Place:Flamengos, Horta, Faial, Açores, Portugal

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Flamengos is a Portuguese civil parish on the island of Faial in the archipelago of the Azores. Its name was derived from the grouping of Flemish settlers who made their homes in this landlocked valley, in the municipality of Horta. The population in 2011 was 1,604, in an area of 14.62 km². It contains the localities Cruz do Bravo, Farrobo, Lameiro Grande, Rua Nova, São Lourenço and Tafoneiro.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The first settlers that arrived in the area that became known as the Vale dos Flamengos (or literally, Valley of the Flemish people), were seeking a sheltered area that provided access to potable water. Their original beachhead, on the Lomba dos Frades, in the Praia do Almoxarife valley was a disaster for the first Captain-Donatário Josse van Huerter (in 1465. His return in 1466-67 began a new phase in the island's history; discovering the fertile and sheltered geomorphology of the interior valley allowed the group of Flemish settlers to establish a foothold on the island (1468). These early colonizers cultivated small parcels of land along the river, taking advantage of the springs and fertile volcanic soils, cultivating oranges, corn, legumes, as well as servicing the town and other parishes on the island.^[1]

The community's primitive church (dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Luz) was constructed shortly after the first settlers established their homes, and was a large three-nave over five pillars, sturdy and well constructed (as the historian Gaspar Frutuoso recounted in his 'Saudades da Terra').

In 1597, Flamengos was raided by English privateers, who remained in the valley for days, pillaging and destroying homes. In 1606 the village of Flamengos had been restored, through the assistance of Jerónimo de Utra Corte Real, and later expanded in 1736, through the initiatives of Manuel Brum da Silveira.

Raul Brandão, in his 'As Ilhas Desconhecidas' (1926), described the parish in these terms: "This use to be more animated and rich. Everything around Horta and Flamengos was houses, orchards full of oranges, plants and flowers, the Estate of São Lourenço, the Estate of the Silveiras, the Estate of the Dabneys...".^[1] Brandão was referring to a period when the wealthy, rich property owners and farmers had their summer homes and estates within the valley: by 1926, the area was less important for the upwardly mobile, who concentrated in their salons in Horta.^[1]

On 31 December 1936, a violent earthquake destroyed most of the buildings and homes in the parish. Unfortunately, a similar event occurred on 23 November 1973 and later on 9 June 1998, which permanently destroyed the church of Nossa Senhora da Luz. The church was rebuilt and inaugurated on 3 April 2016.