The plantation system was essential to the economic and social development of colonial societies in the West Indies over a long period of time, dating back as far as the arrival of the first settlers prior to the 1700’s.
Production on plantations ranged from coffee, sugar, tobacco, indigo and cotton.
Sugar was refined, distilled and used to produce rum as well as in baking cakes, and pastries. It was the most important commodity in the trade market between Europe and the West Indies.
The Colonial Plantation of Bois Cotlette
One of the more successful colonial plantations on the island of Dominica is the Bois Cotlette Estate. Bois Cotlette is located near the south western interior of Dominica just on the outskirts of a small village called Soufriere at approximately 24˚N, 34˚ W. It got its name from the Bois Cotlette tree which is common in that area. In English the tree is called the fiddle wood tree also commonly referred to as Citharexylum spinosum.
The estate of Bois Cotlette dates back to the early days of French occupation, perhaps the 1750s. After the British seized control of the island in 1763, the French owners continued to live on the estate. Today, it includes the ruins of a windmill, the owner's house and stables, as well as a reconstructed coffee-pulping mill. Excavations have yielded ceramics from France and Britain that suggest that the owners of the estate participated in an informal trade which extends far beyond the island.
The plantation itself is located in a valley bordered by the volcanic craters of Morne Vert and Morne Patate. Today, Bois Cotlette is the only architecturally intact colonial estate on the island. The estate includes the remnants of a stone windmill tower, a unique feature compared to other estates in Dominica. It is also the only estate still owned by the descendants of its original owners, the Bellot and Dupigny families. In 1817, the estate was recorded to have 78 slaves. In 1823 when its owner Charles Port died, the manager of the nearby Bellot’s Morne Rouge Estate, Jean Baptiste Dupigney, bought the property. Dupigney could have afforded the land, but not the maintenance of a large labor force. To help finance the debt he acquired by buying Bois Cotlette, he sold the majority of the estate’s slaves in 1826, reducing the number of enslaved laborers to twenty. He continued to grow limited amounts of coffee and sugar and to produce small amounts of molasses and rum. He retained only two skilled slaves to work on the estate; a cooper who’s job was to construct the hogsheads and barrels needed to ship crops to the port and a carpenter. The Dominican coffee industry took a major turn for the worse in the 1830s when a voracious crop eating insect caused the destruction of coffee plants on a number of estates in what was referred to as the coffee blight. The Bois Cotlette Estate struggled on by growing sugar for awhile until a different type of coffee was introduced. By the 1890s sugar production had largely been abandoned and estate owners were widely shifting to the business of growing cocoa, which along with limes was seen as the new “it” crop. Old sugar boilers were adapted to boiling limejuice and a mechanized lime crusher replaced the old sugar crushing cattle mill.
Today, Bois Cotlette remains the pride and joy of Mr. Michael Didier, who has embarked on a number of restoration projects on the estate, including the restoration of the pulping mill which was formerly powered by animals and the refurbishing of the exterior of the main house.
Excavations were undertaken in May and June 2010 on the Bois Cotlette Estate, by a team of archaeologists from North-Western University in Chicago, headed by Professor Mark Hauser. The team also studied two other estates in close proximity to Bois Cotlette; the estates of Sebastapole and Morne Rouge. Studies revealed that the plantation of Bois Cotlette was utilized for no less than 300 years. It is hoped that by the careful and detailed analysis of artifacts found on these colonial sites, that one day archaeologists may be able to recreate the way of life and customs of the people who lived on these plantations. This information will enable archaeologists to establish a chronology of the various events in the life of Bois Cotlette Plantation Estate.
Some of the artifacts found were Scottish clay tobacco pipes dating back to the 1700’s, nails, keys, door bolts, chamber pots, hooks, barbwires, glass bottles including medicine jars dating back to the 1800’s, as well as soda bottles, a variety of tableware, for example teacups, saucers, mugs, soup bowls and drinking glasses, clay earthen material such as basins which were used for water storage, and clay cooking pots and griddles. Most of the ceramics found were of an amazing and unusual variety. The ceramics found ranged from Japanese porcelain to French Faience dating back to the 1600’s, Creamware, Pearlware dating back to the 1700’s and other earthenware. Some of the artifacts were also of Pre Colombian origin suggesting prior Carib occupation.
Fort Shirley
Another site of colonial interest which is being excavated today is the Fort Shirley Garrison at the Cabrits National Park, located along the north western coast of Dominica at the tip of the Prince Rupert’s Bay. The name Cabrits originated from the French name for goats. Travelling sailors would leave their goats and pigs behind, so as to multiply, in order to provide fresh meat on their return to the bay. Today, the Cabrits National Park is mainly comprised of the ruins of powder magazines, officer’s quarters, three cisterns, guardrooms, kitchens and mess, troop barracks, and an artillery and ordinance store room.
Syracuse University Student, Fulbright Scholar and PHD Candidate Zach Brier, is currently conducting his research analysis of the Cabrits National Park. His research does not only comprise of a thorough analysis of its historical architecture but also comprises of the excavation of a variety of artifacts ranging from tableware, tobacco pipes, and rot nails. In time, the analysis of this material will allow him to recreate the daily practices of the British officers, African slave laborers, and African slave soldiers who resided at the Fort Shirley Garrison between 1760 and 1853.
The Cabrits is also the site of a major restoration project funded by the European Union and Eco-Tourism Development Project 2006-2007. This project is spearheaded by local
Anthropologist/ Historian, Dr. Lennox Honychurch. The contractors for the project are the Island Heritage Initiatives Ltd. a small locally based company that provides services to Heritage sites in the Caribbean.
Although it was mainly the British who undertook most of the construction of the site, the French made significant additions during their occupation of Dominica in 1778-1784. Together the British and French in total were able to construct buildings and resources at the fort that provided for over 600 men on regular duty. When the wars between Britain and France had ended the garrisons lost their purpose and so became abandoned. The garrisons remained in the hands of the British Admiralty until they were later transferred to the government of the colony in 1901. The garrisons remained as Crown Lands until the area was established as a National Park in 1986.
Fort Shirley was an important military outpost which mainly served as a deterrent to attacks by the French. The most important naval battle in the Caribbean, the Battle of the Saints in 1782, was fought within sight of the Cabrits. There were only two important battles which took place at Fort Shirley itself; in 1805, during the attempted French invasion of Dominica and three years earlier as the site of the infamous Revolt of the 8th West India Regiment. When the wars between Britain and France had ended, the garrisons were no longer necessary and they were closed down in1854. The garrisons were briefly re-opened in the 1870s and the 1920s when they were used as a hospital and quarantine station. Later the garrisons were used again as an agricultural centre. The garrisons fell into ruins until restoration began in 1982.
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