Nelson's Dockyard

Horatio Nelson called English Harbour an infernal hole. He served here from 1784 to 1787, when the Royal Navy kept its Caribbean repair yard in this narrow, sheltered inlet, and the yard was later renamed after him. It is the only Georgian naval dockyard in the world still in use, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of the stone buildings went up between 1780 and 1820, built by enslaved Africans, who also made up more than three quarters of the workforce as shipwrights, blacksmiths, caulkers and sailmakers. The navy left in 1889 and the yard reopened as a historic site in 1961.

Today it is a marina full of yachts, with the old buildings put back to work: the Dockyard Museum in the 1855 Naval Officer's House, a bakery, bars and restaurants, and two hotels, the Copper and Lumber Store and the Admiral's Inn. The stone pillars of the 1797 sail loft are still standing. Entry is paid. The dockyard is the core of a national park of nearly 16 square miles that also takes in Shirley Heights, the Dow's Hill Interpretation Centre and Fort Berkeley at the harbour mouth, and Antigua Sailing Week and the Classic Yacht Regatta are based here.