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Images: Signal Stations
Plantation owners built a system of six signal stations across
Barbados in 1819 as a way to suppress slave rebellions. The stations were tall
enough to allow someone inside to see out over the island's relatively flat land, and they
were placed at strategic locations around the island so each station could always be seen
by at least one other. In that way, the plantation owners were able to monitor the
land between and to communicate with each other via signal fires and semaphore. When
people began using telephones for communication, the signal stations became obsolete.
The last station was closed in 1887.
The signal station seen here, Grenade Hall, is located in St.
Peter's Parish in the north-central region of the island. The station was restored
recently and rebuilt from the single wall that was left after the plantation owners
allowed it to fall into disrepair.
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