St Barnabas Anglican Church, Liberta, Antigua, the Caribbean

St Barnabas Church - the green stone is locally sourced stone.

One of the great things about visiting places is to find history, interesting buildings, and culture that is different from what you are used to.  Our 2016 cruise to the Caribbean certainly provided all of that and more.  The historic church in Liberta was built in 1824, originally as a school, but became a church when an earthquake leveled the nearest church, which was in Falmouth (St. Paul's).

I recognized the red brick bastions right away as being fortifications to give structural support should another earthquake occur.  It surprised me that earthquakes were something that Caribbean nations had to contend with; dozens of them have been recorded over the years with magnitudes greater than 6.5.  

While many Caribbean nations have limestone, there is often a base of igneous rock making up the islands.  In Antigua, the basaltic rocks contain chlorite and celadonite.  Chlorite has shimmering properties similar to mica, which is why the stone is said to shimmer.  Celadonite is also a mica relative and is noticeably green.  By itself, it is very soft, but with the rest of the basalt rock, it has significant strength.

Another force of nature that Caribbean nations have to contend with is hurricanes.  In 1950, the remains of the aforementioned church in Falmouth was destroyed by Hurricane Dog.  St Barnabas Church withstood the Category 4 hurricane, and it still stands today, with its green basaltic rock on display for all to see.

Thanks for reading. 

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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