Posts Tagged ‘history’

Steve
Steve

Friday Happy Hour: Toast Egypt’s Revolution with a Rhum That Likely Spurred America’s

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The historic revolution that went down in Egypt today has put me in the mood for some rum on this fine Friday Happy Hour. Not just any rum, mind you… Oh no, when it comes to rum and revolution, only the fine Rhums of Martinique will do.
This doesn’t have anything to do with some lame, cheeky “Vivre le Revolution” stereotype either. Rum with roots in Martinique, and other French Caribbean islands, are actually what spurred the American Revolution so many centuries ago.
I know what you’re thinking: wasn’t the Tea Tax the straw that broke the colonials’ backs? The answer: not entirely…
The ball toward American independence really got rolling downhill after those New Englanders dumped all that tea into Boston Harbor, but the thing that made them really mad initially was the Molasses Act of 1733.

continue…
3 comments | , , ,
Steve
Steve

Remembering Dr. King’s Travels in the Caribbean

Jose Oquendo (Oquendo) via flickr

It’s funny, but before I sat down to write this, I had no idea that Martin Luther King ever visited the Caribbean. I’m just pushing 40, so obviously I wasn’t around when he would’ve had the chance, but you’d think that I would’ve heard or been taught something about this along the way, right?
I went to a good school in St. Croix, I paid attention, I got good grades, I have a deep love of history, I don’t have a crappy memory like Patrick; how could I not know anything about this?
As far as I can tell, Dr. King made at least two trips to the Caribbean.

continue…
3 comments |
Steve
Steve

Wish You Were Here

Kevin King (divemasterking2000) via flickr

Exploring historic Fort Frederik, a U.S. National Historic Landmark located along the waterfront in Frederiksted, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

continue…
0 comments | , ,
Steve
Steve

Uncommon Attraction: Anse Cafard Slave Memorial, Martinique

Salim Shadid via flickr

The legacy of slavery is represented in many varying forms at attractions throughout the Caribbean. In some islands, remembrances and memorials are slight and understated, almost as if to suggest that it’s best to just move on. In more culturally rich islands like Martinique, however, it’s quite the opposite. Poignant, provocative and powerfully moving, the collection of slave memorials here testify to the evils of slavery with a quiet dignity born of personal heartfelt artistic expression.
Among the most moving of these attractions is the Anse Cafard Slave Memorial. Completed in 1998 in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the French West Indies, the memorial is comprised of 20 statues, each eight feet tall.

continue…
2 comments | ,
Patrick
Patrick

Friday Happy Hour: Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum

Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum Coffin?

With my knee injury weighing heavily on my mind, I can’t help but feel like the unthinkable may be happening:
I’m getting old.
Not rickety, creaky and possessed of a musty smell old. Not yet. But also not quite the young, wild man I used to be who managed to amass nearly a whole decade simply referred to as “the lost years”—a time which remains hazy and undetailed due to a combination of embarrassment, reverence, and my terrible memory that, come to think of it, may be a direct result of the many “experiences” had over the course of those adventurous days.

continue…
5 comments | , ,
Steve
Steve

My ‘For Dummies’ Guide to Taking Pictures in Old San Juan

La Rogativa

I am not a photographer. I’ve loved taking pictures for as long as I can remember, though. Some of them, I’m told, are even pretty good. But unlike my brother Patrick, whose photo essays of New York Carnival, Fort-de-France and people watching planes in St. Maarten are some of my favorite posts we’ve run, I’m no photo pro. This, of course, is another reason why I love Old San Juan.
The ancient city is so beautiful in so many different ways that it’s almost impossible not to come away with at least a few treasured snapshots. I have a ton of pics captured in normal auto settings from my many trips to the city through the years, but this time I decided to try something a little different.

continue…
7 comments | , ,
Steve
Steve

On-Site Martinique: Sometimes it’s Best to be Drunk & in Jail

SBPR

Comedian Joe E. Lewis once said “It pays to get drunk with the best people.” For a lucky guy named Louis-Auguste Cyparis, it also paid to be drunk in the right place (jail) at the right time (the night before a massive volcanic eruption destroyed his town… and everyone in it).
Cyparis gained fame in the early 1900′s as the sole survivor of the infamous 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelée near the northern seaside town of St. Pierre in Martinique. Truth be told, there actually were two other survivors – a cobbler named Leandre and a little girl named  Havivra Da Ifrile. Their stories, however, lack the panache and flair of that of Monsieur Cyparis.

continue…
4 comments | ,
Web Analytics