Tree of Life

This morning was dedicated to searching out the location of the Mt. Pisgah Spiritual Baptist church in Bridgetown. We wandered for a few hours looking for it, but we couldn't find it:( So, we decided to take a walk through Queen's Park because we had heard that the park is home to the largest tree on the island- a Baobab tree that is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and has a trunk circumference of about 81 feet!

The Baobab tree (Adamsonia digitata) is originally from Africa and is also called the Monkey Bread tree because of the peculiar looking fruit that it bears. In Africa, it is also called the Tree of Life because it becomes hollow once it reaches maturity and as a result offers the capacity to provide food, shelter and water for animals and humans alike.

This particular Baobab tree has an oval shaped trunk, so we took a picture from both the top and side angles so you can see just how huge it is!

While at Queen's Park, we strolled through the gorgeous flower gardens and the Queen's Park House which was built in 1786. The house was initially used as the residence of the Commander in Chief of the British Garrison when they were permanently stationed in Barbados at St Anne's Fort.

After we left the park, we made our way to the beautiful Jewish Nidḥe Israel Synagogue. Information at the site says that the building is arguably the earliest constructed temple in the Western Hemisphere. In Barbados, Jews have played an important role in the country's development since 1654 when Sephardic Jews arrived on the island as refugees from what formally was Dutch Brazil during the Portuguese Inquisition. Jewish refugees brought with them expertise in producing and cultivating sugarcane and coffee- these skills greatly contributed to the development of Barbados becoming a major sugar producer. 

The existing Jewish community in Barbados is few in number, but they work hard to maintain the Nidhe Israel Synagogue and actively support archaeological and historical investigations of the building, surrounding graveyard and long destroyed remains of the rabbi's house. One of the excavations done in the rubble of the rabbi's house revealed an intact 17th-century mikveh which was constructed over a freshwater spring that is still flowing today.  

This was completely unintentional, but I find it neat that we found both a tree of life and a site with living waters both in the same day! haha:)