Fort Charlotte
The largest of Nassau's forts, built from 1788 with a dry moat, drawbridge and dungeons.
Fort Charlotte occupies a limestone ridge west of central Nassau, commanding the western approach to the harbour. It was begun in 1788 for John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, governor of the Bahamas, and named after Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. The work was carried out largely by enslaved labourers and ran far beyond its estimates; contemporaries judged the design faulty and nicknamed the result Dunmore's Folly. It is the largest of the three forts surviving in Nassau.
Cut into the rock are a dry moat crossed by a drawbridge, ramparts with gun embrasures, powder magazines, underground passages and cells. Forty-two cannon are mounted around the works, none of which was ever fired in action. The site is managed as a public monument with guided tours, and on set days costumed interpreters demonstrate basketwork, cooking and market trades of the late eighteenth century before a cannon is fired at midday.
Highlights
- Begun in 1788 for Governor Dunmore and named after Queen Charlotte
- Dry moat cut from the rock, with drawbridge, passages and cells
- Forty-two cannon, none of them ever fired in action
- Costumed living-history demonstrations and a midday cannon firing
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