Honoring the History & Culture of Roatán and the Bay Islands
Combine ancient civilizations, Carib Indians, African slaves, notorious swashbuckling pirates, English and Spanish conquests, sunken treasures, and a tradition of living off the sea passed down from countless generations and you have Roatán.
In 1992, Cheryl Galindo founded the Roatán Museum to honor the island's unique culture and history.
The museum is housed in the same complex as the Education Center and possesses one of the best collections of pre-Columbian artifacts in Central America. It chronicles the cultural and archeological history of the Bay Islands through text, maps, artwork, and artifacts including clay pottery, copper beads, and jade ornaments of the Payan Indians.
The cultural legacy of the Bay Islands is as rich and colorful as the marine life offshore. At least nine cultural groups have occupied the Bay Islands. Today the islands are blessed with a distinct mixture of cultures, customs, and traditions. The cultural history of the Bay Islands dates back to the Paya Indians, a group related to the ancient and highly advanced Mayan civilization. Numerous pre-Columbian artifacts, left by the Paya, have been recovered from more than 50 sites throughout the islands. Over the years archeologists have investigated residential, ceremonial, and burial sites, and islanders are still unearthing “yaba-ding-dings”, the local name for broken clay pottery and figurines. The Roatán Museum chronicles the history of the islands in greater detail and also contains an impressive collection of these artifacts.