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Cockburn Town Review

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Cockburn Town

Category: Towns
Location: Grand Turk

Fodor's Review:

The buildings in the colony's capital and seat of government reflect a 19th-century Bermudian style. Narrow streets are lined with low stone walls and old street lamps, which are now powered by electricity. The once-vital salinas (natural salt pans, where the sea leaves a film of salt) have been restored, and covered benches along the sluices offer shady spots for observing wading birds, including flamingos that frequent the shallows. Be sure to pick up a copy of the tourist board's Heritage Walk guide to discover Grand Turk's rich architecture.

Her Majesty's Prison (Pond St., Cockburn Town. No phone. Open only when a cruise ship is docked) was built in the 19th century to house runaway slaves and slaves who survived the wreck of the Trouvadore in 1841. After the slaves were granted freedom, the prison housed criminals and even modern-day drug runners until it closed in the 1990s. The last hanging here was in 1960. Now you can see the cells, solitary confinement area, and exercise patio. The prison is only open when there is a cruise ship at the port.

In one of the oldest stone buildings on the islands, the Turks and Caicos National Museum houses the Molasses Reef wreck, the earliest shipwreck—dating to the early 1500s—discovered in the Americas. The natural-history exhibits include artifacts left by Taíno, African, North American, Bermudian, French, and Latin American settlers. The museum has a 3-D coral reef exhibit, a walk-in Lucayan cave with wooden artifacts, and a gallery dedicated to Grand Turk's little-known involvement in the Space Race (John Glenn made landfall here after being the first American to orbit the Earth). An interactive children's gallery keeps knee-high visitors "edutained." The museum also claims that Grand Turk was where Columbus first landed in the New World. The most original display is a collection of messages in bottles that have washed ashore from all over the world. Duke St., Cockburn Town. 649/946-2160. www.tcmuseum.org. $5. Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. 9-4, Wed. 9-5, Sat. 9-1.

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