The tower is more than 4 meters high, 13 meters wide, the walls are made of stone and sand mortar and are 2 meters thick. It housed firearms and a dozen men could stick it out during a fierce battle. The fortifications did not work because the English took Baillif in 1703.
The tower was built at the beginning of the year 1703, at the request of Governor Auget to protect the south the island from English attacks, at the tip of Peres north of the city of Basse-Terre near the river des Pères. It owes its name to the Dominican missionary Jean-Baptiste Labat (1663-1738) who participated in the founding of a religious mission on the site called “White Fathers” and took the lead in the construction of the defense towers of the ‘island.
Today, it is located along the national road 2 connecting Basse-Terre to Pointe-Noire along the coast-under-the-wind.
The history of the municipality of Baillif begins more than two thousand years ago, with the installation of Amerindians along the rivers. There is still evidence of their presence through the engraved rocks of the Duplessis River in Saint Robert. The site of the Duplessis River gathers about twenty engraved rocks, decorated with 150 drawings. That of the Baillif River was discovered after the passage of Hurricane Maryline in September 1995.
The first Europeans living in Baillif were Dominican fathers who had arrived at the same time as the first inhabitants of Vieux-Habitants in 1636. On 26 January 1637, Lienard de l’Olive, who was in charge of leading the colonizing expedition in Guadeloupe, granted religious land from the rivers of the Fathers (formerly called Riviere des Fathers Jacobins) to Baillif.
One of Baillif’s most famous characters is Father Jean-Baptiste Labat, a Dominican and military missionary. He arrived in Guadeloupe in 1691 and returned in 1703. He built the Tower of Father Labat, at the tip of the Fathers, who is today the last witness of the first fortified works of Guadeloupe made by Father Labat at the request of Governor Auget and who were to protect the south the island from English attacks. Erected in the early 18th century, the tower of Father Labat is over 4 meters high, 13 meters wide. Its stone and sand walls are 2 meters thick. The tower housed several guns with twelve pounds and carabiners) and a dozen men could stick to it. The fortification did not work because the English took Baillif by the back country, and not by the sea, in 1703.
Father Labat also planted, in defensive hedge, snowshoes. It is a variety of cactus forming dense bushes whose spines are real hooks. The passage of a person depolarizes the magnetic current of these plants and causes the ejection of the spines.
The parish of Saint Dominic was very coveted. In particular, the Baillif cove was an ideal natural site: the littoral plateau is shallow (50 m) and the water of the sea penetrates the cove without all of it being flooded. In addition, the subsoil is home to important sources of fresh water. To protect the site, the Dominicans set up the battery of Saint Dominique which is the oldest fortification of the region, well before those of Vieux Habitants and Capesterre. The Saint Georges battery, the La Madeleine battery, the Père Labat tower, the Pintade battery, the Saint Dominique battery, the Habitation Saint-Louis battery, the Bois Odette, … … all together constitute an effective defense system.
Father Labat was a visionary, interested in growing sugar cane. He had the idea of modernizing the distillation of alcohol with his still. It sets up, then, many distilleries, some ruins form the wealth and memory of the communal heritage.
Dominicans also build an aqueduct. It was destroyed by the General Council to build a sheet metal garage. In May 1802, the slaves carried their guns for 6 kilometers from Bellost, in order to force Richepance to go through the River of Peres to reach Matouba. They also made fires with “cannon wood” which, burning, makes a sound of cannon and made to believe that there is real gunfire. On the engraved rocks of Duplessis, we still see a ball stuck between two trees. All this shows the warrior soul of slaves, led by leaders like Maximin.