In Kilmuir Cemetery, is a tall memorial to Flora MacDonald, 'Preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart'.  This is the place to come to and spend a moment reflecting on her amazing courage. She was buried in this graveyard in 1790.

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Flora MacDonald, was born in 1722 in Milton South Uist and was a member of the Macdonalds of Sleat, and helped Prince Charles Edward Stuart evade government troops after the Battle of Culloden in April 1746.  

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After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden, Prince Charles faced capture unless he could escape to France.  While British government troops were searching for him, he sought refuge in Uist.  His supporters wanted to smuggle him from Uist to Skye, and then onto a boat to France.  Flora agreed to help them.

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On 28th June 1746, Flora MacDonald and her "Irish maid" ‘Betty Burke’ sailed from Benbecula over the sea to Skye.  The maid was the thinly disguised Prince Charles and the event is commemorated in the famous Skye Boat Song.

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For her part in this bold plot to help Prince Charles escape to France, Flora was arrested and imprisoned in London.  After her release in 1747, she returned to Scotland.  She married Alan MacDonald in 1750 and they emigrated to North Carolina in 1774. During the American War of  Independence, Alan fought on the side of the British and was captured by the Americans. First Flora and later Allan returned to Skye where they lived out the rest of her days.