Lopinot

Lopinot is located north of Arouca on the southern slopes of the northern mountain range.

It was founded by Charles Josef Compte Lopinot de la Fresilliere.

Compte Charles De Lopinot, Knight of the Military order of St. Louis, Lieutenant General of the French Army and Brigadier General of the Military of the Colony of Trinidad, was born in France in 1738.  He arrived in Trinidad in 1800 and from 1806 to 1819 lived in Lopinot.  The tombs of the illustrious Compte and his wife Marie Cecile Dannoy are located at the Historical Complex in the village of Lopinot. 

Compte De Lopinot served the French army in Louisiana USA and when that province was ceded to Spain, moved in 1776 to settle in Saint Dominique, where he became a successful planter.

A Royalist, he lost all his possessions in Saint Dominique when in 1793 he fought alongside the English. After the battle, he requested from the King of England a grant of land as compensation for ‘war services’.

Travelling via Jamaica, the Compte arrived in Trinidad on April 29^th, 1800 with his family and 100 loyal slaves.  He settled for a while on the Orange Grove Estate in Tacarigua and with his slaves explored the Valley of the Garden River.  The land was eventually granted by the King and he received 478 acres located in the beautiful hollow plain as if it were scooped out of the mountain.  There he dedicated himself to the growing of Cocoa and he called his estate “La Reconnaissance”.

We visited this site as a church group excursion trip, on Indian Arrival day, the day after Corpus Christi, the Friday of the long weekend.  We saw lots of foliage at the Historical site and enjoyed splashing in the river.  Also featured was an old time dirt oven, a cocoa house and many fruit trees.

We got cocoa off the trees much to my daughter’s delight and cooked a wide assortment of food right at the river.  We then ventured for a walk downstream.

We had a fun day and took our tired bodies back to our places of abode.

Here are a few memoirs from our trip.

Mountain view

Cocoa house with wash station

Cocoa house

Decorative fauna and wood work

Inside of cocoa house

Main house

Another view of main house

Caption explaining site

Local xzora flower

Cuatro used to play parang music

Old dirt oven

Close up of xzora flower

Palm tree with a kiskedee up in it

Local lily

Sign indicating that its closer to get to the west coast than the east even though we were in the east

Toco, North eastern most point

Tree on the property

Sexy bark

Mountainside

Bananas

Water fell in a pool here and my son enjoyed bathing right in that pool

Cocoa the fruit of chocolate

Cocoa close up

Inside the cocoa fruit after my daughter had eaten the inside pulp

Sweet cocoa nectar

She scraped it clean

Cocoa busted in half

Top of cocoa fruit

The tip of the cocoa fruit

Cocoa just showing the inside

Look at the drippings of the cocoa nectar

p.s. will update plant and flower names as I get them  :)



© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited.