Fort Burt
Fort Burt is a colonial
above Road Reef Marina. The site is now a hotel and restaurant of the same name, and relatively little of the original structure remains. However, one of the original cannons has survived and stands on the veranda of the hotel, vigilantly looking over the harbour.The original structure is believed by some[American war of independence.
The fort was named after
Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1776 to 1781 (but not to be confused with Colonel William Burt, his great grandfather, who took the Territory for the British from the Dutch with a token force at the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War
in 1672). Descendants of this family now live in Western Australia.
Fort Burt formed part of a formidable defensive network of forts around Road Town at this time, including
Fort Road Town (under what is now the site of the Boungainvillea clinic), Fort George on Fort Hill on the north east side of the harbour, and Fort Charlotte
set high above on Harrigan's Hill.
Fort Burt never actually
pirates
alike to focus on other targets within the region.
The fort later fell again into disrepair, and it was acquired in 1953 by Commander Christopher Hammersley and his socialite wife, who built what was then the only hotel on Tortola. The hotel has changed hands several times since, and is now in the ownership of the Pusser's chain.
