St. Kitts Bloody Point Carib Petroglyphs
You are walking through a major battlefield. That's why it's called Bloody Point.
Bloody Point Petroglyphs Trail
There are many theories about the petroglyphs signify, but no one knows for certain.
You can make out certain forms, too, including a bat, an owl and a 3-cornered hat, the kind the first settlers wore.
Many petroglyphs will be in deep shade. To photograph them, use either fill-flash and high speed film if you don't have a digital camera. Without a digital camera it's difficult to capture the scope of the canyon or the petroglyphs themselves.
You could spend considerable time here, depending on how much you get caught up in the somber mood of the canyon.
It is easy to let your imagination roam freely when you realize this is where the Caribs made their final stand on St. Kitts in 1626, just 3 years after the first Europeans arrived.
It was here in this canyon of petroglyphs that as many as 1,000 Caribs may have been trapped and killed by the combined British and French forces. The riverbed you're standing in literally ran red with Carib blood.
The stream you walked up is called Stone Fort River. and the spot where the Carib village once existed is known as Bloody Point.
A much more accessible pair of petroglyphs is just off the road leading to Romney Manor at Old Road Town, site of the first permanent English settlement in the West Indies and original capital of St. Kitts. On a boulder to the left side of the road are 2 large figures outlined in white.
You may want to continue on to Romney Manor, home of Carabelle
Batik, famed for its fashion items made by the 2,500-year old
Indonesian process of batik printing.
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