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Old Admin Building on Main St could be turned into a museum- Hon Hodge-Smith
Hon Hodge-Smith revealed the plans during an October 6, 2023, press conference on an update on the state of the territory in addition to an update on the VI delegation's recent trip to Monaco.
Mesuem important to VI tourism- Hon Hodge-Smith
“In terms of the tourism product, museums are very important, and the fact of the matter is you can have more than one featuring different exhibits. So, the aim is to have as many museums as we possibly can, and in my travels I've seen in my capacity as Director of culture, I've traveled to many countries and they have had varied museums.”
Hon Hodge-Smith added that the VI can work to establish various types of museums to showcase different aspects of the territory's culture and history.
“They are important to our tourism product and we will be working towards enhancing our tourism product, in addition to of course enhancing the capital, making it more pedestrian friendly.”
For the capital city in places like Main Street, Hon Hodge Smith said the old Administration Building is one being looked at with the possibility of restoring it and turning it into a museum.
“Because it is historical and it's been there for a very, very long time. It just needs some attention right now and turned into something that could be functional,” she detailed.
Meanwhile, Hon Hodge-Smith said there is a lot of history on Main Street and her Ministry will look at the resumption of putting plaques on buildings that have cultural and historical significance.
More plans for Main Street RT
“We talked about doing tours on Main Street, because of the historical and cultural aspect of the street itself, a lot of things happened on Main Street. The March of 1949 took place on Main Street... so we are going to be making a very conscious effort again to get these things in place but, of course, it takes time, it takes money, resources, particularly financial resources, to get these things done, but our aim is to get them done."
Meanwhile, Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley said the Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency (RDA) is developing a concept for a national museum, national library archives, national art gallery, and performing arts centre.
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18 Responses to “Old Admin Building on Main St could be turned into a museum- Hon Hodge-Smith”
Under this premise, an engineering-architectural contract needs to be issued to perform a comprehensive structural condition assessment with recommendations for repairs and cost for bringing it up to current standards. Based on the findings and costs to bring it up to standard, will influence the decision to either a) repair it or b) raze it altogether. Cost and practicality permitting, the BVI should try to maintain historical buildings.
Moreover, the VI definitely needs museums to preserve and show case its history, culture, customs, and heritage. Nevertheless, they must be adequately invested in to meet high quality, be well-operated and maintained, and meet world standards. We don’t need a repeat of the old Her Majesty’s Prison on Main Street, which is an embarrassment. It should die a natural death, for it is not something Virgin Islanders may want to celebrate, though the colonialists and planter class may want to celebrate, for that was one of their control mechanism. There are numerous HMP up and down the region but no Her/His majesty High School. Control was one of their things and they still trying to control people of African descent. Hope everyone had the opportunity to either attend or view on line the HoA special session on Heroes and foreparents. I digressed.
The control mechanism was brutally showcased by the brute Arthur Hodge murdering Prosper, a slave, for letting a mango, a mango, if you will, fall on the ground. You know he had to be horrible, horrific, murderer when even his fellow planters convicted him of murder and sentenced him to be hanged. This was the first and only time in the centuries of slavery in the West Indies or probably anywhere else in which a slave master was convicted and hanged for murdering a slave, his supposed chattel property as piece of furniture. Should that event be preserved to educate the next generations of Virgin Islanders on the brutality, violence, genocide, of slavery.