Plantation houses & Slave Pens | Grenada's history

Besides enjoying sun, fun and adventures, you should not miss to discover the history of Grenada. The colonial history of Grenada is characterized by permanently changing ownership between the english and the french and the agricultural exploitation by plantations and slavery.
For a little more detail about the plantations, I recommend the article Grenada Heritage: Our plantations from the National Archives Of Grenada.

We have visited four plantation houses in the parish of St. Patrick and their slave pens.

Hermitage Plantation House 

For visiting the Hermitage slave pen and the plantation house, you should park at the main street and walk up from there. Just take our map with you and you will find it. As you can see on the picture, you should call the number on the sign before.

The Great House is a beautiful property, unfortunately in a bad condition. The interior, consisting of elaborate wood work, is partly complete, but the wood ants are working their way through the house.

The Great House of Hermitage Estate

To find the slave pen, you have to walk past the house. About 20 meters behind the house, you will find the slave pen under the trees.

The slave pen of Hermitage Estate

 

Mt. Rich Plantation House 

This Great House was not easy to find, but we have put it on the map for you.  Once you find the turnoff in Mt. Rich, you can't miss it.


The Great House is in a very bad condition, it probably could not be restored any more. On the other hand, the property was much better accessible compared to the Hermitage estate and the slave pen is in a better condition. It is located behind the house.

Great house of Mt. Rich estate

I find it hard to image that humans had to live in this shelter. It is dark and even at those times it must have been moist in there.

Slave pen of Mt. Rich estate

Slave pen and great house

 

Morne Fendue Plantation House 

The best preserved Great House in St. Patrick is at Morne Fendue. It is in a good condition, but on the other side I find that it doesn not reflect the history as much as the other properties. The house has been extended by an apartment building and a building for hosting groups.
Therefore I would not call it a historic place, but more a nice old house with a good view.


Mornde Fendue house is not difficult to find. You will see it from the road from Tivoli to Sauteurs.

Morne Fendue house, seen from the driveway

Plaisance Estate 

We don't have much information about Plausance Estate,  but according to the counterclaim in  this document, there have been many enslaved persons on the estate. Therefore I assume it was a plantation just like the others.


The house itself is not really worth seeing, but the view is spectacular. We had a hazy day and thus cannot show you great pictures from the view.

Walking the path from the street to the old plantation house

Looking from the Plaisance estate towards Bathway