Saint George

Saint George, town, capital of St. George’s parish, on the southern coast of St. George’s Island, northern Bermuda.

One of the oldest English settlements in the Western Hemisphere, St. George was founded in 1612 by colonists in the service of the Virginia Company of London, the same company that had sponsored the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. It served as Bermuda’s capital until 1815, when it was replaced by Hamilton, and was a centre of Confederate blockade-running activities during the American Civil War.

Of architectural interest are St. Peter’s Church, established in 1612, and the State House, built in 1619. Those buildings and other historic structures were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. Pop. (2000) 1,752; (2010) 1,743.