Hamilton Estate
Offering panoramic view of Charlestown and St.Kitts. Hamilton Estate is located on the upper part of Government Road. The volcanic stone windmill tower and late 19th century steam engine are all that remain of a once thriving sugar estate. It last produced sugar in the early 1950s.
New River Estate
This was the last mill to
produce sugar
commercially on Nevis, New River, with its massive machinery, elegant chimney, ruined great house with volcanic
stone colonnade and complete sugar boiling wall offers the visitor a glimpse of the days “when sugar was king.”
Coconut Walk Estate
Down towards the sea from New River Estate, the silent ruins of this early 18th century sugar works, kitchen and house are an evocative reminder of the early free and slave craftsmen of Nevis. The tall, perfectly proportioned windmill tower, built by the Huggins family, is one of the finest on Nevis.
The Lime Kiln
Located next to the crashing waves at Huggins Bay, this early lime kiln is still used to burn coral which washes up on nearby beaches to make lime for the lime mortar essential to the construction of many stone buildings in Nevis. The kiln has been in use for over 200 years. The barrel-vaulted storage building adjacent to the kiln has withstood many earthquakes and hurricanes.
Cottle Church
Opened in 1825, this was the first Anglican Church in the Caribbean where Blacks and Whites worshipped together (10 years before the end of slavery in the region). Created by estate owner and slave holder Thomas Cottle, it was rebuilt in the mid-1800s after earthquake damage and fell out of use by the early 1900s.
Eden Browne Estate Great House
Nevis is dotted with ruins of sugar estates, remnants of a bygone era when sugar ruled and the island was Queen of the Caribees. The cut stone buildings are a testament to the talents of African slaves who hand-hewed blocks of volcanic stone that were laid using taris, a natural material, in the mortar that bound the stones into foundations and walls. The arched openings and square-cut door-ways and windows with crafted keystones withstood the years as evidence of a past lifestyle.
One ruined estate much written and spoken about is Eden Browne. Stories, now apparently only partially true, have been circulated about this once sugar, and later cotton plantation that was operated into the 1980’s. In 1677 there were seven Browne families on Nevis. James Browne, Senior and another James Browne, Junior, were probably the ones who gave the name to the property in St. James Parish, now known as Eden Browne Estate.
Before leaving for North America to seek a climate that he hoped would be more beneficial to his health, James Browne, Junior, willed the estate to his widowed sister Elizabeth White, then living in Antigua, with the request that she take care of his mestee (born of a slave) children. Upon her brother’s death in 1817, White sold the property to Edward Huggins who lost no time in moving his family onto the land which was situated next to the Maynard Estate at New River.
In 1774 the property was called “Browne’s Estate” , but in 1817 in the slave registry, Anne Hutton lists the place as “Eden” and in 1834, Edward Huggins, then owner, called it Eden Estate. One historian is convinced that the name “Eden” was not given to the estate until after the departure of the Brownes, and that the property became known as “Eden Browne” so that it was clear what was intended in day-to-day conversations.
Now we come to the part of the story, part truth and part legend, that has fascinated visitors and residents alike. Julia Huggins and Walter Maynard, whose fathers owned the adjoining estates, fell in love and were to be married on June 17,1822 at Eden Browne. During the pre-wedding festivities, Julia’s brother, John and the bridegroom argued, their tempers flared and their differences ended in a duel.
According to the legend both were killed, and Julia is said to have spent the rest of her life mourning the loss of her bridegroom and brother.
She lived out her days at Montravers with her sister, and although living in the same house, the sisters met once a week-on Sunday for tea. A sad and peculiar lady, Julia lived until June 24,1910, and is buried in St. Thomas Lowlands Church under a simple stone inscribed, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.”
One unsubstantiated account says that in a mid-19th century letter to Walter Maynard, Anne Hutton refused his proposal of marriage on the grounds that Maynard had been a “murderer” in 1822. Perhaps Walter Maynard, Julia’s intended, was not killed in the with John Huggins (whose death is certified) but fled to England to avoid prosecution, leaving behind a grief stricken Julia, who villagers say, clad in a tattered wedding grown appears on full moon nights at Eden Browne’s top step.
By the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society
Hamilton House
Birthplace of the great American statesman, was originally built circa 1680, but destroyed by and earthquake around 1840. A constructed Georgian-style building houses the Hamilton Museum, which displays on the history of Nevis and the life of Hamilton. On the outside wall of the former residence is a plaque 
commemorating Hamilton’s birthplace dedicated by the Alexander Hamilton Bicentennial
Commission and dated January 1957. The museum contains edited papers
authored by
Hamilton, history books, historic documents, old photos of Nevis, and antique furniture. A separate room offers artifacts found on Nevis dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
