Queen’s Staircase

The Queen's Staircase is a passage carved through solid limestone in Nassau, Bahamas, connecting the town center with Fort Fincastle above. The 66 steps rise through a narrow rock cutting whose walls still show original chisel marks in places.

Enslaved people created the stairway between 1793 and 1794 to provide a shorter route from the fort to the town. The passage served military purposes before later becoming a general thoroughfare.

The name honors Queen Victoria, whose reign saw the end of British slavery in 1834. Today vendors and visitors use this tree-lined passage to move between two levels of the town.

The stairway is open year-round and offers a shaded climb thanks to surrounding rock walls and vegetation. Guides often wait at the entrance and share information about the site for voluntary tips.

Renovation work in 2024 addressed water damage and stabilized the steps without erasing visible tool marks. Some areas still show the irregular grooves left when workers removed the rock.

Website: https://bahamas.com/vendor/queens-staircase

GPS coordinates: 25.07384,-77.33782

Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:29