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a8 local
Tuesday 27 augusT 2024

Alto Vista chapel and its link to Aruba’s origins

According to Etnia Nativa, serve as a place of prayer. The History of Alto Vista by century many inhabitants
in the 18th century most of In 1750 it was blessed by Fa- R.H. Nooyen, it is not known the island died as a result of
the inhabitants of Aruba ther Algamesi who came when Domingo Antonio Sil- the black fever epidemic
were indigenous who lived from Coro-Venezuela and vester came to Aruba from and since people believed
on the north coast, one of appointed Domingo Anto- Venezuela. The elders be- that the Alto Vista area was
the largest communities nio Silvester as the island’s lieve Antonio was a Span- the most infected, they be-
lived in Alto Vista. first prosecutor in the name iard. In 1780, father Joseph gan to build their homes
of the Spanish crown and Antonio de la Vegal called further south within the
As they were very religious, Rome. In 1752 the prosecu- Bernardino Silvester, one of Noord area, so the town of
they had a chief with the tion passed into the hands Antonio’s sons with his wife Noord began to grow into
name of Antonio Silvester of Antonio Silvester’s son- Anna Cathalina Tromp, a community till getting its
who guided them in the in-law, Miguel Álvarez, who “neighbors and naturals of own Church. However re-
Christian life and it was he continued to guide the pa- the island Aruba” and thus ligious festivals continued
who decided to build a rishioners in their prayers. they became natives. to be celebrated at this sa-
stone chapel with a roof cred native place, with the It is not certain, but it is be-
of corn rods, which would According to the book, At the end of the eighteen custom of arriving in pro- lieved that the two graves
cession to Alto Vista. belong to Antonio Silvester
and Miguel Alvares, ac-
Two-hundred years after cording to Nooyen. About
the beautiful time of Alto 50 meters near the chapel
Vista, people can no lon- there are still the markings
ger see much of the town of an old house, where
of Alto Vista from 1750. With Antonio and Bernardino
a lot of work they found Silvester would have lived.
the old foundations of the About 200 meters from the
Church of the Queen of chapel there is a water
the Holiest Rosary to build tank which the locals call
a new chapel on the same Tanki Cacique. In the past
place. The entire surround- this tank was closed. But
ing area was empty and mostly water was brought
desolated, making it hard out from the Poz di Noord,
to imagine that Alto Vista a well dug in the sand.
was a town at all. A hun-
dred years later, people The chapel can be viewed
can see the remains of from basically any point in
around twenty houses, the north side, even from
some made of stone and Paradera and Sero Plat.
others of clay. Nowadays, All the historical remains
only around six of these around the chapel provide
houses remain. us with an idea on how the
old people of Alto Vista
South of the chapel in the used to live. Don’t miss the
yard two graves can be opportunity to visit a place
observed, there was the of historical significance
cemetery which father with a window to Aruba’s
Pablo de Algemesi blessed. past.q