The ignored grave stone at Roatan's Wesley Methodist School

The Bay Islands are full of history, sometimes in the most unexpected places. At the Wesley Methodist Church and School in Coxen Hole, right behind the basketball court, there’s a broken tombstone that many people barely notice. My sister went to school there for two years, and when I asked her about it, she, like others I spoke to, didn’t remember ever being told whose grave it was. Students just recall seeing it there, often sitting on it during lunch breaks.

It turns out the stone belongs to a child who died of fever in 1869. Nearly 160 years later, its design is still visible despite the weathering and the cracks.

Brother Thomas Brooks, who represents the Methodist Church, took me to see it and explained a bit about the history of the church. I’ll share more about that another time, but for now, this tombstone stood out to me as those were the days our people were still learning to live in these islands. Our islands are filled with pieces of history like this, often overlooked.