ST. EUSTATIUS

Taste

St. Eustatius is a melting pot. Historically, it has been home mostly to residents of Dutch and African descent, but recent years have brought an influx of arrivals from around the world, with their own cuisines and traditions. On the last Thursday of every month, the stalls outside Mike Van Putten Youth Centre play host to Taste of the Islands, an international smorgasbord which highlights the diversity of Statia’s populace. With all meals going for only US$5, the price — and the experience — can’t be beat. It’s a great place to talk up residents and get in step with local issues and concerns. For a more indulging experience, upon your next visit join the Statia Tourism office at the Taste Of The Cultures (TOTC).

4. EXPERIENCE - TH THE PEOPLE...

Statians as they are refered to are very cultured, very hospitable and very proud people. The past is everywhere on St. Eustatius. Statia has more historical monuments per square mile than any other Caribbean island: 119 in total. Oranjestad, the capital, might seem sleepy today, but it was once the Caribbean’s busiest trading port. To walk along the wave-battered ruins of the 18th-century brick warehouses in Oranjestad’s Lower Town is to travel back in time to the days when the island hummed with commerce, and lived up to its nickname of “The Golden Rock.” Up the hill in Oranjestad’s downtown (“Upper Town”) you’ll find the remnants of Honen Dalim, the second-oldest Jewish synagogue in the New World. Steps away are the newly-restored Fort Oranje, with its stunning overlook of the Caribbean. It was here that, in November 1776, Governor Johannes de Graaff offered the first international recognition of the newly-chartered United States, in the form of an 11-gun salute to the USS Andrew Doria. The colonies were able to purchase ammunition and supplies on Statia during the American Revolution, owing to the port’s neutral status, seeding a relationship which lasts to this day.Among the ramparts and canons at Fort Oranje hangs a brass plaque which U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt presented to St. Eustatius in 1939 in commemoration of its pivotal role in aiding independence.