LANDFALL OF
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Three monuments marking the first landfall of
Christopher Columbus in the New World have been erected on San Salvador
Island. One is on the eastern coast (put up in the 1890s) and the other
two are on the western coast, along Fernandez Bay (put up in the 1950s).
Columbus Monument - this consists of a cross put up in the mid-1950s
along the beach in the southern part of Fernandez Bay.
Heloise Monument - a relatively ugly marker put up in the early 1950s
at Bamboo Point, in the northern part of Fernandez Bay. The original plaque (see the above &
below photos from 1964) has been vandalized & stolen (see 2nd
photo below from the 1990s). The 1990s plaque has also been vandalized
& stolen (I noticed this during a visit in 2010 - I’m not sure how many
other replacement plaques have come and gone; and I’m assuming that the
1964 photo shows the original plaque!).
Chicago Monument - on the eastern side of San Salvador Island is the
oldest monument erected to mark Columbus’ arrival in the New World. It is
known as the Chicago Monument. Its
plaque reads: “On this spot Christopher Columbus first set foot upon the soil
of the New World. Erected by the Chicago Herald. June 1891.”