Nassau Government House

Nassau Government House

While the Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream was docked in Nassau, Bahamas, we spent some time doing some street exploring, just walking around to see what we could see. We really didn’t have any kind of an agenda except to wander around the streets of Nassau for a while.

As we were wandering, we came across the above building, which sat on top of a hill. The brightly colored building had some flags flying, which made it look somewhat official, and out in front there was a cannon and a statue of Christopher Columbus. Not that we recognized him, of course, but we knew it was him because the base of the statue said so. And there was a gate at the street, so that if the threat of the cannon didn’t keep you out, the gate would do the trick.

We thought it looked pretty interesting, and we thought that you don’t often see buildings with cannon and a statue in front of them, but there wasn’t anyone around to ask what it was, because we didn’t want to flag down a complete stranger in one of the passing cars just to ask what this place was. So we moved on and pretty much forgot about it.

But then the other day as I was looking through my photos, I remembered this place, and I decided to search for “Christopher Columbus statue Nassau,” just to see what I could turn up. And as it turns out, this the Government House, which is the official residence of the Governor General of the Bahamas.

Knowing that made me almost wish that we had gone up to ring the doorbell. Except of course for the cannon. And the gate. And the off chance that the statue was really one of those people dressed up to look like a statue who would whop us with the flat side of his sword if we got too close.

Interestingly, one of the former residents of the house was the Duke of Windsor, who had previously been King Edward VIII of England before he stepped down to marry an American.  The Duke served as Governor of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945, and the Dutchess oversaw an extensive renovation of the house before they moved in.

So there you have it. You never know what sort of history old buildings might have until you find out. Or until you look them up on the internet.

Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank. - Proverbs 22:29

About the photo:
A single RAW exposure, processed in Adobe Lightroom. This was one of my many unlevel shots, so I had to straighten it a bit. And no, I wasn’t standing in the middle of the street, although it may look like it. Safety first! Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm


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Burnsland is Steve Burns, with generous help from his lovely wife Laura. Steve is a husband, father, photographer, webmaster, writer, podcaster, artist, Christian. Steve enjoys sharing his photography, art, and stories through Burnsland.com, from the Burnsland World Headquarters in Tennessee.