Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

Ponta Delgada is a rural civil parish in the Azorean municipality of Santa Cruz das Flores, on the island of Flores. The population in 2001 was 453 inhabitants, occuping an area 18.72 km², along the northern coast from the regional capital. It is the third oldest religious parish on the island of Flores, only preceded by the communities of Lajes and Santa Cruz das Flores.

History

The religious parish of São Pedro de Ponta Delgada was one of the first three religious parishes on the island of Flores. The historical chronicler, Father Gaspar Frutuoso, stated that at the end of the 16th century Ponta Delgada was a small population of thirty neighbors and one chapel. A century later, friar Agostinho de Montalverne referred to 650 inhabitants occupying 140 homes: essentially claiming it was the largest population on the island.

Diogo das Chagas was principal in the colonization of this area in 1571, attaining the position of parish immediately, and including areas from Ribeira Funda until Ribeira das Casas, as well as areas of Ponta Ruiva (now in Cedros) and Ponta da Fajã (now part of Fajã Grande in the neighboring municipality). Around this time, father António Cordeiro referred to 150 homes and several roads leading to the ocean. The fertility of the land and access to potable waters greatly assisted this growth.

The primitive parish chapel was erected to the invocation of Santa Ana, as identified by Gaspar Frutuoso, but long since disappeared. The church of São Pedro was erected in 1763 near the small chapel of the same name at the end of the 17th Century. In addition to São Pedro, the chapel of Santo Amaro (which coexisted in the parish since the end of the 17th Century) was the center of popular festivals and testifies to the dynamic nature of the community: São Pedro, the protector of fishermen, and Santo Amaro, protector of animals. The chapel of Santo Amaro was located near the old center of the village near a grotto and spring. The town center moved owing to the exposure to local northern wind currents. The principal promoter of the reconstruction of the Church of São Pedro was Father Francisco de Fraga e Almeida, a man of immense wealth and former vicar of Flores and Corvo Islands. His final will left 100$000 reis to the Confraria de São Pedro to celebrate a mass in his name on the day of the inauguration of the new temple. It is not clear when that finally occurred, but documents show that in 1774 the builders were still working on the alters of the Church. The church was restored twice more (in 1971 and 1975), both times maintaining the interior and original foundations.

On August 13, 1978 a new chapel was consecrated to the invocation of São João Baptista on Pico do Meio Dia near the site of concrete cross that was consecrated on September 27, 1970. This new chapel gave rise to annual festivals celebrated every September.

Geography

The community is located on the northern coast of Flores Island, on a flat rockbed that extends into the Atlantic Ocean, and across from the island of Corvo (Flores' nearest neighbor). On either coast of the village are two islets, Maria Vaz (on the west coast) and João Martins, both named after important settlers during early colonization. Writing at the beginning of the 19th Century, father José António Camões wrote:

...passing the Furnal point you travel northeast to the port of Ponta Delgada. There is there, at the foot of the ocean, a sweet water spring that serves a great of the inhabitants of that parish. There is a porto...without fortifications...but with a cliff that is protective. Continuing northeast begins the great bay of Ponta Delgada, falling to this ocean is the Ribeira da Fazenda...and within the parish a port, called Portinho, where only with good humour can you unload your boats. There is a guard house. Outside the small port are two islets, called the islets of Portinho...continuing along the same wind trajectory there is a point called Ponta do Ilhéu.

The area today is connected to Santa Cruz das Flores by a coastal road system that also crosses the interior of the island. The first automobile reached the parish in 1966: one of the last places on the island to be reached by road vehicles. Until this period, transit to the northern community was made by horse-drawn carriage, by horse or mule, foot or by boat access from the south (when the weather permitted).

As a consequence of modern emigration to the United States, and recently to the larger center in Santa Cruz das Flores, the population has been in steady decline; in 1814 forty births were registered in the parish but by 1980 between two and six births were identified.

Economy

The parish's principal activities are farming and animal husbandry, with specific focus on dairy production, as well as subsistence fishing and a small commercial nucleus. The port has had remodeling and modernization to permit both an increase in commercial traffic between Ponta Delgada and Vila do Corvo (Corvo Island) and the rest of the archipelago, as well as to capture lucrative trans-Atlantic maritime tourism.

Culture, Tradition & Tourism

The community is the center of northern acitivities, and supports several cultural, social and sporting groups. In particular: it is the location of the regions Casa do Povo (literally the "house of the people") and its ethnographic folklore group the Grupo Folclórico da Casa do Povo, a modern festival hall, the residence of the Grupo de Música Popular Vozes do Norte, and their football club Clube Desportivo de Ponta Delgada.

Festivities

The parish's principal festival is the Festa de São Pedro celebrated annually on June 29, as well as the Festival of Santo Amaro, on the first Sunday of September. In addition, the Festival of São João on the second Sunday of July and the festival Nossa Senhora da Guia are also important religious events. Ultimately, the celebrations associated with the Holy Spirit, centered around the Sunday of Pentecosts are the highlight of the religious calendar.

Cultural Sites & Points of Interest

Civil and Civic Architecture

• Lighthouse of Ponta do Albernaz - inaugurated on January 28, 1925 as part of the Plano Geral de Alumiamento e Balizagem for the community of Ponta Delgada, providing beacon between the islands of Flores and Corvo for maritime traffic.
• Several mills constructed along the river-valley.

Military Fortifications

• Estação de Telemedidas das Flores - referred to locally as the French Base of Flores; a ballistic missile tracking station established in 1964 and operational until 1994 when its duties were co-opted by the French tracking ship "Monje".

]Religious Sanctuaries

• Church of São Pedro - parochial church constructed in 1763, and remodeled during the latter part of the 20th Century
• Casas do Espírito Santo da Terra Chã - religious buildings used in annual celebrations for the Divine Holy Spirit, erected in 1819
• Casas do Espírito Santo de Baixo - religious buildings used in annual celebrations for the Divine Holy Spirit, erected in 1847
• Casas do Espírito Santo da Cruz - religious buildings used in annual celebrations for the Divine Holy Spirit, erected in 1865
• Casas do Espírito Santo das Crianças - religious buildings used in annual celebrations for the Divine Holy Spirit, erected in 1926

Natural Environments & Protected Zones

There are a few lookouts that provide tourists with notable vistas of Ponta Delgada, including Miradouros do Pico do Meio-Dia, Miradouro do Alto do Portalinho and Miradouro do Porto e do Facho. In addition Ponta Delgada is bisected by approximately seven pedestrian hiking trails linking the community internally and to other municipalities.

(c) Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponta_Delgada_(Santa_Cruz_das_Flores)