By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 24, 2024 – The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), led Prime Minister Philip E. Davis, has once again demonstrated that voters in The Bahamas made an extremely wise decision in the September 16, 2021, general election when they elected the PLP as the government of The Bahamas by a landslide.
Prime Minister Davis yesterday threw the switch to activate the new waterfall pump and lighting systems during a ceremony to unveil renovations made to the Queen’s Staircase.
Being very familiar with the rich history of Queen’s Staircase from my boyhood years growing up in Nassau, I often wondered why Queen’s Staircase, also known as 66 STEPS, had not been perpetually properly maintained, given its rich history and importance as one of the most popular tourist attractions in Nassau.
Located at the top of Elizabeth Avenue, off Shirley Street, Queen’s Staircase was hand-carved from solid limestone by 600 slaves between 1793 and 1794 “to provide a direct route from Fort Fincastle, a battery protecting the entrance to Nassau Harbor (notorious in that era for attracting pirates and geopolitical intrigue) to the central part of the Bahamian capital,” according to information gleaned from the Internet,
In the 1800s, the massive, 66-step staircase was named in honor of Queen Victoria, who had signed a declaration abolishing slavery on her ascension to the throne in 1837 before reigning for 64 years. The 700-island archipelago of The Bahamas is today an independent nation, having gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973, but it remains a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, headed by the British Monarch, King Charles III.
“Today the staircase is the centerpiece of a stunning tropical grotto replete with swaying palms, waterfalls, and an unusual set of bathrooms hewn directly out of the 100-foot sheer limestone walls like the rock-gouged temples at Petra,” according to the Internet article. “Exquisite at any time of day or night, after dark the staircase becomes a quiet, cool, lush, and romantic oasis barely a mile from the bustling downtown and cruise ship docks of modern Nassau.”
NOTE: Oswald T. Brown is the Press Attache at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. He is also Editor of the Washington, D.C. – based online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among Bahamians in the diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
