Bermuda: world enough and time - includes related information on shopping and transportation - Travel

American Visions, August-Sept, 1997 by James Ziral

At the easternmost end of the island is tiny St. George's, a 45-minute bus ride from Hamilton. Carved from a cedar wilderness by the island's first European settlers, this is the oldest town of British origin in the Western Hemisphere. Spreading north from its hub, King's Square, are 19th-century homes nestled behind limestone walls dressed in nasturtiums and chalice vines. In this quaint and picturesque locale, where you'll discover names like Shinbone Alley, Aunt Peggy's Lane and Turkey Hill, there is also Barber's Alley, once home to Joseph Hayne Rainey. The first black man seated in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rainey escaped with his wife to Bermuda shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. Once in St. George's, he opened a barbershop in an old kitchen in what is now the Tucker House Museum. (His wife, Susan, attracted steady customers as a dressmaker.) Within the museum itself you will find the Rainey Memorial Room.

Although Bermuda has adopted a great many American habits that have penetrated almost every nook and cranny, you won't find casinos, strip joints, golden arches, highway billboards or neon glitz. And while the night life may be considered tame when compared with other destinations, Bermuda does have its diversions.

The annual JazzScape this past October showcased George Benson, Dianne Reeves, Lee Ritenour, Gladys Knight and Cassandra Wilson. Once each month (except January, February, October and November), there are free Sunday concerts in Victoria Park featuring local talent in a wide array of programs, from gospel and jazz to soca and reggae.

Among the pubs and clubs offering steel bands, calypso and jazz are Hubie's, which has a jazz ensemble most weekends; the Clay House Inn; and the Spinning Wheel, an entertainment complex without peer on the island.

Visit the island at the end of July, and you will be swept up in its largest festival, the Cup Match, an annual two-day cricket competition between St. George's and Somerset. The match, food and the dice game crown and anchor attract thousands of locals and visitors alike.

Once an ancient crossroads for adventurers and merchants, privateers and blockade runners, Bermuda is more than festivals, storied street names and soft pink beaches. It is a mood, drenched in history--a pastel book of colors edged in sunlight and bright blue sky.

James Ziral, a freelance writer in Hamilton, Bermuda, is a contributing editor for Birnbaum's 1997 Bermuda Travel Guide and the author of Emeralds on a Silver Zone, a coffee-table book on color photography in Bermuda between 1939 and 1960.