Tucked within the verdant landscape of Tobago’s western interior lies the Arnos Vale Waterwheel, an enduring relic of the island’s 19th-century sugar industry. Constructed around the 1850s, this impressive cast-iron waterwheel was a central component of the former Arnos Vale Sugar Estate, utilising hydropower to drive the machinery that milled sugarcane, a vital process in sugar production during the colonial era.

The estate, like many others across the island, was built on the labour of enslaved Africans and later indentured workers, forming part of the broader British colonial plantation economy. The waterwheel itself, believed to have been manufactured in Scotland, reflects the engineering prowess of the period and remains one of the most well-preserved examples of industrial-era technology in the Southern Caribbean.

Today, the Arnos Vale site stands not only as a historical landmark but also as a symbol of resilience and transformation. Surrounded by lush forest and the quiet flow of a nearby stream, the waterwheel offers visitors a meaningful connection to Tobago’s complex past, inviting reflection on the island’s cultural evolution and the legacy of its colonial infrastructure.