Heritage sites and ruins are windows into the past and, if studied and preserved, can serve as lessons for the future.
In its web series Hidden Treasures, the National Trust of TT recently focused on the Indigo Pits of Crown Point, and the Diego Martin Waterwheel in a presentation by two of its interns.
Marianna Burke said the waterwheel at River Estate, Old Waterwheel Road, Diego Martin, is the last intact waterwheel in TT. It was constructed in 1810 to power the rollers that crushed sugar cane and its juice was piped into vats in a nearby factory, which no longer exists.
It is 16 feet in diameter and made of cast iron while its foundation and supporting wall
are
made of limestone.
The nearby River Estate Museum is a two-storey building in a symmetrical British colonial style. Outside, there are large copper bowls which were used in the
sugar production process.
River Estate was the largest, most fertile sugar estate in Diego Martin and
Burke said it should be valued because of its history.
[caption id="attachment_1034748" align="alignnone" width="689"] River Estate Musuem and the remains of copper bowls previously used in sugar production on River Estate, Diego Martin. Photo by Nesyamn Ramut. -[/caption]
She said in the 1820s, the estate was sold to a wealthy landowner, lawyer James Cadett, the first Alcalde (an administrative and judicial position on the Spanish Cabildo or town council).
Owing to financial difficulties, he sold the estate in 1823.
In the 1860s, George, son of the Prince of Wales, visited Blue Basin waterfall.
In 1870, Nicholas Brunton, a wealthy French creole owner of almost all the estates in the
Diego Martin valley, bought River Estate.
“There is a story of Nicholas Brunton that anyone who has ever gone to a tour to River Estate would have heard. He is associated with the murder of RC priest Fr Jouin, on May 10,
1870 at River Estate.
“This story is very intriguing. It has to do with infidelity, or extramarital affairs. Obeah is tied up into it, (as well as) jealousy. He (was tried and acquitted but) ended up fleeing Trinidad to avoid further scrutiny. It is a very interesting story.”
[caption id="attachment_1034747" align="alignnone" width="1024"] View of the interior surface of the indigo pit structure showing a cut-out believed to be for wooden support structures. Photo by Abigail Charles. -[/caption]
In 1907, the colonial government bought the River Estate to secure water rights to supply water to Port of Spain. Three years later it was leased to the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, now UWI, St Augustine, to grow coffee and cocoa. It partnered with Cadbury chocolate to experiment with Trinitario cocoa.
The estate was returned to the government in 1956 and portions have since been used for government housing, leaving only the waterwheel and what is now the museum.
Burke said studying the place helps people understand the social and economic structure at that time, as well as technical innovation and the dynamics of race relations.
[caption id
