 It has been used by indigenous persons, was featured prominently in the Battle of the Saints in the 18th century, and more recently served as a wheeling station. The Pigeon Island National Landmark, as it is known, has a rich heritage, characteristic of the cultural movements of international, civil, military, and maritime cross currents. General Charles takes us on location to a place that is fast becoming a popular sports. Pigeon Island is a national landmark and stands out as a historic site. It is fast becoming a popular recreational spot for visitors and residents alike. On location today, we'll explore what the island has to offer and aspects of its management. Good morning, welcome to Pigeon Island National Landmark. What's the cover charge? Residents pay 5 BC, non-residents pay 10. Kids from the ages 5 to 12 pay a dollar each, no matter whether they're non-residents or residents. What can we find here? Well, there's lots to see and this is a place to relax. We have a museum. We also have a photo you can walk up to. We have a lot of old ruins in the park where you could visit. There's a pub below the museum where you could also have a drink or something. Wouldn't have a heavy lunch that you could get, a light lunch like sandwiches or some stuff like that. If you let you relax, we have two sandy beaches in the park, showers and restrooms at both beaches which you could visit. That sounds exciting. We'll take a look. Okay. Following the completion of the Pigeon Island Causeway, which links the island to the mainland in 1973, government encouraged Rodney Bay Limited to lease the island to the National Trust. On February 23, 1979, the Pigeon Island National Park was officially opened, climaxing the island's independence celebration. The island displays the cultural monuments of international civil, military and maritime cross-currents characteristic of West Indian historical change. Pigeon Island was used by a number of different persons throughout the history of Saint Lucia. The first ones, of course, were the Arawaks and Caribs. The Arawaks were known to have had some kind of establishment up here and after that, there's in the instance where the Paris were here with the famous Jean de Bois of François Leclerc around the 1500s who actually pillaged a number of vessels out at sea. There was also the French and British during the military times when you had the wars between them. And of course, it figures prominently in the Battle of the Saints. Then we have, of course, it being used as a naval air station around the Second Boulevard when it was basically, they would not have had seaplanes, a seaplane base up here and it was linked to the base that they started Rodney Bay. It also had its use as a waiting station because Saint Lucia had a waiting at one point in time until the non-waiting act came into being which Saint Lucia signed. There was Josette who was an actress, Josette Lee who leased the island from the government and she had her parties and it was a big yacht in place. So Pigeon Island had a number of uses and very, very interesting and sophisticated uses and at some point in time. The first piece of ruin visitors to the park sea on entering is what used to be a five room structure called the officer's kitchen which was built in the late 18th century, a major fortification period for the British. The kitchen was later rebuilt after being destroyed by a major hurricane. The tree as I'm looking at has grown into the wall and if you just look a little bit on the right you can see the wall actually engulfed by the tree. And that's one of the problems but it faced Pigeon Island with the ruins because you have vegetation growing in them. The lime that was used to build them is very nutritious for the trees and they cling to that lime and end up destroying some of the buildings. So this is one of the critical problems of Pigeon Island right now for the ruins. Another signature piece of the colonial period and a more dominant piece of ruin at Pigeon Island is the officer's barracks which was built in 1808. Like some of the other ruins at the park the barracks is in dire need of restoration. When Pigeon Island was given to the trust in 975 what it found was that it had been plundered by people who wanted to build houses and so on came here and it took the main parts of the buildings and went away with them. So we were left to farm really not the best structures and we tried to work with what we have. In spite of its fragility the officer's barracks for the past 8 years has served as the backdrop for St Lucia's premiere musical event the St Lucia Jazz Festival. One thing that we always try to do is doing the jazz festival Corden of the area because as you can see the buildings the more time the buildings is it's breaking down very easily and stones can fall at any point in time and so we always ask people who are there for jazz not to come into this building or try to control not to sit on the walls because we never can tell what could happen and so we are appealing to persons for whatever festival we have here that these buildings are very very fragile and we would like them to at least observe the kinds of things you put in place to protect them. The Pigeon Island Interpretation Centre takes you through time from the first volcanic eruption to present day. The Pigeon Centre has been established in one of the restored buildings with artifacts recovered from Pigeon Island and elsewhere. It generally gives history about what happened during the 18th century on Pigeon Island. Here you could find the history of the Battle of Sains which was fought between the 12th, the 8th to the 12th of April 1782 with the French under British. This is a Pigeon Island shop and we provide a lot of Pigeon Island items like souvenirs, a lot of local items. In fact we provide scented candles, T-shirts with Pigeon Island written on them and sunglasses and quite a few things. We are on our way to the summit of Pigeon Island which is where Fort Rodney is located. This is one of the places that Pigeon Island is famous for one of the names that Pigeon Island is famous for, Fort Rodney. Rodney was one of the admirals, British admirals who really featured very prominently in the Battle of the Sains and you could see that that was the battle that destroyed the French fleet for a very long time so it was very critical, it was very important to the British so he was made famous because of that. So we are at the top of Pigeon Island and one of the more famous looking points is certainly a breathtaking view. What do you think? I mean it's fantastic, I always like to come up here and just relax and it's very serene and it's away from everybody and as you say it's spectacular so yeah, I think anybody should come up here and relax. I'm glad we made that trip up. A little tasking on the legs but it was good. What do you think of Pigeon Island? I think it's very interesting, I like the history of the island it's very pretty, it's got some beautiful views up here and you get to meet some nice camera crews as well. Weren't you scared staying out at a point there? No, not really because the rocks break down either side but don't tell my wife I was out there will you? She won't be too pleased to know the children were there. She'll have kittens, yeah. I think it's quite nice and I can see the whole bay and I can see my hotel and with the boats and everything really. You can see the whole world can't you? Yeah, I can see my house. What do you think about it? Well I think it's quite nice for the views we have out here. What else? What about your experience standing out at the point? Well I don't think it's that scary actually. It's actually quite nice. You're pretty brave huh? No. After that long trek up to the fort the captain's cellar is our next stop a fit in place to quench our thirst. Cheers. For others the beach might be a better alternative to rejuvenate after claiming Fort Rodney. It is also a place to laze around for the rest of the day. Unsport beauty. It's very very nice. Hard work in warm weather like this but worth it. I think all the trees and everything it's nice to know that they're all named so you can look up and see what they're called. Every visitor who comes with someone should at least see Pigeon Island as the educational component of their visit. So we're appealing to the hotel sector to put our brochures out there and let people who come here and stay with visitors know about Pigeon Island and come and learn about it come and experience it because it's a unique experience. Apart from its outstanding beauty the 40 acre sprawl is an ideal place for nuptials and it's fast becoming a popular place to tie the knot. Pigeon Island is open year round. Take the opportunity to sample its beauty and get to learn about the island's rich heritage. Share the experience. Bring the family. Maybe next time we might just catch you on location.