King’s Square

A tour of St. George should begin at King’s Square, which like every other market square in the world has long been the hub of its community’s life. Emblazoned with the town crest, the Town Hall (tel. 441/297-1532, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Sat., admission free) is the meeting place of the mayor, aldermen, and town councilors who represent the Corporation of St. George (whose offices are housed in modern premises on Ordnance Island). The building is furnished in cedar, and its walls pay tribute to past mayors, their portraits gazing down on visitors. On the northern edge of the square, you can’t miss a couple of Stocks and Pillory—contraptions used in past times to publicly embarrass citizens guilty of minor transgressions from petty theft to cheating on a spouse. Tourists typically pose for photos here, their necks and arms stuck through the now easily liftable wooden frames to mimic 17th-century citizens who would have been pelted with rotten fruit or eggs by the watching crowd. Near the water’s edge, the historic Ducking Stool dunked women accused of being “nags and gossips.” Popular 15-minute re-enactments are held several times a week for the amusement of modern-day tourists.

Attached to the square by bridge is Ordnance Island, once the British military’s storeplace for munitions, as well as a gallows site. Now it is home to a cruise-ship wharf and small harborfront park, where a bronze statue of Bermuda’s founder, Sir George Somers, by Bermudian sculptor Desmond Fountain, throws arms to the sky in apparent relief at reaching land at the island in 1609. Also here is a replica of Deliverance (tel. 441/297-1459, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. April–Oct., $3 adults, $1 children)—the ship built by Somers and the other shipwrecked Sea Venture castaways to sail on to Jamestown, Virginia. The life-size model contains cabins that demonstrate the claustrophobic nature of life aboard such vessels. Climb onto the decks and imagine tossing on 20-foot seas for the full effect.