Erin Village in History (PART 1 & 2)

The very name Erin is most probably is a corruption of the name Herin which was the name given to the place by the Amerindians who settled this area some time around 500 A.D. Archaeologist Peter Harris suggests that they may have been of the Arawakan-speaking Shebaio people who originated from the Orinoco Delta. The original settlement apparently formed a ring some 1.2 km. In diameter, as pottery shards of the Erin-Barranco type have been found in Carapal and Los Charos to the northeast of the village as well as near the village center. These people cultivated cassava, maize and squashes, and also subsisted heavily on marine foods, as the numerous kitchen middens near Erin suggest. One of these is in the yard of the present-day police station, and can be seen along the roadway to the fishing depot. In 1941, archaeologist John Carter and his wife excavated a human skeleton just south of the station. This find can be seen in the National Museum in Port-of-Spain.
The heavy Amerindian presence at Erin m ade it an ideal location for the establishment of a mission to convert them to Christianity. This was done in 1760, when Capuchin monks from Aragon in Spain ( who had already established the mission of Siparia two years earlier) implemented a mission of their own ( comprising a chapel, presbytery and cemetery) at what is now Santa Isabella estate in Buenos Ayres village ( then known as El Pilar). The mission was dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi who is still the patron saint of the present day Erin R.C church. The influx of French settlers with the Cedula of Population in 1783, saw the arrival of Monsieur Lesade and his family and slaves. He established an estate near the original mission for the cultivation of cocoa , coffee and sugar cane . His dwelling house still exists on the Buenos Ayres- Cap-De-Ville road . The two pillars and steps at the entrance to the house date from the late 18th century, while the house itself was last renovated in the 1870’s.

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Communication by Erin was best by sea. This is especially so when Governor Sir Ralph Woodford inaugurated an island steamer service, which called at Erin on a regular basis, to deliver goods and mail, and to collect the produce of the cocoa and coffee estates. In 1846, Erin was officially declared a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trinidad. Indeed, there has never been another church in the village which is almost 100% Catholic . Though a Ward (government) School was built here in the 1850’s it was very short-lived and it was not until 1902 that Erin was to get a permanent primary school in the form of Erin R.C School. During this time, the Amerindian population of Trinidad had become extinct. This however, did not prevent landings at Puerto Grande Beach. Separated from Erin bay by a headland, Puerto Grande beach must be accessed via the Erin/ Cap-De-Ville Main Road, which winds through some breathtaking scenery. This beach is isolated and rocky, and therefore not a bather’s beach. It was however, the point at which Warao ( known locally as the Warahoon) indigenous people of the Orinoco Delta, used to come ashore. There is however a reliable source who guarantees that several small bands would canoe to Puerto Grande as recently as 1965, in order to trade with villagers. Several older residents of the village all concur on the same story of the periodic landings, which took place at no fixed time. The story goes that they would land on the beach and draw the canoes out of the surf. Short, muscular men with beardless faces, flat foreheads, almond skin and dark eyes; shapely women with flowing hair and lithe children, all clad only in loincloths. These first people would then take up a wareshi ( a palm-frond bag which is slung from the forehead and dangles down the back) , filled with cassava, crafts and small animals which were sold as pets, and make the journey to Erin village in order to trade these items at the village shop ( which still stands in ruin near an old gas station) for dry goods and a few foodstuffs. What is remembered about them is that they spoke no English , Spanish or French Patois which were dominant languages at the time. Instead, they negotiated their purchases by means of sign language. It is also remembered that in the trek from the landing place to Erin village , they never followed the main road, but instead, guided by a sixth sense, would unerringly plunge into the bushes, and meticulously retrace the footsteps of their forefathers along a long obliterated trail. Thus, a peasant tilling a patch of cultivated plants behind his ajoupa , may have occasionally been rudely startled as a long column of naked Warao suddenly appear from the bushes to make their way in stolid silence across his backyard as they followed their ancestral highway. The last reported landing of the Warao, apparently took place in 1965. The informant, then a young man, claims that four canoes filled with people came ashore and followed for what was the last time, the ancestral trail to Erin.. It is without surprise that not a few of the locals in this area bear the strikingly sharp features and almond eyes which hint at indigenous genealogy.
In 1876, the Catholic church was moved from Buenos Ayres , to its present location on a hill near the village center. This also included a wooden presbytery which was only recently demolished . The statue of Our Lady of Erin also dates from the mid-19th century and was originally on a pedestal facing the roadway, but was moved to the front of the church by parishioner Mr. J. Anduze.
During this time, Erin was made a ward in the county of St. Patrick , complete with its own warden, Paul De Veurteuil Erin received its police station and RC. School near the close of the 19th century, and was given a new boost in commerce when the Trinidad Government Railway penetrated as far as Siparia , thirteen miles away. The discovery of oil in Palo Seco and Santa Flora during the 1920’s gave the villagers of Erin a chance to tap into a new source of income by “ wukkin in de oil” . Today, this is still a viable source of employment for villagers. The island steamer stopped its service in 1928 and this forced the villagers of Erin to make the trek to Siparia whenever they needed to sell their produce . The outbreak of WWII in 1939, saw the establishment of American Army and Navy bases in Trinidad at Wallerfield and Chaguaramas . Outposts were also established on the south coast at Los Iros, Cedros, Pt. Fortin and Palo Seco. The Yankee soldiers transformed the rum shops and beaches into wild party zones. Some of the older persons of Erin and environs still have unusually lightly colored skin, hair and eyes, hinting that some of these soldiers must have left more than just a memory with their local girlfriends.
During the 1950’s , American archaeologist Dr. John A. Bullbrook occupied the old Lesade house while he excavated the remains of Erin’s Shebaio settlement , and other sites at Los Iros and Cedros. The village itself depended heavily upon the oil industry and also upon fishing for its main sources of income. Pig farming began in Erin around thirty years ago, and today Erin Farms is one of the country’s largest meat processors. The fishing depot was constructed in 1974 to accommodate the boats, nets and engines of the fishermen. In the census of 1980, Erin was populated by 2,570 persons. Today, this has dwindled to just over 1,500. There is no doubt that the youth of the village are attracted to other districts that present facilities for their education and recreation. The old R.C church, and the R.C school were completely renovated in 2003, along with the dilapidated police station which had served for more than a century. While there is still a high level of unemployment in the village, Erin is still a fine example of rustic community that can serve as a model for the nation.

View of the village of Erin from the Catholic Church.