5 ways to go back in time in Saint Helena

Ever since navigator João de Nova happened by this uninhabited island in 1502, a historical palimpsest of liberated slaves and traders, soldiers, and exiles, has been slowly crafted by geographical isolation. Those intrepid enough to visit will feel the palpable presence of the past.

There’s a little corner of Saint Helena that will be forever Française. Three fabulous remnants of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life, who after defeat at the Battle of Waterloo was exiled here in 1815, are located on the island. Let’s start at the end. He stayed on Saint Helena for six years until his death in 1821. Sheltered by trees in the Sane (Geranium) Valley, his tomb is a white slab surrounded by pointed railings. His body was repatriated to Paris for reburial in 1840, yet his aura lives on in this small forested dell. Nearby, Longwood House is a single-storey wooden house where Napoleon mostly lived, now restored to that era. It’s open to visitors to browse original furnishings used by the exiled emperor. He actually hated Longwood and preferred, during his first few weeks in exile, the smaller Briars Pavilion: an enchanting little property set in pretty gardens.

I should’ve been paying attention to the opulent ye olde interior of the Governor’s Plantation House but found my eyes drifting through the Georgian windows looking across the sizeable lawn for a tortoise. Not any old reptile though. This is the home of Jonathan, aged 192-years-old, a Seychellois colossus who is the world’s oldest living land animal. Plantation House was built in the 1790s by the East India Company and has seen generations of British-appointed governors reside here to the present date. Jonathan has seen many governors come and go. Born in the Seychelles he was a gift to the Governor back in 1882. He still roams the manicured lawns of the 120-acre estate. The things he must have seen throughout his long life.

Crammed into an impossibly vertiginous valley, Jamestown’s small population lives amid storied streets where every nook and cranny yields tales of yesteryear. Jamestown is named after James II and was founded in 1659 by the East India Company. The quaintly old-fashioned high street is entered by an archway through thick defensive walls. Two of the most prominent landmarks include The Castle, with delightful gardens featuring a monument to the crew of the Waterwitch, that sank in 1846, and St James’ 1772 church – the oldest Anglican church in the Southern Hemisphere. To get more intimate with Saint Helena’s history, the town museum, located in an old power station near the base of Jacob’s Ladder, curates exquisite treasures including the craftwork of Boer prisoners-of-war exiled here between 1900-1902 and beads with Venetian glass origins emanating from the slave trade.

Basking in the ocean breeze of James Bay, I slipped into the sea and snorkeled the 131-metres length of the sunken SS Papanui. Reflecting Saint Helena’s strategic maritime importance over centuries, eight accessible shipwrecks currently lay sunken around the coast. Papanui is close to Jamestown’s waterfront, its rusting stem post still pokes above the water. Being able to snorkel it is a ghostly yet memorable experience. Bound for Australia carrying 318 emigres it caught fire in transit in 1911 yet the skipper managed to navigate it into Jamestown’s shallows and all passengers were rescued. Other shipwrecks had less happier outcomes yet make for superb diving. RFA Darkdale was an 8,000-ton tanker sunk by a German U-boat in 1941 while the Frontier was deliberately scuttled after the ship’s crew were arrested for smuggling cannabis.

Most attempts to break the existing record time of haring up Jacob’s Ladder’s 699-step staircase usually end well before halfway, panting hard. Rather than aiming for the record of scaling this 40º hillside stairway – which is 5.04 minutes, set in 2024 – it’s best to ascend slowly and admire the burgeoning seaviews. This curious feature runs from Jamestown up Ladder Hill to the plateau top settlement of Half Tree Hollow. It was initially built in the 1820s as a cable railway system to transfer goods and manure between the valley floor and upper settlements. The system fell into disrepair, but the concrete staircase remains. Now it’s the must-do experience for visitors, and if you go with a guide they’ll show you how the Saints perfect their sliding technique for a rapid descent down the ladder.