Governor Holiday pays working visit to National Heritage sites

jul 27, 2012

Harbour View - On Friday 27 July 2012, His Excellency Eugene B. Holiday paid a working visit to various National Heritage sites on Sint Maarten aimed at increasing awareness and support for the National Heritage of the island. This working visit is part of the Governor’s program to obtain a firsthand view of developments in the community and forms part of his objective to promote Excellence in Governance.


The Governor started his visit at the Court House(±1793) and walked down Front street with dr. Haviser highlighting several of the monuments along the route. Crossing the bridge over the Rolandus canal (1852) the first part of the tour ended with the Governor visiting the ”Vineyard House” (±1860) where he met and discussed the history of the house with the Mrs. Bunchi Buncamper and Mrs. Carolyn Buncamper . Subsequently, the Governor visited the great Salt Pond and the Foga ruins (1852)(salt factory) where toghether with Dr. Haviser he met Mr. Heyliger and Ms. Gumbs from the sucker garden community organization. After the Governor was informed on the status of the site, the Governor went to the Bellvedere Plantation House where dr. Haviser gave a tour of the ruins and briefed the Governor on the status of the different plantation homes on the island. The Governor then received a tour of the Emilio Wilson Park and concluded his tour by having a lunch with the Simarc students at Simarc HQ, where the students informed the Governor about their recent findings at the Emilio Wilson plantation house. His Excellency Governor Holiday encouraged Dr. Haviser and the students to continue with their valuable work and contributions towards discovering, documenting and preserving Sint Maarten’s rich historic and cultural heritage.