Museum of Antigua and Barbuda

The Museum of Antigua and Barbuda is the best place to make sense of the islands' history before you set out to explore them. It occupies the former St. John's Courthouse, a handsome stone building of 1750 that is reckoned the oldest in the capital, St. John's. The courthouse was designed by Peter Harrison, an architect known for fine colonial buildings across the West Indies and North America; the ground floor once held the Court of Justice and the upper rooms the colonial legislature.

Opened as a museum in 1985 and run by the Historical and Archaeological Society, the collection tells the long story of the islands in a single, manageable visit. Displays trace the Amerindian peoples who first settled here, the arrival of Europeans, the brutal sugar-and-slavery economy that shaped places like Betty's Hope, emancipation, and the road to independence in 1981.

Among the exhibits are Arawak and pre-Columbian artefacts, models and tools from the plantation era, and a cricket bat belonging to the Antiguan-born legend Sir Vivian Richards, a nod to the islands' sporting pride. It is a modest, old-fashioned museum rather than a slick modern one, but that is part of its charm, and the building itself is an exhibit.

The museum sits in the heart of town, an easy walk from St. John's Cathedral, the market, and the cruise terminal, which makes it a natural stop on a walking tour of the capital. Admission is by a small donation, it is open on weekdays and Saturday mornings, and an hour is plenty to take it in.