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St. David's Island, Bermuda

One of the principal islands of Bermuda

Summary

One of the principal islands of Bermuda

Field	Value
name	St. David's Island
native_name
image_name	BDA Aerial.jpg
image_caption	Aerial view of Bermuda, with St. David's Island in the foreground.
image_map	Bermuda-St. George's.png
image_map_caption	St. George's and St. David's Islands
pushpin_map	Bermuda
location	North Atlantic Ocean
area_km2
length_km
width_km
coastline_km
country	Bermuda
country_admin_divisions_title	Parish
country_admin_divisions	St. George's Parish

St. David's Island is one of the main islands of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is located in the far north of the territory, one of the two similarly sized islands that make up the majority of St. George's Parish.

The island was originally 503 acres in size. During World War II, in 1942 it was enlarged by reclamation, and by absorbing Long Bird Island and Cooper's Island, to 650 acres, in order to allow room for a United States military base (originally the US Army's Fort Bell/Kindley Field, operated jointly during the war with the British Royal Air Force). This was later renamed as Kindley Air Force Base and USNAS Bermuda, which occupied more than half the island's land under a 99-year lease.

The base was closed in 1995 and returned to Bermuda. Those parts of the base required for operation of the airfield, along with the Civil air Terminal, became the Bermuda International Airport (subsequently renamed L.F. Wade International Airport by the PLP government). Cooper's Island is now attached physically to southeast St. David's, although the two islands are still widely regarded as if they were separate entities.

The island was named by British colonists in honour of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, as the similarly sized St. George's Island, to the north, had been named for the patron saint of England. The two islands are separated by two bodies of water – Ferry Reach in the southwest and St. George's Harbor in the northeast. St. David's is separated from the Bermudian mainland by the waters of Castle Harbor in the south, but is joined to it by road via The Causeway.

Notable features of the island include St. David's Head, Bermuda's easternmost point, and the nearby St. David's Battery, on Great Head (Great Head is the more prominent of two headlands that comprise St. David's Head); L.F. Wade International Airport; St. David's Lighthouse; and Annie's Bay on Cooper's Island.

St. David's Island is connected to the United States by an Atlantic fiber optic cable known as 360 Americas.

Demographics

Like other Bermudians, the St. David's islanders were established from a diverse group of immigrants beginning in the 17th century. These included indentured servants from England, Ireland, and Scotland and enslaved people who were Spanish-speaking Blacks from the West Indies, Black Africans, and Native Americans.

Elizabeth Jones wrote: "Many islanders of Native American descent grew up thinking they were Mohawk. Indeed, the word ‘Mohawk’ was often used as an insult...."

Education

St. David's Preschool and Primary School are both on the island.

Clearwater Middle School is also located on St. David's. It opened on September 6, 1997 in the former Roger B. Chaffee High School with 155 students, formerly from the St. George's Secondary School.

References

"Home - Travel Guides Online".
(16 May 2024). "The Story of St. David's". The Bermudian.
[http://schools.moed.bm/SDP/default.aspx Home]. St. David's Preschool. Retrieved on September 14, 2016.
[http://schools.moed.bm/CW/default.aspx Home]. Clearwater Middle School. Retrieved on September 14, 2016.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

st.-david's-island,-bermuda islands-of-bermuda land-reclamation

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