The Long Look community has a rich cultural heritage. Photo: Internet Source

District 7 Representative, Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley during the opening ceremony of the 250th Commemoration of the Anniversary of Freedom at Nottingham Estate at the Stickit on Sunday, June 28, 2026. Photo: YouTube

District 7 Representative, Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley said Long Look will be turned into an epicentre for heritage tourism. Photo: Government of the Virgin Islands

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 250th Commemoration of the Anniversary of Freedom at Nottingham Estate at the Stickit on Sunday, June 28, 2026, Premier Wheatley said just as the ancestors of Long Look came from different African people, they became one Long Look, free people. 

“So today, we must become one Long Look. Those descended from the original free people, those who came from other parts of the Virgin Islands, those who came to our shores and helped to build our economy and society, those who married into us, those who moved in, those who worshipped here, those who worked here, and those whose children now call this place home. We must become one community, one Long Look, one Virgin Islands.”

Dr Wheatley added that the future sought after cannot be built on division; it must be built on a renewed social compact, a new covenant with one another. This covenant, he explained, “says we may come from different families, but we share one future. We may have different opinions, but we share one destiny. We may argue within, but we unite without. We may be many branches, but we draw strength from one root, and that root is freedom”.

Long Look to be an epicentre for heritage tourism

Premier Wheatley also revealed that Long Look will be turned into an epicentre for heritage tourism.

“Here, one of the most powerful stories of human endurance and ingenuity happened. Here, freedom was claimed…Here, they built homes that endured storms. Here, they built institutions of worship, education, economy, and community life. Here, they proved that no people should be written out of history.”

Turning Long Look into a heritage tourism epicentre will not be like a museum frozen in time, Hon Wheatley stated. 

“[It will be] a living community, walking boldly into the future. A Long Look that is socially vibrant, economically vibrant, culturally confident, historically grounded, spiritually awake and united.”