Cockburn Town travel guide

Cockburn Town, the capital and financial centre, has some attractive colonial buildings, mostly along Duke Street, or Front Street, as it is usually known. The government offices are in a small restored square with cannons facing the sea. The post office and government buildings are painted in blues, ranging from deep turquoise to almost white, nicely matching the ocean.

The oldest church on Grand Turk is St Thomas’ Anglican church (inland, near the water catchment tanks), built by Bermudan settlers. After a while it was considered too far to walk to the centre of the island and St Mary’s Anglican church was built in 1899 on Front Street. This is now a pro-Cathedral with the southern Bahamas and is the first cathedral in the islands. The Victoria Library, built to commemorate 50 years of Queen Victoria’s reign, is also an interesting building. Odd Fellows Lodge, opposite the salt pier, is thought to be one of the oldest buildings on the island and was probably the place where the abolition of slavery was proclaimed in 1832.

The Tourist Board office is in a renovated town customs building and warehouse, built in the old Bermudan architectural style. It sits on the water at the north end of Cockburn Town and is a pleasant place to stop off.