Zion's Hill

Last updated
Zion's Hill
Village
Saba Hell's Gate (cropped).jpg
Hell's Gate
Saba.JPG
Map of Saba showing Zion's Hill
Coordinates: 17°38′35″N63°13′37″W / 17.64306°N 63.22694°W / 17.64306; -63.22694
CountryFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Public body Flag of Saba.svg  Saba
Elevation
300 / 450 m (1,000 / 1,480 ft)
Population
 (2001) [1]
 • Total283
Time zone UTC-4 (AST)
Climate Aw

Zion's Hill, also known by its former name Hell's Gate, is a town on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba. [2] Locally, it is divided into Upper Hell's Gate and Lower Hell's Gate.

Contents

Upper Hell's Gate is the highest village in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level. Lower Hell's Gate is located approximately 300 meters above sea level. On some maps, Lower Hell's Gate includes Flat Point, location of the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport and the Flat Point Tide Pools.

Name

Hell's Gate was officially named "Zion's Hill" after complaints from the church forced the island's government to change the name. However, "Hell's Gate" is still commonly used by many Sabans as well as tourists. [3]

History

The first permanent European settlements on Saba began in the 1640s. [4] [5] By the 1860s, Hell's Gate was one of 7 main districts, with The Bottom, St. John's, Windwarside, Booby Hill, Mary's Point (Palmetto Point), and Middle Island. [4] The Hell's Gate district had its own elected head, as did the other districts. [4] In 1865, the population of Hell's Gate was 161. [4]

Throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, most men in Hell's Gate engaged in farming as well as fishing. [5] Some men in Hell's Gate made a living from lime burning. [5] Most women engaged in domestic work in the home, as well as local drawn thread work known as Saba Lace. [5] For a time, women in Hell's Gate engaged in hatmaking. [5]

Queen of The Holy Rosary Church Queen of The Holy Rosary Church in Zions Hill, 1962 (6550006709).jpg
Queen of The Holy Rosary Church

By 1900, Hell's Gate was one of four main villages on Saba, along with The Bottom, St. John's, and Windwardside. [5] In 1911, the Queen of The Holy Rosary Church was built in Hell's Gate. [5] The church was rebuilt in stone in the 1960s. [3]

The 1950s and 1960s were a time of infrustructural milestones for Hell's Gate. In 1958, Saba's primary road, "The Road", was extended to Hell's Gate. [4] Before then, residents of Hell's Gate had to rely on footpaths to reach the closest village, Windwardside. In 1964, public electricity reached Hell's Gate. [4] Until then, the village had relied on gas lamps for streetlights, as well as inside the home.

Overlooking Saba's airport and runway Juancho E Yrausquin Airport.JPG
Overlooking Saba's airport and runway

In 1959, Remy de Haenen, made the first landing of an aircraft on the island, at Flat Point, in Lower Hell's Gate. [6] [7] Nearly the entire population of the island was in attendance. [6] [7] In 1963, the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport airport officially began service on Flat Point. "The Road" was extended to the airport that year. The airport's runway is widely acknowledged as the shortest commercial runway in the world, with a length of 400 m (1,312 ft). [8] [9]

The early- to mid- 1900s saw extensive emigration from Saba. [5] [10] By 1972, the populations of the three other villages had decreased significantly. [10] However, in Hell's Gate, the population had increased to 206 inhabitants. [10] In the 1970s, a microwave transmitter was built in Hell's Gate. [4] Construction was carried out by the West Indies Television Network, and the transmitter linked to television studios in St. Maarten. [4]

In the 2010s, installation of solar panels began in Lower Hell's Gate, above the Cove Bay and Saba's airport. In 2019, the solar park in Hell's Gate, along with a second solar park located in The Bottom, both became operational. [11] Currently, for up to 10 hours a day, the entire island of Saba is powered by solar energy from these two solar parks and their battery storage. [11] [12] [13]

Main sights

The Saba Lace Boutique in Hell's Gate Saba Lace Boutique (6550013513).jpg
The Saba Lace Boutique in Hell's Gate

Hell's Gate is home to Queen of The Holy Rosary Church, a stone structure built in 1962, [3] in place of its original wooden structure dating back to 1911. [5] It is also home to the a community center and "Lace Boutique" where visitors can purchase locally made Saba lace and Saba spice, a locally brewed rum drink.[ citation needed ]

Hiking trails

Upper Hell's Gate is a trailhead for the Sandy Cruz Trail, which ends in The Bottom. [14] The trail takes roughly 2 hours to complete (2.5 if begun in The Bottom), and has views of Diamond Rock and the northern coastline. [2] [14]

Historic sulfur oven, seen on the Sulfur Mine Trail Old Sulfur Oven (6562172867).jpg
Historic sulfur oven, seen on the Sulfur Mine Trail

Lower Hell's Gate is home to the McNish Sulfur Mine, a now-closed sulfur mine where visitors may explore with caution. [15] [14] It can be reached via the Sulphur Mine Trail, which begins between Upper and Lower Hell's gate. [14] It is part of Saba's Terrestrial Park. The trail has views of Green Island, the ocean, cliffs, and the airport. [14] Lower Hell's Gate is also the main trailhead for the North Coast Trail. The trail takes roughly 3.5 hours to complete and has views of Saba's northern coastline and the ruins of the historic Mary's Point village. [2] [14]

Flat Point is the main trailhead for the Flat Point Trail. [16] [17] The hike leads to the Flat Point Tide Pools, and is about 15–25 minutes each way. [16] [18] The trail passes by the ruins of an indigo boiling house from a 17th-18th century plantation. [18] [19] The trail access is located between the airport and Cove Bay. Hikers are cautioned about rip currents and sharp rocks. [20] [21]

Transport

Zion's Hill is the first town one reaches after leaving the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Geodata 2001, Saba & Sint.Eustatius, Census 2001". Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Netherlands Antilles. 2001. p. 17. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 The villages of Saba (Saba Tourist Bureau)
  3. 1 2 3 "About Saba". Saba Tourisma. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hartog, Johannes (1975). History of Saba. Netherlands Antilles: Saba Artisan Foundation.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Crane, Julia G. (1971). Educated to Emigrate: The Social Organization of Saba. Round the World Publishing. ISBN   978-90-232-0702-3.
  6. 1 2 Johnson, Will (2013). "Fifty years of air service to Saba". The Saba Islander. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Johnson, Will (2011). "Remy de Haenen: 'Lord of the Air'". The Daily Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  8. ↑ Chilton, Nicola (2022-07-08). "What it's like to land on the world's shortest commercial runway". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-07-21. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  9. ↑ Dugdale, Magdalena (2018-12-27). "World's shortest runways at commercial airports". Airport Technology. Archived from the original on 2022-09-07.
  10. 1 2 3 Hartog, Johannes (1975). History of Saba. Netherlands Antilles: Saba Artisan Foundation.
  11. 1 2 "Solar Parks | Saba Electric Company". powerupsaba.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  12. ↑ "Welcome to Saba, a different Caribbean!". The Daily Herald. 7 December 2023.
  13. ↑ MacGregor, Sandra. "Discover Saba: The Sustainable Jewel Of The Caribbean". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Plan your Hike". Saba Conservation Foundation. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  15. ↑ "About Saba: Zion's Hill (A.k.a. Hell's Gate)". Saba Tourism. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  16. 1 2 "Hiking | Saba Tourism". 2022-03-10. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  17. ↑ "The Nature of Saba [brochure]" (PDF). www.sabatourism.com. Saba Conservation Foundation.
  18. 1 2 "The Nature of Saba [brochure]" (PDF). www.sabatourism.com. Saba Conservation Foundation.
  19. ↑ Espersen, Ryan (2019-01-01). "A Site Report of Flat Point, Saba, Dutch Caribbean: A Ceramic-Age Amerindian Site and Early Colonial Sugar and Indigo Plantation". Zemi Cultural Heritage Services Site Reports.
  20. ↑ Allen, Casey D. (2017-07-19). Landscapes and Landforms of the Lesser Antilles. Springer. ISBN   978-3-319-55787-8.
  21. ↑ "The Tide Pools - Saba". ArrivalGuides.com. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2024-01-12.

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