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Bridgetown
Bridgetown
Ghost town
	Bridgetown
	Coordinates: 17°02′24″N 61°43′35″W / 17.04°N 61.726389°W
Country	Antigua and Barbuda
Parish	Saint Philip
Division	Willoughby Bay
Population (1856)
• Total	47

Bridgetown, also known as Willoughby Bay, is a ghost town in Saint Philip, Antigua and Barbuda.

Geography

Bridgetown was located in the southeast of the island.^[1] It was located on the coast of Willoughby Bay, on its north shore, where the high plateau of the southeastern peninsula of Antigua meets the sea.

History

Willoughby Bay is one of the natural ports of Antigua, protected by a reef bank with passage, but shallow and relatively poorly accessible, the terrain level is steep, the inner bay, the Christian Cove, is a more extensive wetland. An English trading post was created here c. 1675.^[2] This post was protected by the eastern Fort William.^[3] The Anglican Church, St. Philip's Rectory, the main church of the Parish of Saint Phillip, was located at the top of today's place of St. Phillip's. Politically, the area belonged to the Willoughby Bay Division of the island.^[1]

The other ports, such as Falmouth, Parham or St. John's, quickly became much more important. Around 1750, Fort William was already in a desolate state after hurricane damage, and only occupied by two men.^[3]

In 1820, the Methodists (today Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas), who had been proselytizing in Antigua since the 1760s and from 1812 ran a school in Bethesda village, founded a congregation with a chapel.^[4]

Emancipation Day was observed with much fanfare on 1 August 1834. Coconut fronds were used to decorate the Wesleyan Chapel, and cakes and lemonade were served to the elderly and schoolchildren. The majority of the citizens attended church during the day, and in the evenings there were dances and celebrations. There was not a disturbance anywhere on the island. Following the holiday, laborers resumed their jobs on an equal basis and sugar cane production continued.^[5]

After the abolition of slavery in 1834, a large part of the population moved to the free city of Freetown and also to Bethesda. The Methodists therefore moved their congregation to Bethesda in 1841 and also built a chapel in Freetown.^[6]

During an earthquake in 1843, the settlement was largely destroyed, and the rest of the Black inhabitants migrated to Bethesda and Freetown. For a while, the Methodist pastor was still resident in Bridgetown until the new mission house in Freetown was completed in 1847.^[7] In 1856, the place had only 17 buildings and 47 inhabitants.^[8] In the course of the following years, the settlement was then completely abandoned.

Today, the Crossroads Centre is located here, an upscale drug rehabilitation center founded by musician Eric Clapton.^[9] The ruins of Fort William are still there.

References

^ ^a ^b Lage des Orts und die Grenzen der Divisions finden sich etwa in der Karte Antigua. Robert Baker, Thomas Jefferys, 1775 (Datei:Antigua 1775.jpg)
^ Desmond Nicholson. "Cultural heritage". antiguahistory.net: Museum of Antigua and Barbuda (Villages: Town Beginnings (At Settlement)). Susan Lowes. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
^ ^a ^b vergl. Kane William Horneck, ed. (1752), "Plan of the Battery call'd Fort William, on the East side Willoughby Bay", A report of the state of the fortifications in the Island of Antigua and particularly those of English Harbour in the said island in the year 1752 (Karte), [Antigua]
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2023-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) und Walter Lawrence. "Bethesda" (Congregations). Methodist Church of Antigua & Barbuda. Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-19. weitere Details auch History: Part 3 The work takes shape
^ "ANTIGUA & BARBUDA'S CULTURAL HERITAGE". antiguahistory.net. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2023-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) und Walter Lawrence. "Bethesda" (Congregations). Methodist Church of Antigua & Barbuda. Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-19. weitere Details auch History: Part 3 The work takes shape
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2023-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) und Walter Lawrence. "Bethesda" (Congregations). Methodist Church of Antigua & Barbuda. Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-19. weitere Details auch History: Part 3 The work takes shape
^ Census 1856; nach Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons (ed.), "Tabelle No 5. Populations and Houses of the Towns and Villages, &c: Sain Phillips", The Report of the Registrar General of Births and Deaths of the Census taken November 17, 1856 … (Enclosure in No. 17), Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, pp. 73 (K). Ordered to be printed 1858
^ Crossroads Centre, Antigua (crossroadsantigua.org); → en:Crossroads Centre; das Projekt wird durch die Konzertreihe Crossroads Guitar Festival unterstützt