Pretty, unassuming Nevis might be the definition of laid-back. Charlestown gets excited by the arrival of the daily ferry from St. Kitts. Stroll by the Museum of Nevis History, built on the foundations of the birthplace of U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton. The 17th and 18th centuries, in fact, were a heyday here. A group of Sephardic Jews arrived from Brazil, from where they had been evicted. They brought with them the secret to crystalizing sugar, which transformed the economy of the Caribbean. Their humble cemetery’s headstones are inscribed in Hebrew and Portuguese, dating from between 1672 to 1768, during which time they made up 25 percent of the island’s populace. Another nice walk is the Nevis Botanical Gardens.