Grand Marigot Estate

Geschichte

The Grand Marigot estate was established here from the 1770s and the foundations and the stone entrance stairway of the old estate house are still standing. However the watermill and sugar factory across the river were destroyed by hurricanes and decay long ago and the village health center now stands on the spot. All the surrounding hillsides were planted in fields of sugar cane. The cane was crushed in a mill powered by water from the river. For some seventy years processed sugar, rum and molasses was shipped from the estate aboard sailing vessels that anchored in the bay to collect the produce.

Between 1770 and 1807 enslaved people from Africa were brought to the bay to work on the estate. After emancipation in 1834 many of them remained in the area and farmed small plots of land in the surrounding hills. In 1861 it was still called Grand Marigot Estate and was owned by the heirs of William Davies. By 1869 it was owned by the Bishop of Roseau and was renamed Saint Sauveur Estate. The church sold off or rented many small plots of land to the people in the area. In 1924 the estate still had 447 acres and was owned by the heirs of A.C. Mondesire; later in the 20th century it belonged to the Shillingford family.