The Precious Parish

The Precious Parish Bermuda celebrates its 400th anniversary this year, and photographer Sean Drakes takes us on a tour of it’s historic Capital, St. George

Opposite: The gently-sloping landscape of St. George is peppered with brightly painted homes, with chimneys and hefty white roofs coated with lime produced from fired limestone that purifies the rainwater channeled to the subterranean tank beneath each home. Bermudans anticipate 50-inches of rain annually and rely on desalination processes and water truck delivery to supplement a shortfall. (Alternate shot of rooftops supplied.)

Above: Trek over the parish’s highest hill and past the golf course to the less-traveled side of St. George and you are rewarded with the serenity and beauty of a shallow, placid pool called Tobacco Bay.

Top: Local businessmen, often decked in those famed pink Bermuda shorts and high socks, say shorts add elegance to the traditional business suit. In 2009 Bermuda commemorates its 400th anniversary with an eventful calendar: dozens of Bermuda shorts and tall ships will be on parade.

Above: The road to and from St. George’s town passes Dawn Gibbons’ birth home, Bayview, and its unique display. “My grandmother started first—about 10 years ago— and it was to keep dogs and cats from pooping on the lawn, because the bright colored bottles burns their eyes,” explains Gibbons. “There aren’t many animals around here. At Christmas time I change the colours to red and green. I talked to a tourist one time, she tried it when she was home, but she should have put it in plastic bottles because in winter time, when the snow came, the glass bottles cracked.”

Right: St. Peter’s Church, in the heart of the town of St. George, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the oldest Anglican Church in continuous use in the New World. It’s a key site on Bermuda’s African Diaspora Heritage Trail; the church and its graveyard bear witness to the impact of slavery on the community.

Opposite: Construction of the Unfinished Church began in 1870 and was intended to replace St. Peter’s Anglican Church which had fallen into disrepair after destruction from a storm. In 1899 construction was abandoned due to financial difficulties and a split in the Anglican congregation. St. Peter’s was restored.

Above: The 18th century Tucker House, a Bermuda National Trust property, is the only museum in St. George furnished to replicate a period residence. Its kitchen once housed a barbershop operated by Joseph Hayne Rainey, of South Carolina, who became the first African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Alongside the Museum runs Barber’s Alley, so named to honor Rainey.

Left above: David Frith, town crier for St. George since January 2004, summons the gossiping wench to the ducking chair before a crowd of tourists. The reenactment of the ducking of the wench is staged every Wednesday and Saturday, and “has been happening ever since women started to gossip”, according to Frith.

Left bottom: At least twice weekly, for the last 16 years, Alison Outerbridge has portrayed the misbehaving and gossipy town wench, who unleashes a venomous tirade as she is dunked into the cool harbour of St. George to the amusement of cruise ship visitors. “They needed someone to do it and I just fell into the role in my late-20s,” she explains.