Historic museum building and Alexander Hamilton Museum sign in Charlestown, Nevis

Nevis Museum Plans Redevelopment After US$245,000 Grant

ByBook Nevis

The Nevis Historical and Conservation Society (NHCS) has signed a US$245,000 grant from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation for work at Hamilton House and the Alexander Hamilton Museum in Charlestown. The plans include conservation of the historic building, a redeveloped museum and a new permanent exhibition about Constance Baker Motley, the civil rights lawyer and judge whose parents came from Nevis.

For now, this is a funded plan rather than a finished attraction. The grant agreement has been signed; the conservation work, the museum redevelopment and the new exhibition are still to come, and no timetable has been published.

What the grant will support

The agreement was signed by U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Karin Sullivan and NHCS Executive Director Terysia Herbert at a ceremony in the museum grounds, where Premier Mark Brantley was among the speakers. According to NHCS, the funding covers:

  • restoration and conservation of Hamilton House
  • redevelopment of the Alexander Hamilton Museum
  • a new permanent exhibition on Constance Baker Motley
  • digital recording and interpretation by CyArk, a U.S. non-profit that documents heritage sites in 3D
  • a new Alexander Hamilton storyline, developed with regional heritage specialist Raimie Richardson, focusing on Hamilton’s early life in the Caribbean before he left for North America

The September report published by SKN Pulse presents the award as part of the United States’ Freedom 250 commemoration. It follows US$400,000 of earlier U.S. support for two phases of work at the Bath Hotel, another NHCS conservation project. No start date or completion date has been announced for the Hamilton House work.

Why Hamilton House matters to Charlestown

Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders of the United States and its first Treasury Secretary, was born on Nevis in the mid-1750s; the exact year is uncertain. Local tradition places his birthplace on this site in the centre of Charlestown, a short walk from the ferry pier. Researchers who have studied the property’s records have found no document that ties it directly to Hamilton’s family, so the birthplace link rests on that long-held tradition.

The site’s best-known building is a two-storey stone house, reconstructed in the early 1980s, which now houses the Museum of Nevis History and the Nevis Island Assembly. Next to it stands Trott House, a wooden house that NHCS bought from the Trott family in 2011 and where its Alexander Hamilton exhibition is displayed. The name “Hamilton House” has been used for both buildings, and the grant announcements do not say exactly which parts of the site the conservation work will cover.

Together, the two buildings form one of the main stops on any walk around Charlestown, and the museum tells the wider story of Nevis from its first inhabitants to independence, not just Hamilton’s.

Who was Constance Baker Motley?

Constance Baker Motley was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1921. Her parents had emigrated to the United States from Nevis. After studying at New York University and Columbia Law School, she spent about two decades as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, working on the school desegregation cases that led to Brown v. Board of Education.

She represented James Meredith in his successful 1962 fight to enrol at the University of Mississippi, and she argued ten cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning nine. She became the first Black woman elected to the New York State Senate and the first woman to serve as Manhattan Borough President. In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, making her the first African American woman to serve as a federal judge. She later became the court’s chief judge and died in 2005.

Her family link to Nevis is much less widely known than Hamilton’s. A permanent exhibition in Charlestown would give visitors a second, more recent connection between the island and American history. NHCS has not yet published details of the exhibition’s content or when it will open.

Visiting the museum today

NHCS’s website currently lists museum hours of 9am–4pm Monday to Friday and 9am–12pm on Saturday, with Sunday visits by appointment. When we checked on 7 October 2026, it showed no closure notices linked to the project. Arrangements may change once work begins, so confirm with NHCS before you go: call +1 869 469 5786, message +1 869 661 0408 on WhatsApp, or email info@nevisheritage.org.

Adding Charlestown’s heritage to your Nevis visit

The museum is an easy walk from the Charlestown ferry pier, so it fits into a day trip from St. Kitts or a morning in town. Our guide to Charlestown’s history, museum and historic sites covers the other stops within walking distance, and the Nevis ferry schedule will help you plan the crossing.

The historic Bath Hotel, a stone building at Bath Village just outside Charlestown, Nevis
The Bath Hotel, just outside Charlestown, is another NHCS project that has had U.S. conservation funding.

A short drive south of town, the Bath Hotel and the hot springs show what NHCS’s earlier U.S.-funded conservation work looks like. Our visitor guide to the hot springs and the Bath Hotel explains what you can see there.

If you would rather be driven around the island, our Nevis Half-Day Private Island Tour and Private Nevis Cruise Excursion from St. Kitts both include entry to the Museum of Nevis History. Booking and cancellation terms are set out on each tour page, and you can compare all options on our private tours page.

Book Nevis is not involved in the Hamilton House project. This article draws on NHCS’s report, published by NevisPages, and reporting by SKN Pulse.

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