The Rubber Tree -- Warwick Parish BM
N 32° 16.007 W 064° 48.309
20S E 329977 N 3571437
A new sign for the African Diaspora Heritage Trail in Bermuda marks a historic graveyard for free and enslaved Bermudiuans, now a parking lot.
Waymark Code: WMNFFT
Location: Bermuda
Date Posted: 03/05/2015
Views: 1
A modern sign for the African Diaspora Heritage Trail in Bermuda marks the spot where an old rubber tree, and a graveyard for both free and enslaved Black Bermudians stood, until it was bulldozed and paved over for a parking lot in thr 1970s.
Some number of years later, a simple concrete memorial was erected in the middle of the parking lot next to a Red Weeping Callistemon tree (a subtle but meaningful clue to the damage that desecration did to the affected community members). The small memorial plaque reads:
"OLD WARWICK GRAVEYARD
Sacred to the memory of our brothers and sisters in Christ who were laid to rest in this hallowed spot."
Eventually times changed. This disgraceful treatment of the black Bermudian graveyard and the real history of this place could be recognized without any euphemism or pretense.
The waymarked sign at this location, which is also under the Callistemon tree, and stands an arms-length from the simple concrete memorial referenced above, reads as follows:
"THE AFRICAN DIASPORA HERITAGE TRAIL BERMUDA
“THE RUBBER TREE”
A Historical Burial Site
In this sacred and hallowed spot, at one time lay the bodies of free and enslaved Bermudians. This monument has been erected in their memory. May they rest in peace."
Bermuda has a complicated and raw racial history, which is still played out in covert and overt ways today.
From the UNESCO African Diaspora Heritage Trail brochure, on page 15: (
visit link)
"OLD WARWICK GRAVEYARD AND MEMORIAL
This graveyard for slaves and others located to on the eastern side of the Warwick Post Office and shaded by the immense rubber tree was paved over several years ago and the monument remains."