Fort King George

An 18th-century hilltop fort above Scarborough with harbour views, a lighthouse, and a small museum

Fort King George sits on a promontory above Scarborough with sweeping views over the harbour and out to sea. The British built it in the 1770s to defend Tobago during a period when the island changed colonial hands repeatedly — British, French, Dutch, and back again before the British held it finally after 1814. The fortifications are in good repair, with restored cannons, powder magazines, and officer's quarters to explore.

Within the grounds, the Tobago Museum occupies the restored barracks building and holds a surprisingly good collection: pre-Columbian Amerindian artefacts, colonial-era maps, documents about the sugar economy, and exhibits on Tobago's flora and fauna. The museum gives context to the island's complicated history before a beach day. The lighthouse adjacent to the fort still operates. The whole site can be done in an hour; come in the morning before the heat and for the best light over the harbour.

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Fort King George was built by the British in the 1770s and changed hands between Britain, France, and the Netherlands several times before becoming permanently British in 1814. During French occupation it was renamed Fort Liberté. The lighthouse on the site is still operational, making it one of the oldest active lighthouses in the Caribbean. The fort's battery of old cannons still points seaward — though Scarborough Harbour below is now a container port.