10. Annaberg School Trail
Length:
0.2 miles. Time: 15 minutes. Difficulty:
1. Trailhead: The trail is on the left just before
the North Shore Road (Rt. 20) intersects with the Leinster Bay Road.
Be careful of the traffic.
This leads to one of the oldest public school
houses in the Caribbean. Dating to the 1800s, the schoolhouse
is just a shell and not really worth visiting unless you have a real
affinity for ruins, and some people do.
The school site offers good views of Mary Point,
Leinster Bay and Tortola. Interesting, schools like this were built
after the Danes passed a law mandating education for
all children, including slaves.
The government paid for construction of the schools,
Moravian missionaries staffed them and classes were
taught in English.
English was the chosen language because
the area was occupied twice by British troops after 1800 and newspapers
were published in English.
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