Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Begin your tour along the harborfront at the:
1
Visitors Information Centre/Ferry Terminal
Pick up some free maps and brochures of the island here.
From the bureau, you'll emerge onto Front Street, the City of Hamilton's
main street and principal shopping area. Before 1946, there were no cars here.
Today, the busy traffic includes small automobiles (driven only by Bermuda
residents), buses, mopeds, and bicycles. You'll also see horse-drawn carriages,
which are the most romantic (and, alas, the most expensive) way to see the City
of Hamilton.
At the docks behind the Ferry Terminal, you can find the ferries to Warwick
and Paget parishes; for details on their attractions, see chapter 8. You can also
take a ferry across Great Sound to the West End and Somerset.
3
Walk south from the Ferry Terminal toward the water, taking a short side street
between the Visitors Information Centre and the large Bank of Bermuda. You'll
come to:
2
Albouy's Point
This is a small, grassy park with benches and trees, which opens onto a pan-
oramic vista of the boat- and ship-filled harbor. Nearby is the Royal Bermuda
Yacht Club, which has been an elite rendezvous for the Bermudian and
American yachting set—including the rich and famous—since the 1930s. To
use the word “royal” in its name, the club obtained special permission from
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort. The club sponsors the widely tele-
vised Newport-Bermuda Race.
After taking in the view, walk directly north, toward Front Street. Continue east along
Front Street to the intersection with Queen Street. This is the site of the:
3
“Birdcage”
This is the most photographed sight in Bermuda. Here you can sometimes find
a police officer directing traffic. If the “bobby” is a man, he's likely to be wearing
regulation Bermuda shorts. The traffic box was named after its designer,
Michael “Dickey” Bird. It stands at Heyl's Corner, which was named for an
American southerner, J. B. Heyl, who operated a nearby apothecary in the
1800s.
Continue north along Queen Street until you reach:
4
Par-la-Ville Park
This was once a private garden attached to the town house of William B. Perot,
Bermuda's first postmaster. Perot, who designed the gardens in the 19th century,
collected rare and exotic plants from all over the globe, including an Indian rub-
ber tree, which was seeded in 1847. Mark Twain wrote that he found the tree
“disappointing” in that it didn't bear rubber overshoes and hot-water bottles.
Also opening onto Queen Street at the entrance to the park is the:
5
Bermuda Historical Society Museum
This museum, at 13 Queen St., is also the Bermuda Library. It's filled with
curiosities, including cedar furniture, collections of antique silver and china,
hog money (the original monetary unit minted in Bermuda), Confederate
money, a 1775 letter from George Washington, and other artifacts. The library
