Sunday and 0800 service at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. The 1851 church is in the hills away from Jamestown. Stones were carved in London and sent out as ballast.
The first church was likely here about 1678. Gravestones (where 'the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep’) show time's passage and commemorate the unfortunates, of which there were many, who died while sailing between England and the Far East.
After the service, The Reverend Jack Horner (of RMS cricket) and his wife, Eileen. Jack's originally from Ireland and Eileen's an islander.
I hope Jack will forgive me (actually, he may have been the one who told me) for mentioning that, between 1671 and 1830, eleven of the eighteen Anglican priests were described as 'drunk or quarrelsome or both.' I'm grateful for his useful island insights!
A quick dash (or as quick as the inclines allow) to town for Ivy's English cooked breakfast - eggs, beans, sausage, bacon, toast - then back to the country.
Thousands of Boer prisoners-of-war were on St. Helena in the early 1900s. Many were held - in tents - on the often chilly, misty, damp plain near Longwood, Napoleon's house.
Some died from disease and lie on a hillside just below the cathedral and Baptist Chapel.
Five prisoners remained after the war. The island's attractions are not for all, but it's easy to see why some stayed. They married and lived in cottages, far from their sometimes difficult homeland.
In the glory days of the East India Company, not all lived in humble homes. Some had mansions. This is a private residence dating to Georgian times.
The departure of the Company in the 1830s precipitated a fragile economy's collapse. All over St. Helena are long abandoned houses. Mind you, some fell victim to termites.
Merchants and planters, slaves and freedmen, soldiers and quarrelsome priests have come and gone. Almost every turn here, blind or otherwise, leads into history.
Most people, though, if they think at all of St. Helena, think of Bonaparte. Tomorrow is Napoleon day.
