Did You Know?

20 But the enormous influence of Bajans on the Carolinas is staggering – from the large number of Bajan names in the Charleston phone book to the magnificent houses and gardens created by the successful Bajan diaspora - Drayton Hall, Magnolia Gardens, Middleton Place and the fascinating and famous “single houses” - all part of the beauty of Charleston, America’s most popular tourist city. All of this and more is covered in the beautiful big new Second Edition of The Barbados Carolina Connection , published by Miller Publishing… it’s in all the bookshops, folks. SPEIGHTSTOWN Did you know that Speightstown - the second biggest town in Barbados - was named after a 17th century merchant called William Speight? He owned the land on which the town grew; his name was spelt S-p-e-i-g-h-t - Speight, rhyming with straight … But by the time of Swan’s map of 1640, published in Richard Ligon’s book of 1657, it’s shown as Spyke’s Bay, and it’s been pronounced Spikestown ever since! Or as Bajans prefer – Spikes Tung, rhyming with rung! And did you know it used to be known as Little Bristol? Because it was the first port ships reached coming from England, and there was a really busy trade with Bristol. PRC Bakery in Speightstown Andrew Hulsmeier