Quarter Miles Travel With Annita
Destination: Story of Alexander Hamilton and Nevis
Destination: Story of Alexander Hamilton and Nevis Ever wonder how travel expert Anita Thomas chooses her next destination? Well, this year she’s just flipping a coin. For eight years, Anita has been hosting her award-winning podcast, Quarter Miles Travel. And this year on Travel with Anita, she is sharing those experiences with you. This season, Anita will take you to the states commemorated on the back of a quarter, revealing hidden hotspots and don’t-miss destinations that you might not have heard about, possibly in your hometown state. The adventure begins as he reaches into her pocket. Here’s Anita Thomas. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome aboard Travel with Anita and Friends. Now, as you know, we are the spot where we don’t just show you a destination, we take you into its history, its heroes, and the stories that make it so unforgettable. And today, we’re heading to the twin island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, a place of quiet beaches, volcanic peaks, and one truly extraordinary claim to fame. Are you ready for this? It is the birthplace of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. Now, did you know that? Well, if not, that’s what today’s show is all about. Because now you know Hamilton from the $10 bill, of course we know that. And you may know him from the history books as the main man who shaped America’s financial system as its very first Secretary of the Treasury. Or you may also know him, if you’re one of the millions who have seen it, you may know him from the stage where a hip hop and R&B musical turned his story into one of the most celebrated works of theatrical performances in a generation. So let’s get to the information, though, about Hamilton. Because if you didn’t know about him being born on Nevis, this is gonna be a great show for you to find out a lot of great American history, but also Caribbean history. Born on the island of Nevis around 1757, Hamilton’s beginnings, well, they were anything but easy. Because we may think of one of the Founding Fathers as having an easy life from birth until the end. Well, he was raised in poverty, orphaned as a teenager, and yet through sheer intellect and ambition, he rose to become one of the most influential figures in early American history. He was a key author of The Federalist Papers. Yep, that was Hamilton. He was an aide to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. That was Hamilton. And he was the architect of the young American nation of their banking and financial system. That was definitely Hamilton. So it’s a remarkable journey, a remarkable story. And it all starts on a small Caribbean island to the center of American power. And it’s a story that in recent years found a whole new audience. Because in 2015, the musical Hamilton, well, it reimagined his life on Broadway, turning a Founding Father into a cultural phenomenon, and sending curious travelers looking for the real place where his story began. And that place is Nevis. And today we’re going to take you there. But now it won’t just be me. Joining me is someone who knows this island very, very well, and of course knows Hamilton’s connection to it better than, certainly better than I do, and almost anyone. And that would be Greg Phillip of Nevis Sun Tours. So I’d like to welcome Greg to the show for him to help us tell the story of Alexander Hamilton and Nevis Island. So Greg, thanks for joining me today. Alexander Hamilton is celebrated as one of America’s Founding Fathers. But before America knew him, he was a young boy growing up in Nevis. So tell us- Yes… a little bit of, about what life was like on Nevis during his childhood, and how did the island, well, how do you feel the island shaped the man that he became? So Anita, thank you very much for having me. I’m, I’m really happy to be here with you this morning, um, to talk first of all about, um, yes, Alexander Hamilton and his role, um, living here on Nevis. But in addition to that, I’m very much happy to be here to talk about Nevis in general, and also my company, Nevis Sun Tours. Um, Nevis Sun Tours, um, really we’re both a destination management company and a luxury travel enablement platform, which basically means that where it might be difficult for people to obviously find luxury when they’re traveling, we work with, um, them and, um, their travel agencies, et cetera, to ensure that they can enjoy luxury vacations here on Nevis. Now, in relation to Alexander Hamilton, um, I, I probably spend more time with Hamilton than is normal. [laughs] And, and, and the reason, the reason I can say that is because, you know, um, for us at Nevis Sun Tours, we’ve really, um, embraced Alexander Hamilton and, and fully incorporated him into the stories that we tell about this island of Nevis. And it’s important that we do so because, you know, many people do not realize that Alexander Hamilton was born here on the island of Nevis. Mm. Just the fact that he’s born here on the island of Nevis really says that, um, a small island in the Caribbean have had so much to do with the, number one, the existence of America, and number two, with the way America is with its financial systems, its defense systems, et cetera. Because Alexander Hamilton is the man that had so much to do with the origins of all those things. So your question I should, I should get to that about- [laughs] Alex- [laughs] about how, how this island would have, um, shaped him. Absolutely. Um, that w- without a doubt. And, and I can say this confidently, with as much confidence as it’s possible for anyone to say anything. Alexander Hamilton, the man we know for all the things he has done, could not have ever become the man he became without the island of Nevis in his background. And, and, and that’s, that’s as, that’s as sure as we can be. And, and the reason for that is because, um, so many things happened here on this island that really shaped Alexander Hamilton. This island shaped the man Alexander Hamilton became. Well, what was life like during his childhood on Nevis at that time? Ah. Well, [laughs] I’ll say, I’ll say this, it wasn’t easy. 00:07:03,352 –> 00:07:03,792 [speaker_1] Mm. 00:07:03,992 –> 00:07:13,892 [speaker_2] Um, and um, it, it, it begins with this, and, and y- probably for many of your listeners a little-known fact. Alexander Hamilton was born out of wedlock. Really? His mother and father were not married. And because his mother and father were not married, I mean, back then any child that was born out of wedlock had a very difficult road ahead. Mm-hmm. Um, a, number one, Alexander Hamilton would have been in a situation where he could not go to school with, with other children, um, at the school here, that he should have gone to in Nevis. And, and the schools back then, education was taken care of by the Anglican Church back then, and there was absolutely no way the church was gonna have a child from a sinful union-.. go to school with other good Christian children. So if you could imagine- Yeah. here is Alexander Hamilton starting life without a clear opportunity to be educated. That’s Hamilton’s life here on Nevis when starting. But surrounding him here on Nevis are so many other things. It’s, um, the, the vibrant, um, trade and commerce that really positioned Nevis as a, as a world economic power for Great Britain, in terms of what was contributed. And, and, um, all the trade and commerce I’m speaking of related to Nevis and Hamilton’s time here would have been, um, surrounding both sugar and slavery. And um, I, I’ll tell you this though, Anita, um, when, when we talk about Caribbean travel and people coming to enjoy the Caribbean, um, the slavery issue is not something that we can ever shy away from because it is so much a part of our history. What we’ve done though, um, and in the work that we do, is to make sure that when we tell those stories, that they’re told truthfully, but they’re not told, they’re not told in a way that’s going to alienate anyone. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Um, they’re told in a way that is, that is honest, truthful, and of course, um, w- keeping the fact in mind that this is our history, and it’s a, it’s a history that must be told in a certain way, um, so that it is honored and it is honorable. And keeping in mind that no one today was involved in what was happening back then. Hamilton’s early childhood on Nevis is very important to the development of the man who would then become such an important part of American history. I’ll stop here, but when we come back, I will continue my conversation with Greg in talking about Hamilton and the island of Nevis on Travel with Anita and Friends. Back in a minute. Kind of a wonder how travel expert Anita Campbell keeps her travel destinations fresh. Well, this year she’s still flipping a coin. For eight years, Anita has hosted her award-winning podcast, Quarterhouse Travel. And this year on Travel with Annita, she is sharing those experiences with you. This season, Annita will take you to the states commemorated on the back of a quarter, revealing- [Instrumental music] We know one of our Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, as the person who helped us get a treasury system set up in the United States. But what do we know about his early childhood and the conditions under which he grew up living on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean? Welcome back to Travel with Anita and Friends. I asked Greg Phillip of Nevis Sun Tours to tell us more about the conditions and times when Hamilton lived on the island, what was going on, those conditions, and how they go about presenting that history as part of their tours. We, we definitely, with our stories, keep history in its true context. Never mind that we may have feelings, but whatever we feel today, um, are things that we have to embrace because, especially when we’re talking about Alexander Hamilton. If we do not embrace the feelings that we may have about certain things from that period of time, we essentially begin to cheat ourselves out of the true effect that history should have on us. And that, and that, it, it’s, it’s part of our responsibility when we tell the stories, and it’s part of our responsibility as travelers when we consume, um, stories of history in various parts of the world, that we, number one, keep them in their true context, and number two, that we also, um, embrace how we feel about those stories in today’s modern times. But it’s what we have to do when we think about Alexander Hamilton and his time here on Nevis, and how this island shaped the man he became. Well, Greg, you said that so well, because I, I agree so much with you about, you know, telling the history. Because you can’t tell, like, one part of history and say that that was history. You have to tell all of it. Right. Um- All, all of it was history. You know, I mean, we can’t- Certainly… um, you know, we can’t be time travelers and go back and, and see if we can kind of change things. We have to accept the history that, you know, that s- sort of that we were given, uh, and that is- Yeah … you know, part, part of our, our legacy. Uh, so- Indeed … it’s very, very well said. Very well said. Well, I wanted to ask you something though, because I didn’t realize that he was born- Mm-hmm … out of wedlock. So was his- Yes … was his mother or father a, a resident- Oh … of the island? Or do, do you have a little information on- Well … on that? [laughs] Okay. Well, so, so you’re, you’re, you’re gonna, you’re gonna make me get into the story a little bit. No problem. And this is, this is it. I- Well, just a little bit of it … um, the, the more appropriate way to put it, and, and you, and you’ll see why it would’ve been such a controversial thing, especially for the church. The more appropriate way to put it is the fact that Alexander Hamilton’s mother was married, but his father wasn’t. [laughs] So, so you, you, you can see why now. That, that that in itself, um, would’ve, would’ve been such a taboo thing and, and such a difficult thing for the church to accept, number one. But definitely because of that, because of those circumstances, um, such a difficult early life situation for Alexander Hamilton himself to navigate. Well- Mm-hmm … talk about a lit- little unknown things probably, ’cause I, I don’t know how much, you know, Americans, uh, how much we know about that. So, but anyway, that’s, that’s good. That’s great to, to share that, ’cause that does give sort of a broader picture of his- Yes … childhood and probably the struggles that he had to, you know, to go through. Uh, not only being, you know, a child born out of wedlock, but also other situations that probably came through with the families, you know? Yes. And everything. So I can just, I can only imagine. Now, many Americans know, uh, Hamilton through history books or the Broadway musical. Mm-hmm. I don’t know- … if you’ve seen that or not. But few realize that they can actually visit his birthplace. So what can we see as travelers, and what can we experience today at the-… Alexander Hamilton Museum? And why is it important that we stop? Okay. Well, well, first of all, um, the Alexander Hamilton Museum is one of the most, if not the most popular site visited on Nevis today by travelers, and the main reason for that is because of the musical. Now, um, so m- my little history with the musical. I saw, I saw the musical about two months after it opened on Broadway with the original cast. And… Yeah. [laughs] And that was amazing. And then I saw it again, um, when it opened in England, in London. Nice. Oh. That was another, that was another amazing experience. So, um, that being said, I could see why people would leave the theater and after understanding and finding out that Alexander Hamilton would’ve come from Nevis, that they would either come here or while they’re here want to delve a bit more into his history and actually see where he came from. Um, so yes, now many people visit the museum. And, um, our most hands down most popular tour, most, um, written about tour, and the tour that we have that get the most award, it, um, is our Alexander Hamilton Island Tour. Um, that, that’s a tour that we’re, we’re extremely proud of. Um, last year we won, um, an award. Our most international award was from Azamara Cruises. And we won a… based on, um, feedback from their passengers to them, which we had no clue about. [laughs] But, um, we were, we were awarded the best new tour worldwide for Azamara Cruises. What it is now is as a result of why I’m spending so much time with Alexander Hamilton. [laughs] I got you now. Okay. … but earlier this year we, we had, um, the producer of, of that play in England, um, come out and did the tour, and also loved it. So it is through this tour, um, that we take people to the museum, the Alexander Hamilton Museum. Um, you actually get a guided tour of the museum. And guided because, um, it’s a live documentary, a story, an original story about Alexander Hamilton that is actually factual that you’re in, that, that’s gonna teach you so much about Hamilton, his life here, um, his impact, um, worldwide. But in addition to that, it’s also gonna g- give you so much information and a good, um, understanding of Nevis and what Nevis was during his time and what Nevis is today, um, because of influences from things that Alexander Hamilton have done. But when you go to the museum, um, it’s, it’s about being at his birthplace. And, and I, I make a point to say that because people who know the musical would [laughs] would realize that the musical spoke about where Alexander Hamilton was from, but they never mentioned Nevis. They said that Hamilton is from a forgotten spot in the Caribbean. [laughs] That’s not good. [laughs] [laughs] Yeah. So where… Nevis is a forgotten spot in the Caribbean. So I… Listen, I just, I just laugh at that because, um, if I don’t laugh I’ll cry. [laughs] But, um, we do a very immersive tour in there and it really starts from beginning to end. We delve into, um, the very important aspects of his life and some things that, um, some people wouldn’t have known about him, um, because they’re specifically related to Nevis. Sure. Hmm. Um, but then there’s, there’s a few other things that, um, we delve into with, uh, I’ll say a particular twist on it that really connects- Um, his time to our time today. And, and if you don’t mind, I can give you a quick example of that. Um, you know, w- here we are, here we are today now, um, in a world where so many people are talking about trade and tariffs. [laughs] You’ve heard that word tariffs,]Yeah … perhaps in the past couple of years? Right. Yeah. Um, and immigration. And if you, if you understand the history of Alexander Hamilton and, and you’ve really gone deep into it, you would recognize that Alexander Hamilton has dealt with or had to deal with all those things, and he had, he had different philosophies on them. And interestingly, his philosophies on things like immigration and, um, and tariffs, et cetera, and trade, do not necessarily match up completely now with the take that America itself has on it. But it’s just interesting to connect those things and show people where it all started. Alexander Hamilton, you cannot deny his importance in creating a currency, a US currency, and we’ll hear more about that. But I’ll stop here and take a break, and when I come back, I’ll speak again with Greg about Nevis and Alexander Hamilton. You’re on Travel with Anita and Friends. Back in a minute. [upbeat music] Our Founding Fathers did more than just sign the Declaration of Independence. They were very instrumental in creating many things that are today just simply parts of the US that we take for granted. Welcome back to Travel with Anita and Friends. And today, I’m taking you to Nevis down in the Caribbean, because that is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, one of our Founding Fathers. And his story is very interesting on not only his life there as a child, but also the influence that he gained there that he brought to America to make us the country that we are today. I asked Greg Phillip, the owner and founder of Nevis Sun Tours, to tell us the story of Alexander Hamilton. So I continue my conversation with Greg. I asked him to share how Alexander Hamilton is connected with the US Coast Guard. This is, this is what… This is, this is how, um, the Coast Guard came about. Hamilton is a financial guy. Um, he, he’s setting up, um, the financial system, um, that America currently stands on, that the world operates on. Um, and for example, quickly, the, the fact that America has a single currency, that was Alexander Hamilton who decided that that, that is what we’re gonna have. And the reason he had to do that is because it was the world. Um, the world back then is that every colony that became a state, they all had their own currencies. [laughs] And Alexander resolved the co- the, the chaos of that by having one currency. But while all that is going on, there’s something else happening with America. Back then, America was not a great manufacturing nation, and America was struggling. England, America’s enemy at the t
