History
On 1 August 1834, the Emancipation Proclamation was read at the Sunday Morning Well. This gave slaves their freedom, even though slavery had been officially abolished in 1807.
In 1853, a town-wide fire destroyed nearly every building in Road Town. The fire spread because of angry rioters protested an increase on the cattle tax. Rioters eventually set fire to most of the plantations across the island.
Read more about this topic: Road Town
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“As I am, so shall I associate, and so shall I act; Caesar’s history will paint out Caesar.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s nice to be a part of history but people should get it right. I may not be perfect, but I’m bloody close.”
—John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten)
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)