Why should we care about our forts?
Do you know anything about the history of Bermuda? Do you think the past is important? We do! Bermuda was once a safe place because of our forts, and we should care about them today.
We should care about Bermuda's forts because they once protected us. They helped us to defend ourselves from invaders in the past. The forts should still stand tall. We might need them again.
We should also care because historians think there were as many as ninety-four forts in Bermuda. Now there are only about fifty-four. Many have been demolished because people wanted to build on the places where the forts stood. A little way from St. George's Preparatory School, a fort called Fort Victoria is being demolished. We should stop our forts from being demolished – all of them.
We need forts to learn more about Bermuda's people and our past. If the forts continue to be demolished, we will lose the part of our history that they tell us about.
We need to know about how the forts worked. More than 1,000 people had jobs at Dockyard. Knowing more about how Dockyard worked could tell us a lot about people's lives.
Forts uncared-for can be dangerous. If forts are left to fall down, they might just fall down on top of someone. Our class has visited many forts, and most of them could be considered dangerous. Giving more money to the people who look after the forts could help with repairs. Then no one would get hurt.
Lastly, forts could bring money into Bermuda. We could employ Bermudians to act as people from the past and open some forts as working museums. We would love to visit a working fort, wouldn't you?