Your Ultimate Guide To Barbados

Portvale Sugar Factory

Portvale Sugar Factory is a modern-day sugar factory that is located at Blowers in the parish of St. James. Here is where sugar cane juice is processed and transformed into sugar for both local and export purposes. The Portvale Sugar Factory is in full operation during the January to May crop season in Barbados. At this time, tourists and locals alike, have the opportunity to visit and watch the manufacturing process of sugar cane.

Sir Frank Hutson Museum

The Sir Frank Hutson Sugar Museum is located in the yard of Portvale Sugar Factory and is the home to memorabilia pertinent to the eighteenth (18th) and nineteenth (19th) centuries. This museum is a show of appreciation for Sir Frank Hutson, an engineer, who was able to accumulate various items througout the museum with the assistance of the Barbados National Trust.

In the museum, there is an old boiling house where a collection of  artifacts, equipment and mural-sized photos from Barbados' early sugar days can be found. These all come together to translate apt descriptions of the process of cultivating sugar and its byproducts of both molasses and rum. Barbados molasses is made from sugar juice that has been left behind after the sugar has been made. It can be used as a syrup as well as the basis for producing rum.

Despite the fact that the museum is open all year round, there are some very strong recommendations that you visit during the January to May crop season period as you can then do a comparison between sugar production of years gone by with now.

The Sir Frank Hutson Sugar Museum is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm and the admission is Barbados $10.