Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies: Brimstone Hill Fortress is a very well preserved fortress that has a commanding view of the entire island of St. Kitts. It was built by African slave labor to the very specific standards of the British military to protect the coastline from any attack by sea. the coastline from a sea attack and to provide a safe refuge for the is. The struggle was real. St. Kitts was the first West Indian Island to be colonized by Europeans, both the French and British. There were continuous battles between them as they struggled for dominance, partly for control of the sugar plantations. In 1690, the British installed a canon to drive out the French. Soon, they got more.

Today is #MarketFriday initiated by Hive account@dswigle (Denise, that's me!!) Join me as we share our markets across the globe. I always look forward to seeing what you send me! It is amazing to see the different markets and cultures of our friends here on Hive.

I love history and different cultures, so this was just perfect. There is free parking that comes with your $15.00 entry fee. Two years before, it was $10.00. That is a pretty big hike and I expect we will see even more price increases. The parking lot is at the bottom of a hill and to get to the main fort, you have to climb up a fairly steep (read 800 feet up) hill. I will say that some people were meeting a personal challenge that day. Brimstone Hill Fort was started in 1690 and took about 100 years to build this fort, using slave labor from Africa. There is a film that goes over the entire history of the fort, running all day. I have been here before, so I wandered around, trying to imagine what it would have been like to live at the fort, being in the compound, having a store right there and all the essential items.Far and away from everything I knew and loved, thrust upon a small island. The views were spectacular and there were many ruins around the fort that we wandered through. One can never get enough.

I have to be honest. I am sure these kind of stairs are great when there are crowds, but, walking up them is awkward! The spacing is so very wrong, for an individual, but, as I said, for crowds, it makes sense to have a larger footprint for a step, so it is more comfortable to stand in a line on a hill. Plus, can you imagine how taxing that would be to climb them?

The fort and property are defined by the boundaries at the base of the hill. It was hard to focus on all of the minor details when these clouds were hanging down on top of the mountains, just begging me to include them in the photos. They are pretty hard to ignore, but, I don't wasn't to miss the small little details swirling around in my head. This is such a great example of European military engineering that dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries. UNESCO uses the term military engineering in a Caribbean context.

This is the Citadel, home to the Fort George Museum. You can access the Citadel by climbing a small ramp up from the visitors center, you can also see more cannons facing the sea as well as the mountains. It looks serious!!

Areas that can be toured on Brimstone Hill include the imposing Fort George Citadel (which includes the Fort George Museum), the Western Place of Arms and the Eastern Place of Arms, all accessed via a steep walk up from the main parking area via a set of ramps and steps. Other areas include the Magazine Bastion, whose walls were breached by the French in 1782, ruins of the Royal Engineers' Quarters, ruins of the Artillery Officers' Quarters, Infantry Officers' Quarters, and the Orillon Bastion. The ruins of the barracks are a short walk from the car parking area.source

The soldiers' living quarters at the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park.

The is the bakehouse for the fort. This bakehouse produced the bread that was part of each soldier's daily ration allowance. The bread was made from imported flour, then was baked in the wood-fired ovens to the left of the divided wall.

In the morning, each soldier was served breakfast, and dinner was provided at mid-day. This is a list of rations for the typical British soldier in the early 1800s:

Caribbean culture, like its African roots, showed reverence to its elderly. It has been changing over the last while, with the influence of technology and mobility, fewer people are live by this standard anymore. It is a shame to me. Do you instill these values in young people you know or are related to? Life has gotten rough, sort of like these jagged rocks. A view from the top.

The peaceful allure of Brimstone. It is hard to believe that the building commenced in 1690 and carried on for 100 years until it was completed.

Stone walls of volcanic rock were fashioned and laid by African slaves using limestone from the slopes as a mortar. This was for the Brimstone Hill Fortress designed by British engineers to protect their interest against the French who despite having signed a Treaty of Partition in 1627 dividing St Kitts, mounted guns against the British in July 1689 capturing not just Fort Charles which had been designated neutral territory but the entire island. Then after reinforcement troops arrived from Britain and St Kitts was once again regained from the French, construction of the fortress with 800ft walls started in 1690 and took over 100 years to complete. Brimstone Hill Fortress is now a national park, and one of the top tourist attraction on St Kitts. source

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Later that night
I held an atlas in my lap
Ran my fingers across the whole world
And whispered,
"Where does it hurt?"
It answered,
"Everywhere"
"Everywhere"
"Everywhere"

~Warsan Shire