Kayla Shea, Scott Alverson and Kelly Nickell paid a full week visit to St. Eustatius with the purpose to gather valuable information for a research project about Statia’s history and to gain knowledge in regards to the role Statia played in the history of the United States of America, to be more specific the First Salute. The group visited the island from May 12th to May 20th, 2013.

After discovering the existence of the under 12 square miles island in the Caribbean, the group subsequently applied for a grant at Funds-for-teachers which was approved and allowed them to begin the journey. “The history on this island is like the microcosm of the history of the world, history is everywhere around you on Statia, Scott said. You can pick up pieces of history, you can see history and hear history”.

The team completed a full week itinerary on the island and visited various locations such as: Fort Oranje, The Historical Foundation, St. Eustatius Center for Archeological Research (SECAR), the Simon Donker Museum and several primary schools. “It was very interesting to see what the schools were like in a different country, different curriculum and different systems”, said Kayla. The team hiked the Quill National Park, and even took some time out to experience the islands rich underwater life in all its glory.

“We are contented with the fact that this small delegation came to the Island to expand on this research said Teena Lopes. According to Scott the group first heard about Statia by reading an article in an in-flight magazine in the US. The article highlighted the important role Statia played in supplying gun powder and ammunition to the US during the 1700’s and that Statia was the first place on earth to recognize the United States as an independent nation”.

The last leg of the trip would be to Baltimore where the group is expected to meet with members of the first salute foundation to acquire more information on the Andrew Doria and to research about the idea to build a full scale working replica of the Andrew Doria to sail between the Caribbean and the United States.

It is expected that a historical documentary called “The other shot heard around the world” be created with all collected photos and videos from the trip. This particular documentary is also expected to be used as a form of an educational tool for students, being the main audiences and distributed to teachers in the United States and the Caribbean.

St. Eustatius, www.statiatourism.com