Fort Young

Fort Young stands on an elevated position at the southern tip of the Bay Front, above the original French settlement.  Today it is a hotel, but it was formerly a small wooden fort, built-in 1720, to protect Roseau from attack.  Threats were perceived to be likely from the British or from the Kalinago who had a settlement called Sairi at the mouth of the Roseau River.  Sir William Young (1724/5-88), Governor of Dominica and a plantation owner, who was on the island during the first British occupation, built a sturdier stone structure in 1770.  The French attempted to recapture Dominica between 1778 and 1805, and there was fierce fighting at the Fort.  

In 1805 the settlement of Roseau caught fire and was burnt to the ground.  From the 1850s the fort was used as a police station and in 1964 converted into a hotel.  This was destroyed by Hurricane David in 1979 and subsequently rebuilt.  The original battlements and ramparts still exist under the modern structure.  There are cannons by the street entrance.