Nelson Island
A former immigration quarantine depot known as the "Ellis Island of Trinidad," later used to detain political prisoners.
No public photograph yet
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Share a photoHistory & haunting lore
From 1866 to 1917, Nelson Island processed over 145,000 Indian indentured immigrants, quarantining and medically inspecting them before dispersal to sugar estates. In later decades it detained Jewish refugees during the Second World War, labor leader Tubal Uriah "Buzz" Butler through the 1930s and 1940s, and leaders of the 1970 Black Power Revolution.
The island's abandoned barracks, jail cells, and quarantine buildings are now managed as a heritage site, where guided tours center on the hardship endured by generations of detainees rather than ghost stories, though the isolation of the ruins leaves many visitors with an eerie sense of the past.
Current site status
Accessible only with prior permission and a booked tour through the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago; there is no independent public access by boat.