PROF SELWYN CUDJOE says the village of Tacarigua is one of the oldest in Trinidad, as it is over 400 years old.
Historical records show the Tacarigua Savannah once stretched from Arima to San Juan to Caroni.
Speaking at a lecture titled Tacarigua, A Historical Village in Trinidad: Orange Grove Savannah a Legacy Worth Preserving, hosted by the Save Our Green Spaces Committee, on June 4, he said the ward of Tacarigua was founded a few decades after St Joseph, the first capital of TT.
The name of the village appears for the first time in the historical record in 1595,and he said it was one of the first encomiendas established by the Spanish.
“Tacariguans lived among the Amerindians. Tacarigua is an Amerindian word, which I found in a Carib dictionary in the National Library. Tacarigua is believed to come from a Venezuelan village, 100 miles outside of Caracas."
It is important to understand, he said, that Tacarigua became "one of the richest villages in 1802, with 14 sugar factories, the fourth largest number of sugar mills in the island. It had light rum distilleries, two coffee mills and a steam engine. We used to produce brown crystals through a vacuum pan process, as opposed to the Muscovado process. We’ve always been an important part of Trinidad.”
[caption id="attachment_1090311" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Residents exercise at the Orange Grove Savannah, Tacarigua, on June 4. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
Cudjoe said the largest slaveowner in TT, William Hardin Burnley, had built his mansion there in 1821, approximately 100 yards south of the Eddie Hart Pavilion.
“When Burnley came here, he tief all the people money and built a tapia house. The walls were stronger than anything else and ecologically friendly. He acquired 13 plantations all over the country and became one of the richest men in the Caribbean. When slavery ended, in terms of compensation, Burnley got the most money, and was still making money because of the sugar production.”
He said the only remaining physical memory of Burnley’s estate was a coolie pistash tree.
Cudjoe said St Mary’s Village was established first after Emancipation, followed by Paradise, which was predominantly Hindu, and Dinsley which was predominantly Muslim.
“From its earliest days, Tacariguans lived together in relative peace and harmony in a community where the commitment of sharing and caring for one another was always a major priority and participation in your community. We are ‘districkers’ for a long time."
[caption id="attachment_1090312" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The pavillion on the Eddie Hart Grounds of the Orange Grove Savannah. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
Cudjoe was born, raised and lives in Tacarigua. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother Jonathan and Ameila Cudjoe were born in Tacarigua in 1833 and 1837. His grandparents Robert James and Moria (nee Bonas) and his father, Lionel, were all born in Tacarigua. He said his father used to take children to school at the Tacarigua Presbyterian School, and his m
