Commentary
Newsday reporter
Dr. Rita Pemberton
Located between Culloden Bay and the villages of Seaview, Mt Thomas and Golden Lane, Culloden Village was one of four communities that developed after Emancipation on land that was formerly part of the Culloden Estate. Culloden developed on a road that diverged from the main road between three other settlements.
This village presents an unusual weave of history which is reflected in the names of the places and the practices of its inhabitants.
The Scottish-owned estate was named after a village in Scotland and reflects the proliferation of Scottish estate owners in Tobago during the British establishment of plantations after 1763.
This Scottish district featured in the wars for the British and was the scene of a Jacobite (a radical group supported by France) James Edward Stuart attempt to seize the throne of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuart dynasty in 1715.
The area called Killiecrankie is a very steep, uninhabited area in Old Culloden, between Culloden and Arnos Vale, named after a district in Scotland with similar rugged terrain, which was also the scene of a brutal Jacobin battle in 1689 .
The name hints at the loyalty of the plantation owner and helps to explain the heavy Scottish presence among plantation owners in Tobago: it was the practice for those defeated in wars to be sent to the colonies, where they could pose no further threat to the British kingdom. family.
This village has some very interesting place names. There is Majuba Hill, commemorating the disastrous British defeat in the first Boer War of 1881 in South Africa, and Coco Gully, the Afrikaans name for calabash, in an area where the plant is prolific. Sandy Hill is believed by some to be named after the enslaved man who led the quest for freedom in Courland and other properties in November 1770.
The prominence of female street names in the village is also very noticeable. The entrance to Culloden is at the salt fish junction, which leads to Sandy Hill Road. Along this road are several road markers informally named by the villagers after the women of the area, who were usually at home during the day when the men went to their gardens. The first road sign is Belle Allen Road, which leads to Christiana Hill, Alphosene Flat, up Katie Hill, Audrey and Winne Hill, Evena Flat and Belle Hamlet.
At the end of the village is the only street with a male name. Smith Hill was named after the man who worked in his garden at the end of the road to Culloden Bay.
Also the names of women are the areas that were used to perform traditional burial practices. Ma Lucy Bay, on one side, and Washer Woman Bay, on the other side of Culloden Bay, were used for bathing in deathbed rites. At some distance from Washer Woman was Pickaree Bank Hill, an area known as the home of the peccary.
An interesting geographical feature of Culloden is an area where, at low tide, the receding sea leaves a number of small ponds called Peas Grain, at Culloden Point. These pools are popular bathing areas among the rocks; one is named Bacchus Pond after someone who drowned in the area. Fishermen also take small fish to use as bait from these ponds.
This village developed in isolation. Until the 1960s, the roads, which were rails, could not accommodate vehicular traffic and villagers had to walk to Golden Lane to get transport to other parts of the island. For this farming community, the boat around the island was a welcome link to the rest of the island. This event is celebrated by the resident calypsonian Tobago Crusoe, in his account of Kenneth’s first voyage around Tobago.
None of the western religious groups in Tobago established a presence in Culloden, and as a result, there were no schools in the area. The children attended school at Les Coteaux and, from the 1970s, at Golden Lane.
The spiritual life of the community was provided by the two Baptist churches in the village and the others a little further away: the Spiritual Baptist Church in Mount Thomas, the Moravian church in Moriah and the Anglican church in Les Coteaux.
Village life was dominated by tradition best symbolized by the venerable silk cotton tree, which served as the center of spiritualism and cultural life. The tree, said to be over 100 years old, was believed to house the spirits of ancestors and was the place to communicate with them to ask for favors and seek advice. According to folklore, this is the tree from which Gang Gang Sarah escaped in an attempt to return to her homeland in Africa, but fell to her death because she had consumed salt.
Community life revolved around the tree because it was believed to have medicinal powers. Many went there to find cures and solutions to their problems. The wrap dance was performed to invoke the ancestral spirits who were expected to provide these solutions.
This tree, which was an important tourist attraction, was uprooted during heavy rains in December 2020.
The villagers of Culloden held on to their African, particularly Ghanaian, cultural traditions which helped create strong bonds within the community, which was demonstrated by treating everyone as family. Adult men were called Bro and women Ti.
Isolation dictated that the village function as a self-supporting unit. Villagers supported each other through len’han’, which is still practiced in today’s house construction in the area.
Due to the lack of medical services, the community was dependent on midwifery services provided by TA Leith and herbal healers such as Ivrit. Other services were provided by Mr. Dan the shoemaker, Ti Bud the village baker and Harold Balfour the village tailor. Mrs Chris ran the only shop and other items had to be bought from Golden Lane and transported to the village in boxcarts.
The hilly terrain did not offer much space for sporting activity, which was not a central feature of community activity; but music, song and dance were important. Van Dyke conducted the village choir and Albert Bacchus supervised the song meetings, which were held to mark the nine days, the forty days and the first anniversary of the death.
The village is famous for its tambrine bands, and one of the most famous was that led by the talented Benjamin Phillip. Entertainment also included storytelling, calypso and folk songs, and African-influenced music and dance.
Although Scottish in name, Culloden, with its unique history, is distinctly African in nature.
