ADVENTURES ABOUND

BY ANDREA MILAM

Royal Naval Dockyard is a modern-day destination steeped in history. Eat, shop, swim, and explore this uniquely historical destination.

Bermuda’s settlement started with a shipwreck, and in the 400-plus years since, maritime traditions have remained firmly entwined in the island’s growth and evolution. Royal Naval Dockyard on the island’s West End is a beautiful blend of Bermuda’s history, its continued seafaring practices, and modernday offerings for visitors of all ages.

The destination’s 200 acres were purchased in the early 1800s by the British Royal Navy, then massively transformed

Dockyard

via large land reclamations. The dockyard, victualling yard, and ordnance depot were constructed over the course of more than 50 years, built painstakingly by hand by enslaved and free Bermudians and convicts brought to the island from the United Kingdom. The Royal Engineers directed the complex’s construction, and not only did the site serve as a strategically located secure anchorage for the Navy, but Dockyard heavily influenced many facets of 19th-century life in Bermuda. The dockyard employed, on average, more than 1,000 Bermudians at a time, accounting for more than 15 percent of Bermuda’s income; and it gave generations of Bermudians training

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