guardhouse

Whistling Cay has a guardhouse that colonial-era officials used to scan waters for slaves escaping from St. John to the nearby island of Tortola.

It was built in 1877 in the form of a panopticon, giving a central guardhouse a clear view to all corners of the "wheel".

On a Friday afternoon in late March, dozens of workers were lining up at the guardhouse to start their shifts building batteries for vehicles like the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Volkswagen ID.4.

If you got caught, you’d end up having to spend a few days in the guardhouse.

A guardhouse is found at the front of the property.