The "Even George Washington Loved The Caribbean" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Doing some internet surfing and came across a story about George Washington and his trip to the Caribbean.  I know that my wife, Carol, and I love traveling to the Caribbean, but who would have thought that George Washington would have enjoyed traveling to the Caribbean.  Seems that he and his bother Lawrence traveled to Barbados when his brother became ill and they thought that the tropical climate would do Lawrence some good.  And so the Washington brothers began a journey to the island of Barbados to help in Lawrence's recovery.  They enjoyed themselves by catching sharks, pilot fish and dolphin.  The brothers arrived in Barbados on November 4, 1751 and spent the next two months on the beautiful island recuperating by relaxing and fishing.  Just so happens that this trip was the only trip that George Washington would take outside of the United States in his lifetime.  He and his brother spent the entire time while on the island at Bush Hill, a yellow house with green shutters in the heart of Brigetown.

Bush Hill

Bush Hill is now a museum.  The house is part of the Garrison which is the wide-ranging district in Bridgetown that in now a UNESCO World Heritage site, comprising a former British military prison, the Main Guard, the Garrison Savannah and the Bush Hill House which is actually the oldest residence in the Garrison Historic Area.  Today the house is largely the same as it was when George and his brother stayed there in the 1850s except for a second story added in the 19th century.  Today there is a visitor's center that shows a Washington docu-drama for visitors.  The furnishings in the house today are mostly reproductions, bought from craftsmen in Barbados and in Colonial Williamsburg.

Dining area in the Bush Hill dining room

Tough to imagine a 19-year-old George in the rooms of the historic house.  I wonder if the place that our future America founding father called home during the time he spent in Barbados still looks as it did when George and his brother spent time in the home.  The trip to Barbados for George and his brother wasn't entirely all fun since a few weeks after they arrived, George was "strongly attacked" with smallpox, from which he would not recover for nearly a month.   But, his recovery and immunity it presented for him, was very important when the virus began to ravage soldiers across the Continental Army, but didn't affect George.  A brief diary of Washington's time spent on the island of Barbados tells about the island's hospitality and genteel behavior as well as his love affair with Barbados' fruit.  Now, I can attest to that since my wife and I, along with traveling friends Jere and Just Sue, loved the fruit of Barbados, as well as just about every island in the Caribbean that we had a chance to visit in the past 30 years.  George wrote in his diary that "there are many delicious fruits in this area, but none pleases my taste as does the pineapple."  Years later, when George was inaugurated as the first President of the United States, he was insistent on the inclusion of one item in the celebration: Barbados rum. I would have to agree with him after tasting the rum. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.