Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. The population was about 9,400 in 2004.
The name is derived from the nautical term "the roads", a place less sheltered than a harbour but which ships can easily get to. A 28 hectares (69 acres) development called Wickham's Cay, consisting of two areas that were reclaimed from the sea and a marina have enabled Road Town to emerge as a haven for yacht chartering and a centre of tourism. This area is the newest part of the city and the hub for the new commercial and administrative buildings of the BVI. The oldest building in Road Town, the HM Prison on Main Street, dates from the 1840s.
Read more about Road Town: Transportation and Tourism, History, Geographical Limits, Images
Famous quotes containing the words road and/or town:
“The road became a channel running flocks
Of glossy birds like ripples over rocks.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 14:21.