It was an all day affair and we stopped at lots of different destinations including two forts, a chocolate factory, an abandoned airport, and a lookout point on the Northern tip of the island.  With the island being only 21 miles long and 12 miles wide, you would think it wouldn't take long to drive around it, but with extremely curvy roads complete with potholes and steep drop-offs, it takes a surprisingly long time to drive all the way around it.  I took quite a few pictures and so I am going to split it up into a few posts.
Ready for a little history lesson?

Our first stop on the tour was Fort Frederick.  This fort, is situated on top of a mountain overlooking all of St. George's.  Fort Frederick is kind of unique in that it is a "backward facing" fort.  In 1779, the British were attacked by the French.  The British were expecting and prepared for a sea attack and had Fort George ready to defend the city.  Unfortunately, the French had a better plan.  They attacked from the interior, which was also higher ground.  Because they had the higher ground, the British gave up quickly realizing they would be defeated.  The French decided to learn from the Brits mistake, and began construction of Fort Frederick facing the interior of the island instead of the sea and the city.  That way, they would be prepared if anyone else ever tried to attack from the interior.

Alice in Wonderland, our tour guide at the Fort.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783,  Grenada was ceded back to Britain.  The Brits had learned their lesson the first time and decided to finish what the French had started.  So Fort Frederick was completed by the British.  However, I don't think that Fort Frederick was ever actually needed to defend Grenada and St. George's after that.

Whether Fort Frederick was actually used to defend the city or not, it definitely provides some stunning panoramic views of St. George's and the Southwestern coastline.

The City of St. George's

Southwest Coastline including Grand Anse Bay

Looking into the interior



The whole group at Fort Frederick

Next, we walked over to Fort Matthew, which is just next door.  I had a hard time finding out much history on this particular fort.  What I do know is that it was bombed in 1983 when the US invaded Grenada and so it lays in mostly ruins now.

After our history lesson, we were off to the next destination.  Up next, Carib's Leap and Pearls Airport!