By Kathy Borsuk ~ Photos Courtesy HAB Group

Whether you drive or stroll down Grace Bay Road, the Gold Coast’s pulse noticeably quickens as you head west from the central roundabout at Seven Stars. The long, elegant row of palm-lined buildings that is The Regent Village bustles with activity; tucked behind the plaza and fronting Grace Bay’s shining azure sea and sugary sand are similarly sophisticated resorts. The Regent Grand, following in the tradition of its sister property Villa Renaissance, is the latest addition to the new “heart of Providenciales.”

For the 2008 winter season, The Regent Grand fully opened to rave reviews from its first visitors. Designed in the striking Italian style of Villa Renaissance, the lovely boutique property also focuses on providing an atmosphere of elegance, privacy and superb personalized service. Of the 54 condominium suites, only 23 are in the rental pool at any given time, ensuring that owners and guests won’t have to share the property’s 300 golden feet along Grace Bay Beach with many others.

Ranging in size from two to four bedrooms, each oceanfront suite boasts private terraces overlooking one of the world’s most stunning seascapes. Alternatively, four charming poolside villas are nestled among lush tropical landscaping, with lovely views of the mosaic infinity pool. All units are fully furnished; kitchens have state of the art appliances and granite countertops and the luxurious, oversized bathrooms come complete with bathrobes, slippers and Gilchrist & Soemes products.

But most guests spend their time savoring the island’s sensuous blend of sunshine, sea breeze and seashore pleasures. Mirroring Villa Renaissance’s trend-setting design, The Regent Grand’s huge central piazza courtyard envelops one of the country’s largest and most beautiful mosaic-tiled infinity pools, complete with fountains, two heated Jacuzzis, a poolside bar and a tantalizing view to the ocean through an archway etched in the oceanfront buildings. Just a few steps through the arch is Grace Bay Beach in all her majesty, beckoning a swim, stroll, snorkel, sail or simple sprawl on the loungers (with beach food and beverage service at your beck and call).

Also on site are: a bright, air-conditioned gym full of the latest Nautilus equipment, tennis courts and racquets, bicycles, a large DVD collection and a small library. The popular Teona Spa is currently expanding into a 2,000 sq. ft. space in The Regent House, which will assuredly enforce its “essence of tranquility.” From this serene location, a well-trained team of therapists administer to guests a full menu of spa treatments, enhanced with the use of Thalgo products.

Thanks to their affiliation with the Provo Golf Club (hosts of the 2009 Caribbean Amateur Open), Regent Grand and Villa Renaissance guests enjoy the best rates for golfing on Providenciales, along with free transportation. Club rentals and tee-times are just a phone call away. The resorts also team up with Big Blue, a local operator specializing in eco-tours and scuba diving when guests are in the mood for adventure.

Just a short stroll along Regent Street take you into the heart of Providenciales and the beat of The Regent Village. This large, beautifully landscaped two-story plaza is home to a vibrant blend of local businesses (including the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board, TCInvest, a number of realtors and developers and branches of each local bank), shopping options (ranging from high-fashion clothing, casual beachwear, duty-free jewelry, wines and spirits to fine art and local crafts) and brand new dining choices (including The Vix and The V-Bar, a trendy restaurant and member’s bar which will also provide room service to the resort, the Vino Tiempo wine bar and the island’s first Thai restaurant). Just across the Grace Bay Road are an Irish pub, pizza terrazza, café and diner, steak and seafood house, sushi bar and ice cream parlor!

Also part of Regent Village West are conference facilities that will greatly enhance the ability to host weddings, conferences and incentive market business trips in the “heart of Providenciales.”  This 2,000 sq. ft. facility, with seating for up to 150 people, will offer private dining or full service catering and incorporate a range of cutting edge audiovisual and teleconferencing facilities. The Regent Village also boasts the island’s first two-story car park, 24 hour security, elevator access and extremely competitive lease-purchase options.  At press time (March, 2009), 75% of the 150,000 sq. ft. of brand-new construction has already been sold.

This exciting center of activity is the brainchild of HAB Group, a local company with a long history of success in Providenciales, including the development of the Provo Water Company, Provo Golf & Country Club and its surrounding real estate. But the heartbeat continues to quicken. To the east of The Regent Grand the group is currently developing The Vellagio, their most prestigious oceanfront resort condominium to date. A show-suite is presently under construction and will be available for viewing in the summer of 2009.

Within all of HAB’s successful properties, you’ll find a cosmopolitan mélange of employees, all professionally trained to the group’s high standard of service and working together in harmony. And if Regent Street is the center of the “heart of Providenciales,” perhaps this corporate culture reflects its lifeblood.

For more information on The Regent Grand Resort and Spa, call 649 941 7770 or (toll free) 877 537 3314 or email   reservations@theregentgrandresort.com. For sales information, contact sales@habgroup.com or call 649 941 8900.

The Shore Club development honors local ecology and cultural history.

By Kathy Borsuk ~ Photos By Jon Nickson, eyeSpice

Going forward sometimes means going back; back to the roots; uncovering the soul of a destination. That reflects the mindset behind the creation of The Shore Club – The Hartling Group’s latest Providenciales resort condominium project. Following the highly successful and popular The Sands and The Regent Palms properties on world-famous Grace Bay Beach, developer Stan Hartling is taking a somewhat out-of-the ordinary approach here.

The Shore Club is nestled in a remote, secluded spot on Long Bay Beach, a sweeping expanse of sand with a wide natural dune and verdant border of indigenous vegetation. Besides making careful efforts to protect and enhance the area’s unique ecology, The Shore Club will also serve to promote a cultural authenticity not usually found on glamorous Grace Bay. As developer Stan Hartling explains, “I’m enthusiastic about creating real estate that is more than just the buildings and amenities. I’ve always felt this Long Bay location has a personality all its own, representing what is genuine and natural – the ‘old Caribbean’ if you will – and I want to share that with the folks who will live at and visit The Shore Club.”

Long Bay Beach stretches the length of Providenciales’ easternmost shore, yet has always retained an air of privacy. Traditionally, access was either by boat or via narrow paths cut into the vegetation, and the beach is mostly used for beachcombing, horseback riding and strolling by owners of the large residential villas well-spaced along the swath. It also serves as a perfect place to spend a lazy beach day with family and friends, your own private “day trip” without leaving Provo.

The Shore Club occupies the beach’s northern end, a quiet, sheltered cove that for years served as the ideal spot for the country’s fishermen to “knock” and remove conch from their shells, tossing these now-abandoned homes into the shallow bay. In the lush tropical highlands nearby, Loyalist planters operated large cotton plantations, and remnants of the 200 year old walls still stand.

As a Providenciales resident for over a decade, Stan Hartling absorbed all of this information and lore, turning it over in his mind until the time seemed right. He says, “Because many of our owners buy units in each of our projects, I listen carefully to and respect their opinions. And I felt that many of our buyers were looking for a more remote, less commercial location. Concurrently, they place a higher value on authenticity. They’re looking for a property that has a soul, and I believed I could create that at The Shore Club.”

It took Hartling nearly two years to accumulate the parcels of land, eventually securing a large tract with 820 feet of prime beachfront. And from the beginning, he wanted owners and guests to feel like they were on an island all their own, the kind of place that would feel unchanged from the past and into the future. “We deliberately kept the density low and the building height to five floors so we wouldn’t overwhelm the site’s natural grandeur. The Shore Club’s architecture reflects a Barbadian influence, purposely designed to feel intimate in both size and scale.”

Hartling’s extensive knowledge of his buyers’ desires helped fine-tune the property’s design. “Our owners appreciate that there are many factors that enhance their stay, including the landscaping, views, beach access, placement of pools, dining and bar areas and recreational options – all the little things that make each day an experience to be cherished.”

One of Hartling’s most important goals is to protect the property’s pristine beach and dune area during construction, while enhancing and preserving it long-term. Ezekiel Hall, from HallTech Ltd., an independent environmental consulting firm, was called in during the early stages of planning. One of the project’s first steps was to remove decades of broken conch shells that had accumulated in the shallows and washed on shore. Hall explains, “These shells can sometimes act as a barrier to sand accretion, so we used a water jet to gently push away the sand, then the shells were carefully dug out and removed by hand, bringing the beach back to its natural pristine state.”

Because Long Bay Beach’s plant biodiversity is much higher than Grace Bay Beach and the dune itself much larger, Hartling issued a strict edict that the entire dune area be cordoned off during construction. Efforts are being made to save as many indigenous plants as possible throughout the site and appropriate dune grasses will be transplanted to preserve this important buffer zone. Well-marked beach access lanes and wooden planking will help keep guests from disturbing the sensitive area.

In fact, Hartling is proud to say that The Shore Club will be the first TCI resort to maintain their beach under “Blue Flag” status. This international designation symbolizes a commitment to proper beach management, along with providing environmental education and a code of conduct to beach users and maintaining excellent water  quality and safety procedures.

Starting from the approach road off Leeward Highway all the way to the shady paths meandering through The Shore Club property, formal landscaping will be eschewed for a more natural approach, incorporating vignettes of TCI history. Stan Hartling explains, “I envision the paths to have a very organic feel, similar to what you would experience walking along an old plantation road in North Caicos. We’ll use leafy ferns, silver palms and other  native plants to create that sense. We also plan an interpretive  nature trail, incorporating natural history and local lore.”

Hartling has already started the five-year process of  revegetating the corridor leading from Leeward Highway to The Shore Club site, lining the road with fountain grass to soften the edges and planting over 200 trees with the intention of creating the look of a long “plantation-era” lane.

To enhance authenticity, Hartling adds, “We discovered nearby the remains of cotton plantation walls from the Loyalist era, and we thought it would bring the property to life to rescue and incorporate the stones as a natural part of the landscaping.” Dr. Neil Hitch, director of the TCI National Museum, roundly supports this effort, “It’s a good start and we’re happy to see a developer who places value on preserving and integrating history. Doing anything to save local artifacts is better than destroying them with a bulldozer. Each artifact may hold the clue to a new discovery.” Hitch sees this plan as typical of Hartling’s long-term support of museum projects, including the search for the slave ship Trouvadore and assistance in securing a site for the Providenciales branch of national museum.

Besides placing value on the site’s natural attributes, eco-friendly solutions are built into The Shore Club’s  design. The open reception area, dining room and common areas diminish the need for air-conditioning, relying on the tradewinds to do the job. The extensive use of fountains, pools and ponds act as natural cooling areas. Low-key lighting saves energy and diminishes the resort’s beachfront impact. The Shore Club will also utilize lowland near the site to capture and retain rainwater for irrigating landscape and roads. Other areas will be developed into a community park and pillar-spaced hedges have already been planted at the project’s border to help allay construction noise and dust for neighbors.

With an unmatched location from which to savor the sunrise, moonrise and sunset, Shore Club guests may feel as though they are living on an exotic, remote island, unchanged throughout history. However, all of Providenciales’ amenities are within a two-mile radius and  the resort itself will be throughly upscale in its facilities – just executed in a totally different way.

Hartling reports that construction and site development of The Shore Club will progress at a controlled pace, respecting the environment, culture and community every step of the way. “This is not a fast track project. I have such a strong affection for the area and it’s not easily reproducible. I want to make sure we do our best to honor the true soul that exists in this unique site.”

For more information, visit www.theshoreclubtc.com.

The whys and hows of a fish’s favorite group activity.

Story by Suzanne Gerber ~ Photos and Captions by Barbara Shively

“United we swim, divided we fall prey” might be how a fish would paraphrase the well-known American sentiment (which was not, for the record, originally uttered by the 16th president, though it was he who most famously used it). When birds do it, it’s called a flock. When bees do it, it’s called a swarm (or a colony). Land animals herd. And when fish congregate, it’s called a school.

Some species, like the piranha (which thankfully we don’t have in Turks & Caicos), are born into schools and spend their whole lives in them. But the vast majority of oceanic fish – researchers guess 80% of the 20,000+ known species – spend only part of their adult lives in school. What exactly is a school, you might be wondering? Most simply put, it’s a group of same-species fish that live, swim, hunt and reproduce together. (Note that the correct name for a cohesive group of marine mammals, like whales, dolphins and seals, is pod.) A school moves in harmonious patterns throughout the oceans, sometimes giving the impression that it is one single, terrifyingly ginormous fish. And that’s precisely the point.

Safety in numbers

Just as with humans and elsewhere in the animal kingdom, pluribus is typically safer than unum. Even a ferocious (and hungry) predator will be scared to bite into a snack that’s several times its size. A large, tight school can be truly formidable. And from the schooling fish’s perspective, it’s easier and safer to hide behind another creature that looks exactly like you (and maybe even a little more appetizing). In reality, the unlucky fish positioned on the outside of the school are more at risk of being eaten than those in the center. Leveling the playing field is the fact that schooling predatory fish also benefit from their school ties because when they hunt in larger numbers, they increase their odds of success. The big downside of schooling for all fish is that many of the bipeds in the fishing industry study school behavior and use that knowledge to catch large numbers of certain species of deep-water fish, like tuna, at a time.

Dinner for 800?

Beyond the obvious protection schooling offers, the behavior also helps the group find their own dinner. If you think two heads are better than one, how about 800? Also, schooling helps insure reproductive success – a larger “drop” statistically increases the odds of eggs escaping predation.

And then there’s the energy-saving aspect (poetically referred to as the slime factor). Fish do emit a slight slime, designed to reduce the water friction along their bodies and allow them to conserve energy when swimming. And when fish do their synchronized swimming – in well-choreographed patterns – their tails create mini currents, or “vortices” (think whirlpools). Each fish can theoretically use its neighbor’s tiny vortex to reduce the water friction on its own body.

Define your terms

So how many fish comprise a school? While there’s no upper limit, scientists tend to agree that it takes at least four to six members of the same species to create a comfortable school. As noted above, most fish (particularly saltwater fish) aren’t born into schools, but rather learn or develop the behavior. As juveniles, they usually stay near one parent, but as they mature, members of most species start to swim in pairs, gradually growing their numbers until they’ve formed a cluster and eventually the classic “parallel” schooling pattern.

I was a relative youngster myself (using the term loosely) when I had my first spectacular fish-school experience. I wasn’t yet a diver, just a newbie snorkeler, and I was spending a few days on Ambergris Cay in Belize. The dive boat dropped me off on a shallow reef and left me to my own devices for the better part of an hour. A tremendous school of blue tang just happened to be taking its daily constitutional, and I wanted desperately to be a blue tang. So I hovered above them while they meandered this way and that, like one enormous blue flag rippling in the current. I tried to discern the leader, to find the point of origin from which this astonishing connected movement emanated but I couldn’t. It was magical and mystical, a silent ballet. A few discrete streams of fish converged, eventually building to (I estimated) a thousand individual fish. Every so often I’d freedive down to take a closer peek, but that just served to cause a mass gyration away from the giant, graceless humanoid with the oversize green feet. But for the better part of an hour, they allowed me to be a part of their school, and it was amazing.

I’ve also seen massive schools of giant barracuda in the wider Pacific – cyclones of fish rising hundreds of feet in the water column. I have a photo of a fellow diver just a few yards away from the “cuda ball,” and this 6-foot, 200-pound guy looks like a smudge on the page next to that teeming mass of marine life. Another time, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, we kicked back on the sandy bottom at about 60 feet and looked up. Just beneath the surface a school of perhaps 500 horse-eye jacks was mingling with a school of at least that number of cuda. They swirled like whorls of paisley fish, and it was a sight I’ll never forget.

Sixth sense?

OK, so we understand why fish school, but the question remains: How do they do it? One tool is sight, which begins to function immediately after birth (to enable feeding).  Because their eyes are situated on the sides of their head, fish cannot focus directly forward, just laterally, which happens to be particularly useful for schooling. Fish can see what their mates are up to and react accordingly.

But their truly amazing quality is the ability to sense water displacement, thanks to tightly packed bundles of protruding hairs, called neuromasts and which are similar to those in the human inner ear. While these hairs are present all along a fish’s head and body, they are concentrated along the fish’s side, or lateral lines. It only takes the slightest change in pressure (e.g., a photographer moving her camera within shooting distance) for the hairs to bend. That’s why fish are such gifted escape artists.

As hard it is for humans, whose brains thrive on order and patterns, to understand, there really aren’t leaders in the school coordinating all the movements. Each fish simply responds to the movements of the other fish, as well as to outside movements. Like birds, or members of other herds, fish seem to be similarly attuned to danger and able to exhibit “group think.”

There’s a lesson in this for us homo sapiens, and it goes back to the opening conceit: that we are never stronger than we are when united. And never has there been a time in recent history when setting aside our trivial differences and acting as a world truly united is the most important thing we can learn in any kind of school.

New York-based Suzanne Gerber writes about scuba, travel and health for a variety of publications. Book your next dive trip by contacting Suzanne at suzanne@worldofdiving.com.

Avid underwater photographer Barbara Shively discovered Grand Turk diving in 1997 and has returned every year. It is her passion to share the coral reefs’ beauty through her photographs, many of which can be viewed and purchased at http://shivelygallery.com/. A variety of her prints are on sale at Art Provo, located in The Regent Village, Providenciales.

This tasty gastropod has been a part of TCI life since Taino times.

By Bill Keegan and Betsy Carlson

Anacacuya was the brother-in-law of Guahayona,

And he went with him, setting upon the sea.

Guahayona said to Anacacuya when they were in the canoe:

“Look at the beautiful cobo [conch shell] that is in the water.”

And when Anacacuya looked down at the water to see the cobo,

Guahayona took him by the feet and threw him into the sea.

And thus Guahayona took all the women for himself and left them in Matininó,

where there is today nothing but women.

Ramón Pané, 1496

Chuck Hesse wasn’t pushed overboard; he jumped (and he didn’t steal all of the women!). What he did do was establish the first conch farm in the West Indies. While an underwater engineering graduate student at the University of Connecticut in the 1970s, Chuck spent his spare time resurrecting a sailboat called the Alandra (Portuguese for “beautiful thing”). In 1974, he and Kathy Orr set sail for the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tired and wet from a difficult voyage, they decided to head for a place on their navigational charts called South Caicos. For them, these were uncharted waters and unknown territory (Chuck and Kathy got married on South Caicos).

In those days, South Caicos (which the Taíno called Caciba) was a bustling seaport. There were six seafood-processing plants where conch, lobster and fish were prepared for export and local consumption. Most of the boats were small sailing sloops whose rigging was festooned with drying conch. The fishermen used a bucket with a glass bottom to look beneath the waves and the conch was harvested with a long hooked pole. The conch (avoid the newbie mistake – it is pronounced “konk”) were taken to shore where the animal was removed and the shell cast into large piles along the beach. The fisherman believed that empty shells cast into the sea would discourage living conch from moving into the area. More practically, this would assure that fishermen would not waste time collecting empty shells from the sea floor.

The magnitude of this industry is remarkable. In the 1950s, Edwin Doran did a study of “The Caicos Conch Trade.” Doran found that millions of dried conch were being exported to Haiti (Ayiti) annually, and Chuck and Kathy used more recent “landings” to demonstrate that this trend had continued unabated until the late 1970s, at which time there was a substantial decline in conch harvests. Haiti had a more productive agricultural base at that time and a variety of agricultural products, which could not be grown in the Turks & Caicos, were exchanged for dried conch. The saddest recent trend has been the export of charcoal from Haiti (whose forests are severely depleted) in exchange for glass bottles from the Turks & Caicos for recycling.

In 2001, Peter Sinelli did his Ph.D. research on the archaeology of small islands with a focus on the small cays in the vicinity of South Caicos. Pete found extensive conch piles along their shores that measure on average six meters wide, two meters tall and up to thirty meters long. These ran perpendicular to the shore and he described them as similar to quays (docks) in a harbor.  At the bottom of these piles he observed shells with the telltale signs of aboriginal extraction. The Taínos made a round hole in the spire using the pointed apex of another shell and then extracted the meat by cutting the muscle with a sharpened stick or palm frond stem. The peoples who first inhabited the Islands started these piles. Modern fishermen continued these practices and discarded conch in the exact same way and place as the Taínos.

The construction of these conch piles is strikingly similar to those we studied in the Dominican Republic. We worked in conjunction with marine biologists from the University of Miami to excavate conch piles in the Parque Nacional del Este. Our goal was to understand the history of conch use in this area, which is the last viable conching ground in the Dominican Republic. At the time, the local fishermen were using “hookah rigs” (compressor- supplied air to divers) to collect conch at a depth of more than 60 meters (200 feet)! Needless to say, the fishermen suffered from symptoms of the bends and other disabilities, while the last breeding stock for conchs in the area was being decimated – a tragic situation for both populations.

Back to Chuck . . . who, after stumbling upon the Turks & Caicos and, ultimately, his life’s work, never left the Islands. He moved to Pine Cay (Buiana) in 1976. Liam McGuire (then Minister of Natural Resources) was in the process of reviving the Meridian Club development, which had attracted wealthy investors from the U.S. who were looking for a remote island, and where Chuck’s endeavors in conservation were better supported by charitable contributions (Bill and Ginny Cowles deserve mention). Chuck created an organization with a rather grand title – “Foundation for the Protection of Reefs and Islands from Degradation and Exploitation” (more digestibly known as PRIDE). On Pine Cay he began to focus on queen conch (Strombus gigas), while Kathy pursued a Master’s degree on conch ecology.

They built a “Bucky ball” (a geodesic dome nicknamed for its inventor Buckminster Fuller). This soccer ball on stilts was the base of operations for PRIDE, and was run entirely on alternative energy sources (a wind-electric generator, solar water heater, and their vehicle was an electric golf cart). An amazing accomplishment 30 years ago!

Chuck moved his operation and the dome to Providenciales (Ianicana) and established the Caicos Conch Farm in 1985. Living in islands where conch seems to be readily available, it might seem surprising that anyone would try to farm them. Yet conch populations throughout most of the Caribbean have been severely depleted. Recently, Chuck expanded his operations and opened a new conch farm on Grand Turk (Abawana) on South Creek. Called “Conch World,” it was designed to introduce cruise ship passengers to the marvel of conch farming and highlights one of the remarkable features of the Turks & Caicos; a feature that has been part of the history since humans first arrived about 1,300 years ago.

Queen conch has long been an extremely valuable food source. What we eat is the “foot,” which is a muscle. When the animal is killed, rigor mortis sets in. The usual way for preparing conch is to smash the foot on a hard surface with a wooden baton made of lignum vitae (guiacan) to fashion “cracked” conch.

The beauty of conch, beyond the attractiveness of its colorful shell, is that when the muscle is properly bruised and then air-dried for several days, the resulting conch “jerky” will remain edible for up to six months. This is a huge advantage in tropical climates. Conch has long provided a storable source of protein for diets that often are subject to the vagaries of nature.

It is very difficult to estimate the quantity of conch consumed. Like today, Taíno fishermen cast the empty shells where they beached their canoes. There was no reason to carry the heavy shells to their village (where most archaeological excavations take place), except when the shell was intended for some other purpose, for example, tools. If we cannot estimate the amount of meat based on excavated shells, then how can we determine how much conch the Taínos ate relative to all the other foods in their diet? One method of assessing total past human diets is through stable isotope analysis. In essence, you are what you eat because a chemical record of your diet is contained in your bones.

Carbon, one of the basic building blocks of life (along with Nitrogen and Oxygen) has three isotopes (an isotope is an element that has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom). Two of these are “stable” (12C and 13C) in that they do not change form through time. (A famously unstable “radioactive” isotope is 14C, which converts to Nitrogen over time at a constant rate and can be measured to produce a “radiocarbon date”). Scientists can measure differences in the ratios of the two “stable” isotopes of carbon and from this postulate past diets. Stable isotope analysis conducted on bones of excavated Taínos has shown that although conch and other mollusks were important in their diet, they never contributed more than 10% of the protein that they consumed.

Personally, we would be very happy if 10% of our diet was cracked, steamed, Creole, fresh or even dried conch. Unfortunately, overfishing has pushed conch into a luxury item status in most parts of the world. Here in the Turks & Caicos, where eating “cracked” conch every day is an option, it may be surprising to learn that conch is now CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) listed as an endangered species. There are restrictions on how many conch shells a person can possess (we heard of one case where a couple wanted to give a conch shell to each of their wedding guests, and were arrested for having too many conch shells!). For us, we need a special permit to bring conch shells from any archaeological site into the U.S. for study even though the animal has been dead for a thousand years!

The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos restrict the size of the conch that can be harvested. In most cases the animal has to have developed a flaring lip, which occurs at about three to four years of age. It is clear from archaeological and more modern shell deposits that this restriction was not met in the past. Many of these deposits have very small conch shells indicating that they were captured in seagrass nursery grounds. During our research on the small cay off the north coast of Haiti called Île à Rat (Columbus called it “La Amiga”), there were thousands of conch shells, but all were about eleven centimeters (about four inches) long, which represent the one to two year age class. The archaeological deposits date to around AD 1200. This may be the result of overexploitation but it also may be the result of preference, because the meat of young conch is more tender and tasty than the adult.

The Caicos Conch Farm also ran afoul of this size limit law. Despite the fact that their animals were farm raised, the farm was prevented from selling juvenile conch because law enforcement did not have the means to confirm that the small conch were not extracted from the natural environment.

The native inhabitants of the West Indies certainly faced issues of resource management. It is likely that local conch stocks declined rapidly in the face of prehistoric exploitation, such that Taínos could not just walk down to the beach from their village and pick up a meal. However, the Taínos lacked the ability to capture conch from deep water (unlike the modern Dominicans), so they never tapped the breeding stock and new conchs arrived on the seagrass flats on an annual basis.

The Conch Farm and Conch World offer new hope for the much loved and over-harvested conch. Thanks to Chuck and his collaborators, we are looking toward a future in which conch will remain a delightful part of our diet and environment. The alternative is frightening. Imagine a day when we can no longer see the beautiful cobo in the sea, or hear the sound of conch being “cracked” in preparation for the fry pan.

Dr. Bill Keegan is Curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Betsy Carlson is Senior Archaeologist with Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH) in Jonesville, Florida, and affiliate faculty at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Look for their new book, Talking Taino, published by The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 (www.uapress.ua.edu),

ISBN -13: 978-0-8173-5508-1

A collection realised by collaboration.

By B. Naqqi Manco, Senior Conservation Officer, Turks & Caicos National Trust

Photos Courtesy TCI National Trust and Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

When I was in university, a friend of mine – recognising my love of plants – brought me an African violet as a gift. Its source unknown, she’d been slowly destroying it for lack of water, light, and nutrients for most of the year, and by the time it came to me it was little more than a tragic, feeble ghost; most of its leaves were crispy and flowers were a distant memory. The dusty little kindling-in-a-plastic-pot quickly languished and expired, and while I appreciated the thought, this instance had to be one of the least pleasant gifts I had ever received. So one would think that recently receiving a pile of ten boxes packed full of dry, dead plants would be no cause to celebrate . . . but indeed it was.

On August 6, 2008, I received a call from the National Trust office in Providenciales. Administrative Officer Shirmay Llewellyn told me to expect ten parcels on the TCI Ferry that afternoon. The DHL delivery staff had called me the previous evening to tell me I had parcels from the UK, so I was pretty sure I knew what they contained. Upon their arrival the flat boxes, neatly wrapped in waxed brown paper, revealed their contents with the logo of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and labels reading “Dried (dead) plant specimens for scientific study.”

When I got the boxes to the Middle Caicos Conservation Centre – their new home – they were carefully unwrapped. Inside each box were long manila folders of neatly stacked card paper sheets, bundled with twine, each sheet bearing a dried, pressed plant specimen. Ahead of me were the tasks of deciding on a sorting scheme (would it be alphabetical or taxonomic?) and the organisation of the sheets into our herbarium cabinet. There were several important considerations to make here, most notably ease of use. These plant specimens were the foundation for the national herbarium collection of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

An herbarium is not a facility with which most people are familiar; far fewer have ever been inside one. An herbarium can be described as a museum or library of plant specimens. Plant specimens are taken to verify the presence of a certain plant in a particular place, to describe new species, to document populations’ spread or decline, and to provide data for always-increasing information needs. Most plant specimens consist of a whole small plant, or a part of a larger plant, pressed and dried. These specimens are often fixed to specially-sized sheets with archival glue or thread stitches, but are sometimes housed loosely. However an herbarium chooses to treat the specimens, the majority of the responsibility for the collection’s usefulness is on the collector.

I made my first herbarium collections as many amateur botanists or plant enthusiasts would – by pressing a leaf or flower in a telephone book and hoping to someday show it to someone who may know what it was. In university, I learned that the collection itself must be augmented with data, including my name, the collection date, specific notes on location, and descriptions of features that may not be observable when the plant is pressed and dried (colour of parts, textures, scents, growth habits, and associated species).

I put this basic knowledge to use a great deal during my first year with the National Trust as Darwin Biodiversity Initiative project officer in 2000. Using a wooden-framed plant press held together with buckled nylon webbing straps, stacked with cardboard ventilators and old newspaper, we began the enormous task of documenting the Turks & Caicos Islands’ entire plant diversity by collecting specimens. Not just any old branch or twig would do – a specimen needs to show as much identification information as possible, so we always try to include the branching pattern, flowers and fruits – even the whole plant if it is small enough. Pressing one leaf is not sufficient – identifying one leaf can be compared to clipping a single lowercase “a” out of a newspaper article and asking someone to identify from what newspaper it came: remotely possible for a specialist expert, but impractical. Collectors always include a collection number on all of their specimens; each new collection gets a new number. Having collection numbers in the hundreds or thousands is common; collections in the ten thousands and above usually signify a very well-seasoned botanist.

These hundreds or thousands of collections are usually collected in multiples. International convention dictates that anyone collecting specimens should collect (with permission from both the country and the landowner) one collection for their own use, and one each for any major herbariums that work in that region. Our team always collects three specimens – one for our national collection, one for Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami, and one for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (UK). The National Trust extends this convention to any researchers who work with us.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens has long been considered the West Indies regional herbarium, and they house important historic collections from the Bahamas Archipelago (including the Turks & Caicos) that formed the basis for the Flora of the Bahama Archipelago written by Donovan Correll, the late keeper of the Fairchild Gardens herbarium. This massive book, the foremost plant identification book for the Turks & Caicos, is based on the much earlier Bahama Flora by Millspaugh and Britton, botanists who worked in the region in the late 1800s onward. We occasionally visit Fairchild Gardens to study their collections and compare our current collections to historic specimens.

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew near London has the largest herbarium collection in the world – over seven million specimens in numerous multi-storey buildings. They have a number of important historic collections from the Turks & Caicos Islands, including the type specimen of the national flower, Turks & Caicos heather (Limonium bahamense). A type specimen is the first collection of a plant species from which it is originally described (in botanical Latin) and named. I clearly remember the reverent wonder I had as I opened the red folder (signifying a type specimen) in Kew’s Plumbago Family section, and seeing the plant, originally named Sattice bahamensis having been collected from “Grand Turks, Brahamas [sic] Islands” according to the elegantly fountain-penned label (with the offending “r” later stricken out). It amazed me that this specimen, collected in 1887, could look just like those I had collected just a few years before.

I did not travel all the way to Kew Gardens just to see the red-covered type specimen of our national flower (though it’s as good an excuse as any to visit the spectacular place!). I was sent there in summer of 2003 to be fully indoctrinated with everything I ever wanted to know about collecting plant specimens on their International Diploma Course in Herbarium Techniques and Management. The class was limited to 12 students, and represented herbarium staff from Minnesota (USA), Fiji, the Falkland Islands, the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Russia, Ecuador, Brazil, Botswana, Papua New Guinea, and Cameroon. The unseasonably hot London summer suited the majority of the class’s tropical participants well, but our Falklands Islands colleague, used to 100 mile-per-hour freezing gales, had a particularly rough time with the unusual heat wave!

The sunny weather made for a trouble-free outdoors experience throughout the course, and in addition to classroom work, we explored the herbariums of Oxford University and the British Museum, the Chelsea Physic Gardens, and Kew’s sister facility Wakehurst Place and its Millennium Seed Bank. During the course, we were schooled in techniques all the way from collection to curation, including pest management (flour moths and tobacco beetles can destroy herbarium specimens), imagery (both photography and electronic scanning of specimens), and botanical Latin and taxonomy (so we could correctly identify and name plants).

Several major projects included making collections and labels for several UK plants, holding a mock trial about the issues of bio-piracy and genetic resources, and the design of an herbarium facility for a fictional island. We learned that herbarium collections can also include carpological collections (dried or preserved whole fruit and large seeds), spirit collections (plant parts preserved in alcohol or other preservative liquids to conserve three-dimensional features that pressing would destroy), and cultural collections (products made from plants around the world, including a very creepy historic collection of dried olives from the tomb of none other than King Tutankhamen himself!). The education equipped us with the knowledge and confidence to prepare and manage herbarium collections for our home institutions.

Upon returning, I was asked to finalise design plans for the Middle Caicos Conservation Centre. I was fortunate in the class to be the only one of the students whose base institution did not already have an herbarium. I could learn not only from the class lessons, but from the experiences of others, before setting forth to design ours. I knew that the Conservation Centre’s available space would not allow for a full herbarium room in the first phase of development, but I factored important concerns – climate control, pest control, and work areas – into the design. When the Conservation Centre’s laboratory was suitably finished, a large herbarium cabinet installed, and the building air conditioned, we were ready to house specimens.

At first, we only intended to house outgoing specimens – pressed plants and seed collections on their way to Kew for procurement and disbursal – until we had an appropriate next-phase facility especially to house our specimens. But a call from Martin Hamilton, Kew’s UK Overseas Territories Programme Director, changed our course. The UK Overseas Territory Programme was expanding, and their space was shrinking . . . the specimens they were storing for us were in the way of new incoming collections, and would have to be shipped to us as soon as possible. Middle Caicos Conservation Centre staff members Jannay Arthur and Judnel “Flash” Blaise were given crash-courses in handling of specimens, and we excitedly awaited the specimens.

The parcels arrived mostly in good condition. One had been subjected to a thorough soaking of one corner somewhere towards the middle of its journey, so a number of specimens had to be carefully dried (water, fire, and insect damage are the most significant threats to herbarium specimens).  We selected an organisational system that would be alphabetical by family, genus, and species, and filed the specimens into the cabinet. Now that we had them in place, what was the next step?

Not long before the specimens arrived, a new set of freshly pressed specimens was brought to the Conservation Centre by a botanical research team. Several of the specimens had not been positively identified. Now, we had another tool to identify them. By discerning what botanical family the mystery specimens most likely were by their characteristics, we could look through the family folders and match like with like. We could also compare the differences in the specimens that were collected from different islands or habitats. This identification role of an herbarium can come in very handy to a number of non-botanical industries.

The other industries that use herbarium specimens are numerous. They are used by medical and pharmaceutical engineers when working with plant extracts – over 80% of our modern medicines are of plant origin. They are used increasingly in the field of genetic engineering – genes from some plants have made animals change colour when exposed to certain chemicals. They are used by architects for structural inspiration, zoologists for animal diet research, and poison control centres for identification of compounds in people who have been poisoned. Most surprising of all, they are used by crime investigators. A prized Florida racehorse poisoned just before a race by something it ate had its stomach contents analysed and the offending plants were identified as a species that did not grow in that part of the state, but was common on the land of a more northern rival competitor, against whom charges were brought. A murder victim’s fingernail scrapings included exotic plant tissues identified to a particular rock garden at an apartment complex, and the killer was caught.

We hope that our own national herbarium will never have to be used to solve any grisly crimes, but it will be there as a tool for that use, and others, if needed. Most likely, it will be used by researchers studying plant genetics and population changes. As plants are studied more, some different species are identified as varieties of the same species; other single species are split into two or more species due to marked differences. Botanists will frequently put a “det” (determination) slip on a specimen, reaffirming the species name on the label, updating it to a newer name, or renaming it in disagreement with its original assignation. In October 2004, I had the opportunity to travel to Kew’s herbarium to make determinations on numerous specimens collected here (later, one of the plants I determined would be re-determined by a family specialist at Kew).

In June 2007, I visited Fairchild Gardens in Miami along with our Kew colleagues. There, we sorted through specimens collected in TCI in 2001 whose collector had since moved on to another institution. While there, we also compared a number of our collections with those in Fairchild’s herbarium, and I made numerous notes on the page margins of my copy of Flora of the Bahama Archipelago. I searched the collections for plants I had never seen in TCI, to be sure they had been collected here. Many were, but others had been misnamed by place. One collection, noted in the book, stood out as unlikely to me – but that specimen was a single collection of an air plant, the stiff-leaved wild pine Tillandsia fasiculata, and it was housed at the New York Botanical Garden, not Fairchild. But, as luck would have it, that particular specimen was on loan to Fairchild for a student researching that species. I met the student, and we reviewed the specimen – collected around Minorca in North Caicos in 1904, the only specimen of this species ever collected in TCI where no others of its species have ever been seen. The specimen was a young, infertile plant – exceptionally difficult to identify – but through the wonders of microscopic technology we observed, by the shape of the minuscule waxy scales on the leaves, that this plant had been misidentified by its collector. The plant was actually “scorn-the-ground” Tillandsia utriculata, which is very common in TCI. The collector was none other than Millspaugh, one of the fathers of Caribbean botany.  Feeling quite cheeky, I added my own less-than-elegantly penned det slip to the blotchy, yellowed card paper of the 104-year-old specimen, reading “Tillandsia utriculata, BN Manco: Turks and Caicos National Trust @ Fairchild Gardens, 8 June 2007.” This simple manoeuvre struck the stiff-leaved wild pine from the list of Turks & Caicos plants . . . unless it is found and positively identified, which is unlikely as it prefers much damper habitats with standing fresh water.

With reassurances from the herbarium manager that it was indeed not cheeky but the very essence of the dynamics of an herbarium, I walked away feeling that I’d helped someone else in the future. I’ve since even put some new det slips on specimens I had identified in my less experienced days, and continue to use our new national herbarium collection to hone my plant identification skills and teach others these skills as well.  Hopefully, in another hundred years, someone will catch one of my mistakes and feel just as cheeky sticking their own determination to it in the Turks & Caicos National Herbarium Collection.

Story & Photos By Kathy Borsuk

As Nature turns up the heat (yes, it sometimes feels chilly here to residents during the wintertime), it’s becoming the season for salads. These healthy, snappy, tasty creations have soared beyond the wilted iceberg lettuce-tomato-carrot concoctions many of us grew up eating. Among Providenciales’ extensive variety of dining choices, I found a similarly wide-ranging selection of salads, ranging from elegant to international; unusual to traditional.

O’Soleil, the upscale restaurant at The Somerset at Grace Bay, sets the bar high when it comes to preparation, presentation and service of “island-infused world cuisine.” The kitchen is “womaned” by transplanted Canadian Executive Chef Lauren Callighen, whose menu is a sensual delight of flavors, colors and textures. Dinner is served nightly in the savvy, sophisticated, white-on-white, dining room and Lauren says that her most popular salad is Layered Beetroot and Goat Cheese. “It’s healthy, light and refreshing . . . just what we strive for in all of our dishes, and includes beetroot, one of nature’s ‘superfoods.’” Beetroot is high in B vitamins, iron and zinc, and is also a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. (In Asian culture, it is considered an aphrodisiac!) In Lauren’s recipe it is cut in circles and layered with goat cheese, which, compared to cheese made from cow’s milk, is lower in calories, fat and has no lactose. The salad is garnished with aromatic arugula and served with a hazelnut vinaigrette for a visually delightful presentation.

Lauren strives for uniqueness in other salad selections, as well. O’Soleil’s Caesar Salad includes plantain croutons – a healthful Caribbean twist – and is tossed with an anchovy dressing. Another signature side salad features a baby lettuce blend created especially for the restaurant by Island Fresh produce, the local hydroponic supplier. This is topped with strawberries, walnuts and asparagus, and tossed with a ginger/poppyseed vinaigrette. This, Lauren explains, is an example of her predilection for “sneaking in nutritious ingredients whenever I can.”  Walnuts are a great source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats and ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects.

Lemon Café is one of the island’s newest restaurants. Centrally located in the Village of Grace Bay (accessed via the roundabout just south of The Sands on Grace Bay resort), Lemon is “a modern take on Moroccan cuisine with Mediterranean influences.” In fact, stepping into the themed dining room is like entering a luxurious Bedouin tent. Warm, welcoming earth tones and a draped cloth ceiling, exotic music and an unhurried atmosphere invite you to relax and savor your dining experience (bring your own harem!)

Lemon is the dream – two years in the making – of Mark Dillon and partner Natalie Zaidan. Mari is a transplanted Canadian who visited the Islands and identified the need for a restaurant that went beyond the pale, to entice the palettes of residents and visitors alike. Mark’s wife is Moroccan, and besides falling in love with her, he says, “I also fell in love with the food, culture, music and style,” a fact that is clear in the eatery’s careful attention to detail.

Mark let his friend and experienced Executive Chef Jesse MacDonald wield his creativity when it came to creating the menu. “We started with traditional dishes as a template, but spent a lot of time adapting and refining them to make them our own. Above all, we focused on freshness and flavor.”

Lemon’s most popular salad is a twist on the basics. Mark explains, “We combine cucumber, tomato, olives and pickled radishes with a side of cucumber mint yoghurt and humus. It’s tasty, healthy and full of fresh and unexpected nuances. For folks who might want a heartier salad, they can add grilled lemon chicken for increased flavor and protein. Another salad spotlights poached grouper on a bed of fennel and endive, topped with dill and capers, including marinated olives and orange hearts. This savory-sweet combination has a lot of flavors going on, but they all come together really well.”

Another favorite for lunch or dinner is Lemon’s two-bean salad with red onion, parsley, red and yellow peppers and feta cheese, tossed with a lime-artichoke dressing. Besides being another appetite-arousing blend of flavors, this salad makes it easy to eat healthy. Beans provide protein and soluble fiber, while brightly colored bell peppers are rich sources of vitamins C and A, two very powerful antioxidants. Feta cheese, made from goat’s milk, provides an excellent source of calcium, zinc, riboflavin, and vitamin B12, which help strengthen bones, teeth and the immune system.

Simply mentioning the salads doesn’t do the intriguing menu justice, although the salads do represent Lemon’s tantalizing mélange of exotic flavors. A large selection of tapas, tagines and even B’stilla are on offer, with Mark explaining, “We like to play around and have fun with the menu, so every day there’s likely to be something new and different.”

There’s no doubt that Graceway IGA’s popular deli/take-out counter satisfies the salad cravings for many a harried worker during their lunchtime break. Chef and traditional green salads with packaged dressing are on offer, along with a much larger selection of salad ingredients for cooking at home, including organic fruits and vegetables in the store’s huge produce department.

That will soon change and expand when Graceway Gourmet opens this April. Located in the heart of Grace Bay, at the Seven Stars roundabout, the 15,000 sq. ft. store will “cater to the finer palette with a select variety of gourmet food and specialty organic products.” Graceway Gourmet’s delicatessen/take-out department is led by Executive Chef Josh Carlton, who spent the last four years cooking at the upscale Turks & Caicos Sporting Club on Ambergris Cay. He says Graceway Gourmet will focus on fresh, creative, homemade salad specialties for people to eat on-site or take away. “We’ll have a variety of chopped, pasta and potato salads in single and family sizes. And I’m really excited about using 100% compostable biodegradable packaging for most of our food items.”

He revealed one of his signature combinations:  Mango Slaw, a healthy and colorful blend of red and green cabbage and bell peppers, green onion and green mango, tossed with a vinegar-based dressing to keep calories and saturated fat low. Surprisingly for their decadent flavor and perfume-like aroma, mangos are high in iron, a rich source of vitamin A, E and selenium, which help to protect against heart disease and contain phenols, a compound have powerful antioxidant and anticancer abilities.

Chef Josh also plans a number of seasonal salads, based on readily available ingredients through his South Florida produce supplier, which offers an extensive range of healthy and distinctive products. Heartier, protein-rich salads will include seared and slow-roasted fish and seafood.

You can’t mention salads in the Turks & Caicos without highlighting the local legend: conch salad. At roadside “conch shacks” in Blue Hills, you’ll find this raw conch specialty as fresh as it gets. The conch is literally harvested from the ocean, “knocked,” removed from the shell and diced, then tossed with fresh lime juice and chopped onion, sweet pepper and tomato, seasoned with a bit of salt and hot pepper. It’s a tangy, sweet, chewy, fresh from the sea combination.

You’ll find many variations on this national dish, often called by its more sophisticated name, conch “ceviche.” Yet whether served in martini glasses or plastic bowls, conch is a natural Caribbean “superfood”, very high in protein and low in calories with no saturated fat.

Also on the menu (when in season from August 1 through March 31) of many local restaurants, including Smokey’s on the Bay and Caicos Café is lobster salad. This rich treat is made from sweet, tender local lobster tail that has been cooked, cooled and “pulled” (separated into fibers), then tossed with finely chopped onion, sweet pepper, fresh lime juice and mayonnaise. A splash of hot sauce adds the perfect touch. It’s tasty on its own, on a bed of greens or served as a sandwich between slices of still warm, slightly sweet, dense island bread.

Salads make sense as part of a healthy diet, especially in a climate where you spend lots of time in skimpy bathing suits, shorts and tank tops. Luckily, salads don’t have to be boring anymore.

Story & Photos By Dr. Charlene Kozy, former professor and president of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee

My Winter 2008 Times of the Islands article, “Hidden History,” gave an introduction to the task of uncovering the mysteries of the Caicos Islands plantations. Yet the maps plotting the plantations on North and Middle Caicos were merely a start in finding the hidden and lost history of the plantation era. Some tracts were sold to other grantees and some were never exercised. The dilemma was how to find and identify the ruins in the heavily overgrown area. Through the hospitality and knowledge of residents of Bambarra on Middle Caicos, I was able to plan field schools with students from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where I served as a professor.

Alton Higgs led me and my husband, Steve, through the brush to Haulover (making small fires to mark our way back). Mrs. Constance Hall showed me Ferguson Plantation, where she was born and lived until storms damaged it. Emmanuel Hall (deceased husband of Constance Hall) provided a place for relaxation and sold soft drinks at “the store.” Valerie Hamilton, a young school teacher, gave support and knowledge of the island. And, lastly, Ernest and Elizabeth Forbes opened their home to house the students. Mr. Forbes became my guide throughout the time of investigations and continues to look for ruins that can be identified. His life spans enough time for him to have seen changes and be told of changes by his elders. While matching land grants to actual locations is difficult, he disagreed: “It’s easy, just follow the chimneys.”

The use of chimneys was brought to the Bahamas by the Loyalists. Johann David Schoepf, a German, reported in his work Travels in the Confederation (1783-84) that no chimneys were found in Nassau but cooking was done over round fire pits outside their houses. In the U.S. Colonial South, kitchens were generally built apart from the main residence to minimize the danger of fire. Thus, this is one way to ascertain that plantation ruins did indeed belong to a Southern Loyalist. Haulover has two chimneys still standing – one is in the kitchen just outside the main house and the other is in the secondary residence. Bonaventure’s chimney in the kitchen is the best preserved part of the ruins. The cooking area of the chimney at Increase is the best preserved. Other chimneys on the Caicos Islands reach above the brush, announcing another plantation ruin.

It was logical to investigate the plantations where appraisals, wills, and other documents were found in the Bahama Registry. Two detailed appraisals were selected, Bonaventure and Increase. Local oral history and documents are available for the third plantation, Haulover.

The three plantations chosen on Middle Caicos lie on the northeast coast and spread southward along Whole Grown Creek and Windward Going Through. This area has the best soil on Middle Caicos even today, and there is more rainfall than on other parts of the island, as evidenced by bananas growing there.

The grantees of these three plantations had very little in common in America. Dr. Lorimer was a military surgeon in the British garrisons in Pensacola, Florida;  John Mulryne Tattnall was a large property holder in Georgia and John Bell was referred to in the appraisement as Dr. John Bell from East Florida. None of these grantees were enlisted in the military, although 25% of the grantees served in the military with the King’s Rangers. They were banished from America because of their loyalty to the King, and resumed their life by chance as planter neighbors on Middle Caicos.

The information from appraisals brings the image of real people living on these plantations. While personal  information such as diaries and letters are lost, documents such as wills, appraisals, sales of property, etc. illustrate the daily life of the Loyalists.

We usually give the 1830s as an end to the plantation era; however, letters written by Alice Coweles Harriott (married to Alexis Harriott) in the 1860s from Salt Cay mentions that her children, Missie and Jim, will “be two weeks at Grand Cay (Middle Caicos).” The conclusion is that relatives or friends lived on Middle and entertained visitors at this time. In her letters she gave insight to the shortage of small things like needles, cloth and “any pretty little new novelties,” and asked her mother and aunt to send them to her. She spoke of an abundance of bananas and coconuts but she missed having milk. She wrote of the relentless heat (in December) and mosquitoes, but added a vivid description of oleander flowers that her aunt “would go out of her skin if she could see them . . . the buds open almost like rose buds.” This was written some 30 years after the period of prosperity on the Caicos Islands, but it was probably a fair sample of  life at Bonaventure, Increase, and Haulover Plantations.

Bonaventure Plantation

John Mulryne Tattnall’s outspoken loyalty to the British Crown resulted in his being one of the first Georgians to be banished. He was from a wealthy family (the name Tattnall can be found on street names in Savannah, Georgia today). His first move from Georgia was to British East Florida and he immediately began working for the rights of Loyalists. He petitioned for their aid while in East Florida and became an active member of the Board of Loyalists in the Bahamas. He applied for a position in Nassau as Searcher of Customs, but Governor Maxwell viewed Tattnall as an extremist, “trying to overthrow the government.” A letter from Tattnall was published in the Gazette countering the charge, explaining that he had “sacrificed fortune and dearest connections to the interest of his country and attachment to his Sovereign.” He did not get the appointment.

Two grants were made to John M. Tattnall:  300 acres on North Caicos and 750 on Middle Caicos. The appraisal of his estate made at his death in 1796 and description of the ruins investigated in 1991 places Bonaventure on the land described below in the original grant.

D/1, 155 (reel and page number in the Bahama Gazette)

John Mulryne Tattnall         14 April 1790

750 acres upon the Grand Caicos, bounded northwardly by Whole Grown Creek and Windward Going Through, southerly by a marsh, eastwardly by John Bell’s Land and westwardly by John Dickson’s land.

John McIntosh, Thomas Armstrong and Charles Fox Taylor (all grantees) witnessed  and signed the appraisal on 16 December, 1796 listing his property and “sundry articles.”

Approximately 120 acres were under cultivation of cotton and about 30 in pasture. Stone buildings were equipped with the latest invention to clean cotton, the wind gin. Slave houses with an overseer’s house indicates the organization of labor on Tattnall’s plantation.

His dwelling was a two-story house with a wide entry, dining room, and two parlors on the first floor. A back entry, with furnishings, probably connected the main house to a kitchen to the rear of the house. The house was well furnished with mahogany furniture and silver serving utensils.

The two parlors were furnished with a mahogany dining table with ends to match, round tea table, six mahogany chairs, mahogany secretary with drawers and glass,  mahogany side board, bookcase, white, ivory-handle table knives and forks, a set of tea china and six mahogany chairs with cane backs.

The bedrooms (chambers) were equally well furnished with a mahogany bedstead for two mattresses, chest of drawers, chairs, mahogany basin stand, night table and a bed chair (stuffed). The western chamber also had a bedstead, feather bed-pillows, a small child’s bedstead, a cedar crib, a small chair, a trunk with bed linens and table.

The kitchen was stocked with: silver spoons, fish knives, ladel (sic), butter knife, 14 silver table spoons, 12 teaspoons, 8 cups, 1 tankard, coffee pot, sugar dish, cake holder, candlesticks, snuffer stand, egg frame and cup, toast trays, tureen ladel (sic), rice dish, spice box and 2 pairs of plates.

Personal items listed were a gentleman’s saddle, a pair of silver mounted pistols with holsters, a mahogany gun case and a swinging lamp. Also listed were a thermometer, spy glass, fiddle (Mr. Tattnall’s fiddle), clarinet and a picture of General Woolfe.

Other unusual furniture and items were 14 Iapan’d  (sic) cane sear chairs, 2 mahogany card tables, 2 pair of glasses in good frames, 1 sofa with furniture, 1 printed floor cloth, 1 set tea china, tea urn, tea trays. Also listed were an Iapan’d half circle table and 2 pairs of India shades. (Iapan’d was a popular style which involved painting the furniture black and using gold or white Japanese decoration on it.)

The ruins and the landmark chimney were found with the help of Mr. Forbes. The students scraped dirt from the foundation and using the appraisal description, found the floor plan and additional buildings described. Stone and mortar (sand and crushed shell) held the walls of the kitchen and the chimney. The main house was described as a two-story frame house, but only the foundation survived. Rubble piles, possibly indicating poorly built slave houses, were present on the site. Using careful measurements, a plot of the plantation was made showing distances between buildings and fences.

The appraisal listed farm animals, i.e., 3 horses, a cow and calf,  25 sheep, 30 turkeys, 18 ducks, fowl, hogs and geese. Ten slaves were acknowledged by name. Evidently it was a working plantation at the time of Tattnall’s death in 1796.

We sat and pondered the family and their lifestyle. Although there is no mention of a wife and children, it is clear there were small children living there at the time of Tattnall’s death or that had lived there and grown up. What would it be like to be moved away from “what you call dear” and live in virtual isolation? Even with the obviously expensive and elegant items they brought with them and available labor, it would not be ideal.

Our guide, Mr. Forbes, pondered the hard work of the slaves that built the expansive stone fences, houses and the main house. He imagined the labor involved in carrying, cutting and securing the stone which has stood for over 200 years and we commiserated with him. We all were amazed at the thought of cultivating 120 acres of cotton and  it growing  “in tolerable condition” in the thick brush that now covered the fields, understanding that  hoes were the primary tool used in the Islands at this time.

The appraiser’s conclusions were that the plantation  was “at considerably less in value than it would be otherwise due to the precarious situation in the West Indies.” The “precarious situation” could have been wars, insects, depleted soil or the lower price for cotton.

Increase Plantation

Mr. Forbes knew the exact location of Increase Plantation. It is on the southeastern part of Middle Caicos. It was used as a point to travel by boat to South Caicos before modern transportation, and reached by foot.

A decision to conduct a field school required access to the plantation. With housing in Bambarra, we traveled by truck to Lorimers after which the road became impassable for a vehicle and we went on foot thereafter. I realized we were on the Royal or King’s Road, as it is interchangeably known. The road was lined with stone and easily followed. Scrubby growth had overtaken parts but it can be easily seen how carriages could travel from Haulover, Bonaventure, and other plantations in that area to the last point of the island, Increase. I could imagine the bumpy ride experienced in a Loyalist’s carriage.

In the interest of time lost walking, Mr. Forbes was convincing when he suggested traveling by boat from Bambarra Landing through Windward Going Through to Increase. The investigation was a “go.”

The boat trip itself proved to be an adventure. We traveled with the tides and sometimes had to “lighten up” when we hit sand and wade until deeper water was found. The team left the boat on the southeastern part of the island and walked to the back of the plantation. Although its location is known throughout the island, its isolation and difficulty of access probably made it undesirable to live there after it was abandoned; however, through the ages, the plantation was stripped of any of the original planter’s valuables.

The owner of Increase, John Bell (referred to as Dr. John Bell in the appraisal) was granted over 1,000 acres of land in 1791 on Grand (Middle) Caicos and apparently lived there until his death in early 1800. He established two plantations, Increase and Industry. Dr. Bell was obviously a man of wealth, as he did not depend on the British government for transportation to resettle in the Bahamas. The Bahama Gazette carried a story on January 5, 1789 about ” Dr. John Bell, from East and West Florida” and his troubles at sea. It appears that one of his sloops sprung a leak and was forced to put in port in St. Eustasia “on his way to settle on an island.” The Gazette reported that the sloop carried 180 of his Negroes along with other possessions.

The land grants are as follows: (reel, page numbers in the Bahama Registry)

F/1, 127

12 February 1791    John Bell

720 acres on Grand Caicos, bounded on the north by the Windward Going Through on Grand Caicos, bounded on all sides by marshes and creeks.

F/1, 128

12 February 1791    John Bell

300 acres upon a key or point to the eastward of the Windward Going Through on Grand Caicos, bounded on all sides by marshes and creeks.

F/1, 142

16 February 1791    John Bell

Acres on a key to the westward of the Windward Going Through on Grand Caicos, bounded on all sides by the sea.

E-2, 290

Inventory and appraisement of goods and chattel of Dr. John Bell, deceased, taken at Increase Estate, Middle Caicos in the Bahamas, 26 February 1800.

Increase plantation – about 1,470 acres of land. 300 of which is in cotton, highly cultivated, 200 in pasture, properly subdivided with stone walls remainder in standing woods together with the buildings thereon consisting of a frame dwelling house 28 feet long, with sash and glaze, a hall, two bedrooms, pantry on one floor and cellars under the whole. Cotton house of pitch pine, 39 feet long by 16 with a piazza on one side, 11 feet wide with a room in one end of it. A stone kitchen, a corn house built of stone 40 ft. long by 12 ft. A stone house of stone 46 ft. by 15 (ft.). 13 large Negro houses built of stone besides others walled and plastered. Estimates this land at a guine per acre and improvements at 1000 currency.

A small key opposite Increase plantation. A tract of land on East Caicos, about 300 acres. Industry plantation about 1000 acres with improvements.

The appraisal listed 90 Negro slaves by name and age. They were grouped by families, and illnesses and positions were mentioned. Two examples are:

Jamie/ Driver. Belinda his wife.

Francois     13

Silverlec     5

Philip     7

Harriet     3

Sara, grandmother

Caesar, his wife Nanny, afflicted with cancer

Medina     3

Few household items were mentioned. But a “parcel” of medicine was listed. A total of 12 horses, 9 cows, 5 calves, 3 bulls, 2 steers, 4 heifers and 39 sheep probably populated the 200 acres of pasture.

An extensive list of tools and equipment needed for this large plantation was listed, i.e.: “5 foot gin compleat (sic), cotton cleaning machine, mill stones, grind stones, 2 hand corn mills,” along with hammers, nails, 14 hoes, 16 pick axes, 6 whip cut saws, hand saws, iron squares, hunting knives, 9 space shovels, 6 iron wedge, 6 trowels, new rope, etc.

A barrel of chalk, 3 new sash windows with frames, 500 bushels of corn, one-half barrel of beef, a quantity of black soap, one keg of white paint, a small boat and a harness with carts was found.

The “yard” was in common usage and separated the main house, kitchen, and workhouses from the slave houses known as the “quarters.” The “yard” at Increase consisted of the main house, kitchen, three industrial buildings and a circular structure of stone and was located between the west gate and the first east gate.

The main house was approximately 120 feet from the west gate, which opened to King’s Road. The appraisal described the house as being a frame dwelling, which would account for the structure being in ruin and overgrown with extensive bush, cactus and trees. No walls remain standing, nor are there any floors or interior partitions; however, the foundation for the cellar (basement) is intact and the doors leading to the cellar are easily discerned. A support pillar is in place in the center of the foundation, which follows the appraiser’s description of a two-story house. Two bedrooms and an 11 ft. piazza are described in the appraisal. These were located and measured. Steps lead to the first floor, thus, the cellar was not dug but built at ground level. The house was located on an elevated area making it possible to view the surrounding fields. Sixteen feet of “sash and glaze” (windows) are described in the appraisal but were not located on the structure. The house faced the southwest.

The kitchen was approximately 60 feet southwest of the main house. It is a 14 ft. square building made of stone with wooden frames still in the windows and door. The chimney is in ruin, but stood 9 ft. 5 1/2 in. tall by 12 ft. 3 in. wide, the fireplace is intact. A well-built hearth lies outside the fireplace. A circular stone, hollowed out, is outside the kitchen door. Mr. Forbes recognized the stone as a container used to collect rainwater for animals (or people) to drink.

A dome-shaped mortar and stone structure was found in the “yard” area.  An iron ring lay at the top of the dome. A similar structure was reported by Kathy Gerace on the Farguharson Plantation on Watling Island leading to the conclusion that it was a ginning circle. Farguharson mentioned in his journal that he borrowed a mule from a neighbor to gin his cotton. Ms. Gerace assumed the animals walked around the perimeter of the circle, which held the cotton gin. Cotton cleaning machines are mentioned in the Bell appraisal along with gins.

“Rubble” of rocks lay next to the circular structure, which could have been a storage building for cotton. It is speculated that a thatched roof held in place by wooden poles covered this whole area. With 300 acres of cotton  found in good condition by the appraiser, mechanisms  to clean and store cotton are certainly logical.

A two-room building is located 10 feet north of the kitchen. It measured 36 ft. x 14 ft. with a stone wall between the rooms. It could have been slave quarters or a storage house, but most likely slave quarters for “kitchen help.” The rooms were separated by one 3 ft. door.

The appraisal states that “13 large negro houses build of stone, walled and plastered” were on the plantation.  The houses were identified by piles of “rubble” of unshaped rock just outside the first east gate and measured 13 1/2 ft. square. Ms. Gerace found a similar description of slave houses at Sandy Point Plantation on San Salvador.

In this area, a circular man-made well built of stone and mortar was found. Approximately 30 feet away was an opening in the ground that appeared to be a natural spring. It could have fed the well.

Five gates were found southwesterly toward Windward Going Through. Stone water bowls were found near the gates. Two hundred acres were reported in pasture. It is logical that these gates separated animals in pasture and the bowls furnished water for them.

Matching 200 year old documents with 200 year old ruins was a challenge for the team. It was successful in that physical evidence of a well-developed plantation did exist and was matched to the historical documents.

Haulover Plantation

Haulover, presently known as Haulover Fields, is located on the ridge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on the northeastern end of Middle Caicos. It lies just below Gamble’s Point and close to Half-Creek Landing. A view of Bambarra is to the west and the village of Lorimers is nearby.

The first document that identifies the plantation is the land grant recorded in the Bahama Registry as follows:

23 February, 1791 (F/1 p.163)

John Lorimer

504 acres upon Grand Caicos, bounded southwardly by Whole Grown Creek, eastwardly  by Robert Cunningham’s land, westwardly by William Gamble and southwardly by a marsh.

Dr. John Lorimer is first found in records as receiving a commission as a military surgeon to the British garrison in Pensacola, West Florida “at the command of his majesty, George III, 14 March, 1765.” He was also elected a member of the House of Assembly from Campbell Town, West Florida and was elected temporary speaker. By 1776, he had obtained several grants of land on the Mississippi River.

On March 22, 1779,  he requested an appointment as Chief Surgeon and Purveyor of the hospital in West Florida. The request was made to “Brigadier General John Campbell, commanding his majesty’s forces in West Florida, from John Lorimer M.D. Surgeon in the hospitals for His Majesty’s Forces at Pensacola.”

When West Florida surrendered to the Spaniards, Dr. Lorimer was among the prisoners sent to New York. Problems involved in identifying Loyalists are insurmountable. The records are scattered as in the case of Dr. Lorimer. His birthplace has not been found. There is no evidence of a wife or children. He mentions brothers and sisters in his will that was written on Middle Caicos in 1807. Present day inhabitants know the location of his grave.

Dr. Lorimer’s will was recorded in the Bahama Registry. He gave specific instruction concerning his property and even his funeral. His brother Thomas received 1/3 of his property and his other brothers, Charles and James, and sister, Jeanett Sowers, received the balance. The will read as follows: “I wish my body to be carried to the grave by six of my Negroes (if I have any left) dressed in white. For long services rendered me by my Negro woman, Rose, I leave her free . . . and any two of my young Negroes born and raised at the Caicos or Turks Islands which she may choose. Also that the Negro woman Betty and her issue be the property of said Rose bought for her from Robert Darrell.”

What his life was like on the Caicos lies in the ruins of his plantation. We know that he was respected in his community because his name has survived to the present day

as the village Lorimers on Middle Cacicos. He is the only Loyalist so honored.

The ruins of Haulover are easily found today and it  was mentioned in Emile Stubbs Kursteiner’s will, written  April 1954. She inherited the plantation through her great grandfather, Henshall Stubbs, and father, Alfred Stubbs, who inherited it from Henshall’s uncle, Wade Stubbs, an original Loyalist planter on Turks & Caicos. According to H.E. Sadler, the Stubbs family expanded Haulover and two later attempts were made to cultivate cotton, one in 1898 and the other in 1920.

The investigation of Haulover was exciting from the very beginning. The team led by Mr. Forbes was slashing brush while following a stone fence through a field when they uncovered a very unusual well. It was a finely finished circular hole with steps leading down to the water. Finding a well finished to this perfection encouraged the team to disregard the exertion required to continue to the plantation.

The main house is the dominant structure found. It has a stone and mortar foundation that measured 73 ft. wide by 55 ft. deep, divided into 6 rooms. The foundation walls varied from 23 to 25 inches in width and were, in general, in good condition. The structure is laid out perfectly on a square, indicating precise construction techniques. On top of the foundation wall, approximately two inches in from the outside and five inches in from the inside, a second course of rock and mortar indicate the structure above the foundation was material other than stone. Wood was plentiful at this time on the island and the house appeared to be finished in that material. The secondary stone course had three openings in the north wall: a 3 ft. 7 inch opening in the center of the wall and 3 ft. 6 inch openings spaced on either side of the center opening. Apparently, a front door and windows on either side existed.

An 8 ft. decorative circular stone platform lay approximately 30 ft. from the front door/window openings. A second circular tier 5 ft. in diameter with a 6 x 6-inch hole in the center could have supported a flagpole.

Numerous fences divided small areas and fields outside this main house structure. Piles of “rubble” stone lay to the north of the main house. As in other plantations, they were probably poorly built slave houses that collapsed in time.

This kitchen is located about 2 1/2 ft. off the rear of the west wall of the main house. It is a 15 ft. square mortar and stone structure, dominated by a 5 ft. wide, open fireplace on the south wall. The walls were 6 ft. 6 inch high at the roof’s eve. A 4 ft. wide door on the east wall and a 3 ft. x 2 ft. window on the west wall are in fair shape. The fireplace opening is 38 inches deep and 52 inches wide and leads into a 20 ft. high chimney and is in better than fair condition. Sill beams are in evidence in the fireplace and window. Wooden pegs were found in the windowsill.

An 8 x 8 ft. stone and mortar structure is located approximately 60 ft. west of the kitchen. A trough is located inside the building with a 2 ft. x 6 inch high drain to the outside at the bottom of the trough. Beams may have spanned the trough. This could have been a latrine.

A well-built platform with an 18 inch high, 11 inch thick wall surrounded the platform of tamped mortar and stone. This could have been a part of the ginning process of cotton.

A second stone and mortar house was found approximately 70 yards southeast of the main house and outside the main stonewall. This house measures 15 ft. 6 inches x 10 ft. 6 inches and is dominated by a large interior fireplace and chimney. It has two doors and five windows and appears to be a dwelling house, perhaps for an overseer. The walls and chimney are standing in fair to poor condition. Broken pottery and bottles were easily found outside this house. A circular stone platform was found close by but not as elaborate as the one in front of the main house.

No doubt that this was an elegant plantation. Mr. Forbes concluded that the wood, door hinges and anything that could be used elsewhere were probably removed after it fell vacant. The romantic students called the second residence “Rose’s” house. She could have been Dr. Lorimer’s love and mistress, since she was especially remembered in his will.

Conclusions

Of the three plantations investigated on Middle Caicos, Haulover offers the most potential for tourist attraction and  a view of plantation life. The foundation of the main house is easily viewed, with a layout of rooms, doors and windows evidenced. A 75 ft. long foundation is intact. The kitchen, platforms, and secondary residence are in fair condition. Other residents during the years after Lorimer’s death probably stopped the decay that Increase and Bonaventure suffered. Wade’s Green on North Caicos likewise is in good condition due to use through the years. An attempt to give access to Haulover is being made by the National Trust. A path is cleared, a viewing platform is in place and Mr. Forbes is an able guide.

The plantation era is of great value in understanding the history of the Turks & Caicos Islands. These American planters were the first inhabitants since the Spaniards found the Taino Indians in the late 1400s. That culture disappeared and the Islands lay barren until the late 1700s. Viewing the Islands now, it is difficult to visualize the bustling period with hundreds of acres of cotton growing which supplied industry and a social life for the planters and their slaves. Wars, insects, depletion of land and no capital worked against the continuing success after the planters either died or left the Islands. A bare thread (if any) of the planters’ descendants remains but the surviving slaves’ descendants are now ready to reap the benefits of their ancestors’ struggles and hardships.

To reach a better understanding of the pattern of life in the plantation era, further excavations need to be undertaken on both North Caicos and Middle Caicos, particularly of the slave quarters. This would assist in uncovering the social structure at work during the Loyalist Period. The undertaking is great but with leaders on the Caicos Islands like Ernest Forbes, we will continue to “follow the chimneys.”

You don’t have to travel far to find adventure.

Story & Photos By Ramona Settle

Floating on top of crystal clear, turquoise waters on the deck of a boat, I had the feeling I was suspended in air. The water was so clear, I could see fish swimming near the ocean floor, 30 feet down. My family and I, part-time Providenciales residents, had decided to take several day trips to explore what the nearby islands and cays had to offer. We discovered that each was quite distinctive, with a personality all its own.

For our first get-away, we had the crew at Silver Deep drop us off at Half Moon Bay on Little Water Cay, to have our own “Survivor” experience. It was easy to do, as the tour operator provided us with an umbrella, lounge chairs, food and drinks, and left us on what seemed like a perfect little “Gilligan’s Island” all to ourselves. If my husband and I weren’t already married, what an ideal place it is for a proposal!

Our plans had been to discover a new spot to escape to and de-stress. Little did we know it was going to turn into an adventure! At first, we marveled at having this gorgeous beach all to ourselves, and we frolicked in the shallows, hunted for shells and soaked in the sun. Then the clouds started rolling in. They were in a straight line heading towards us; Provo, of course, was clear. They turned into a full-blown squall, complete with high wind and downpours. We huddled under the umbrella and held on for dear life so it wouldn’t blow away. The squall lasted about 25 minutes, followed by the sun coming back ever-so-brightly, almost mocking us.

Feeling exhilarated, we decided to use our newfound energy to explore the island. We spied on the famous Turks & Caicos Rock Iguanas (unique to the country, as well as an endangered species), watched a pelican dive for fish and strolled leisurely on the beach. Occasionally we saw a boat slide by. We were so relaxed that we were sorry when our captain came back to pick us up. It’s ironic how during the squall we couldn’t wait to get back to Provo; now we didn’t want to leave.

Later in the week, my daughter and I decided to explore North and Middle Caicos. With the new and efficient TCI Ferry Service from Provo to North Caicos, it’s an easy and convenient hop between the two islands. (If the waters of Grace Bay are choppy, the ferry takes you the “back” way, gliding along the Caicos Banks, shallow waters with an aqua-green sheen.) We passed by Half Moon Bay, Pine Cay and Parrot Cay on our way to the marina at Sandy Point, North Caicos. The trip itself reveals a face of the Islands some people never see – wild, untamed sun, sand and sea. And our arrival felt like stepping back in time, to a slower-paced, calm and peaceful way of life. We had made arrangements for a rental car, and, as luck would have it, the person we rented from was going back on the ferry to Provo.

At about 40 miles long, North Caicos is a large, sprawling island and some of the side roads are quite bumpy. You would think that with one main, paved road, it would be easy to get around. Not so for me, with no sense of direction and an eager six year old in tow. Of course, having “no direction sense” doesn’t help when you stop to ask the way. It all sounded the same! “I’ve heard of that hotel, it’s just down aways.” “There will be a sign on the road on the left.” Of course, I never saw signs, nor knew how far left I had to go.

On the way to not finding anything, we stopped at Flamingo Pond and actually saw flamingos. Unfortunately, they looked like dots scattered in the pond – note to self: next time bring binoculars! We stopped to check out Pelican Beach Hotel and Ocean Beach Condominiums, both rustic and relaxing, with old-time Caribbean charm. The beaches were expansive and deserted; the pace was slow, what a great escape!

However, when we stopped at the Silver Palm Restaurant, proprietor Karen Preikschat and chef Henry Butterfield were cooking lots of food and actually looking stressed. “For who?,” we wondered as we had seen only a handful of people all day. Later on, when we came to the St. Charles Resort at Horsestable Beach, we discovered it was packed with people, there for a government meeting. The food was for their (and, now, our) delicious lunch.

Later on, we met local schoolchildren walking home after school. My daughter begged me to stop and say “Hi!” They all smiled and giggled together, equally happy – ahh . . . the island life! Next, we visited Bottle Creek Lodge, where my daughter met the owner’s two children. The multi-colored buildings set against the background of lime-tinted aqua water in the creek made for a gorgeous sight.

We wanted to investigate the new causeway connecting North Caicos and Middle Caicos, and explore Middle Caicos too. As we drove along the historic roadway, there were a couple of people bonefishing on the flats. We visited the fascinating Conch Bar Caves in Middle Caicos, where Taino Indians used to worship, pirates used to hide and bats currently use to “hang out” on the ceiling. After that, we went to Mudjin Harbour, one of the most spectacular beaches in the country. The waters were rough that day. We stood on the cliffs at Blue Horizons Resort, watching waves crash on a “T” formed by corals out on the water; it took our breath away. We took a short hike on a portion of the Crossing Place Trail, a graded walkway tracing the traditional path from Middle to North Caicos. All too soon, it was time to go back to the ferry and return to Provo.

For a third day trip, we decided to make reservations for lunch at The Meridian Club on Pine Cay. Hotel staff picked us up at Walkin Marina in a comfortable new boat and we traveled across the Caicos Banks to the dock on Pine Cay. One of the first things we noticed is that, in a country graced with stunning beaches, Pine Cay boasts has one of nicest and least trafficked. The Meridian Club is a quiet, secluded hideaway. The only vehicles allowed on this private island are electric golf carts. The resort has just 13 beachfront hotel rooms, a large club house with a restaurant and a pool – relaxing has never been so good! And the food – superb – was surpassed only by the setting.

We made reservations for lunch at Parrot Cay the next day. Other than several exclusive villas belonging to celebrities, Parrot Cay Resort is the only place to stay on the whole island. This is the place to go to be pampered! Yet another awesome beach to explore, combined with one of the best spas in the world. Tucked away into a hillside, the Shambala Spa pampers all of your senses, with tranquilizing views of the shallow banks, the “white noise” of a waterfall and, of course, the best in spa services, from massages to treatments. One thing we noticed about Parrot Cay was a tantalizing lemon-grass scent that seemed to follow us everywhere we went. If someone wants to live like a movie star for the day, it can’t get better than this!

Later in the week, we rented a boat to explore the deserted cays that stretch like a string of jewels east of Providenciales. We stopped at Little Water Cay, also known as Iguana Island, being home to thousands of rare and endangered Turks & Caicos Rock Iguanas. We climbed the small limestone cliffs and took in the views. We searched for cannons under the water from a shipwreck. We snorkeled at Sand Dollar Point and saw something I had never seen before – a sand dollar actually moving along the bottom of the ocean! At Fort George National Park, we searched for shells and sand dollars on the beautiful, secluded beach. A couple of years back, Fort George is where we first spotted Jo Jo the dolphin, one of Turks & Caicos’ most beloved mascots.

With so many islands and cays to explore close by, you can not only enjoy the elegant accommodations, dining, shopping and casinos on Providenciales, but also experience a quiet, secluded getaway only a short journey away. You’ll find state of the art amenities on bustling Provo; simple, old-Caribbean charm elsewhere. With the world’s most beautiful water as a backdrop, it’s time to explore.

New solid waste management plan is a model programme.

By Kathy Borsuk

If you’d like to see an image of post-Apocalypse Provo, take a trip to the “dump,” currently sprawling over a 27 acre site of formerly beautiful bush in the northwest corner of the island. The “flags” that mark your approach are fragments of plastic bags flapping in the breeze. You’ll be greeted by swarms of hungry flies as you dodge rusted appliances, chunks of lumber and other piles of trash that have tumbled off the backs of trucks and burst open on the way to the site.

Some days, visiting tourists view ugly black plumes of smoke as they make a landing approach to the airport. That’s from the burning of rubber tires and other debris at the dump site or from spot fires that occasionally erupt. And if the tradewinds stray from their easterly flow, residents of Wheeland and Blue Hills suffer the effects of choking, acrid fumes blowing over their homes and schools.

The situation is no better in Grand Turk, where the landfill was full to bursting before the ravages of Hurricane Ike and is now overflowing with the detritus left behind as nearly a year’s worth of garbage was created by the single storm. Waste management on the out-Islands mirrors the lack of proper separation, treatment and handling on a smaller scale.

As the number of residents and visitors to the Turks & Caicos Islands escalate, the amount of garbage grows exponentially, currently estimated at a ton per citizen annually and a ton and a half per tourist! Year by year, it becomes increasingly clear that the current, outmoded solid waste system does not meet the TCI’s aspiration to be a model of sustainable development.

The TCI Government’s initial waste management study was undertaken in 2001, followed by the 2005 Feasibility Study and Detailed Designs for a Revised Solid Waste Management Project. Results highlighted the clear need for an integrated system “which follows the life cycle of consumable products (from cradle to grave); provides an improved collection and disposal system; minimises waste generation and maximises . . . recycling and reuse . . . and increases public awareness and encourages stakeholders to take responsibility for the waste they produce.” In late 2007, tender was put forth for proposals to privatise the national solid waste management system and in March 2008, an initial 20-year contract was awarded to Turks & Caicos Environmental Management (TCEM).

TCEM includes a family whose members are, you might say, “garbage specialists.” Led by family patriarch Jim Hodge, an internationally recognized authority on waste disposal, the tradition is continued by his son Tim and longtime family friend, Geoffrey Starin, along with a team of highly-skilled engineers and specialists. The combined group offers over 100 years of experience in landfill design, permitting, construction, operation, waste collection/transfer, recycling and equipment financing. For instance, they designed, built, permitted and operated Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Washington State, USA, which processes 2.5 million tons of garbage annually – nearly 100,000 container-loads – arriving to the remote site by train, truck and barge.  Some of this refuse comes from the 30 municipal collection contracts they have developed and overseen, servicing 200,000 homes and collecting 400,000 tons of trash annually.

Besides bearing a long tradition of international partnerships, the group has a unique TCI connection. Jim and Tim have been part-time residents of the TCI for most of their lives. Jim’s parents, Russell and Alice Hodge, built the first home on Parrot Cay in 1971, and the extended family has spent much time there.

TCEM’s plan is to design, construct and operate a state-of-the-art solid waste landfill and refuse collection system for the Turks & Caicos Islands that will be a model for other Caribbean countries. The first step will be to fence, gate, secure and clean-up the existing dump sites. Next will be the construction of a brand-new landfill in Providenciales (including recycling facilities), waste collection and transfer stations for Grand Turk and Salt Cay, North, Middle and South Caicos, and implementation of a curbside residential trash collection program. According to TCEM President Tim Hodge, “Consolidating waste from the outer islands to a single landfill not only conserves land, but centralises refuge control and is most cost-efficient for a small country.”

The landfill design will meet or exceed U.S. EPA Subtitle D design standards and environmental controls. It will cover a newly created 27 acre area in 9 phases of 3 acres each. Existing ridges in the northwestern part of Providenciales form a natural bowl-like structure for the site and it is anticipated to have a minimum life of 20 years.

Once the base of the landfill is graded and prepared, a self-sealing geosynthetic clay liner is laid under a 60 mil layer of a polyethylene geomembrane. This thick plastic lining is designed to restrict water intrusion and filtration of “leachate” (the noxious, toxic “yuch” that results from garbage decomposition and rainfall) into the groundwater. Refuse will be spread and compacted daily over a small 100 x 50-foot working face and covered with a layer of soil to minimise odor. Built-in controls include a leachate collection system, in which the “dump drippings” are collected via a drainage blanket and piped into storage ponds, to be reintroduced to the landfill to speed decomposition. Run-off, erosion and sediment control is handled with stormwater collection ponds and a 35 foot perimeter berm. The natural methane gas produced by decomposition will be collected and flared off, eliminating 98% of the odor. (Eventually, plans are to integrate a bio-energy system that can produce enough electricity to power almost 1,500 of the nation’s homes.)

When each section of the landfill reaches capacity (an estimated two to three years), a 6 to 12-inch layer of foundation soil, another PVC geomembrane and a 2-foot thick layer of drainage soil will be put in place, followed by seeding of vegetation to create an esthetically pleasing mound.

Tim Hodge doesn’t underestimate the need for waste reduction not only to extend the life of the landfill, but trigger a sense of responsibility among residents and tourists. To this end, there will be a public recycling drop-off center at each waste collection facility. “Green waste” (plant cuttings, etc.) will be composted, scrap metal (including car bodies) and aluminum cans baled and transported for sale in Miami and paper/cardboard either re-sold or shredded into compost. Construction waste and moderate-risk refuse such as batteries and propane cylinders will be kept separate, as well.

TCEM plans to build proper waste collection stations on TCI’s other islands; fenced, gated and paved to provide a sanitary and efficient place to process refuse. Here, collection trucks unload garbage onto the “tipping floor,” where it is compacted into a top load container which has been lined with a giant plastic “garbage bag” to curtail leaks and odors. These neatly wrapped packs are placed in covered containers for hauling to a barge loading facility, where they will transported by barge to the Provo landfill. This system has worked extremely well for TCEM’s sister companies in Washington State (which collect, barge and haul garbage from numerous small islands in southeast Alaska and Hawaii to the Roosevelt Landfill.)

Eventually, TCEM will take over the residential curbside trash collection system, currently handled by the TCI Government. Each household will receive an attractive, sturdy, 96 gallon “toter” trash can, designed to be easily lifted via hydraulic tipper by TCEM’s fuel-efficient collection trucks which will collect refuse weekly. Plans are for 8 trucks to service 200 to 300 residences daily, following a weekly rotating schedule. Future plans include home sorting of recyclables and green waste, along with a public outreach program emphasising the importance of “Reducing, reusing and recycling.” TCEM will also support beach and street litter beautification programs and sponsor one annual college scholarship to a TCI student pursuing environmental studies.

Besides being based on strong local partnerships, TCEM’s proposal focuses on keeping jobs in the country, with local TCI businesses or citizens providing the bulk of the major and minor subcontracting services. In fact, other than technical and managerial oversight and the equipment unavailable in TCI, all works and services under the project are to be provided by local partners and local resources.

In response to the government’s procurement for the project, TCEM’s cost to government for this comprehensive program was dramatically less than its nearest competitors. At the same time, it received unanimous approval from both an 11-person technical review board and the tender board oversight committee.

When TCEM was awarded the contract in early 2008, their estimated time frame was:  three months to take over existing collections and start the new landfill; a year to  close the existing dumps and operate the waste transfer stations and about 14 months for the new landfill to be fully functional. With estimates of 200 tons of waste generated per day in Provo alone by 2010 and rising to 460 tons daily by 2025, there is no doubt of the need for swift implementation of this comprehensive programme.

Unfortunately, the effects of the September 2008 hurricanes, the global recession and uncertainty as to the future of the TCI government have, at press time, slowed the government’s final approval and funding of this much-needed infrastructure investment. Notwithstanding these difficult times, TCI Government remains committed to doing what is required to carry out this crucial project.

TCEM has agreed to a scaled-down, month-to-month start-up plan until the TCI Government and its budget stabilise. This would include creating a small, temporary landfill in Provo and the importation of equipment to aid in the Grand Turk clean-up. Eventually, hopes rest allocating the necessary resources from the new budget plan to fund this all-important tool to keep the Islands “Beautiful by Nature and Clean by Choice.”

The museum acquires the earliest painting of Grand Turk.

By Dr. Neil Hitch, Director, Turks & Caicos National Museum

Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum Collection

In the Spring 1998 Astrolabe, Barry Dressel, then museum director, wrote a brief article describing the oldest image of the Turks & Caicos Islands. This image is a woodcut of South Caicos depicting East Harbour in 1860. It shows a view of the harbour from a sailing vessel and was published in New York in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. This image of South Caicos, of which the museum does not have an original copy, was the oldest known image of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The museum does own a very early sketch of the wreck of the steamship Medina. This image shows a ship stuck on the reef off Grand Turk. It predates the South Caicos image by 20 years and would technically be the earliest image, but it does not show land.

In January 2009, the museum acquired a watercolor painting of Grand Turk. The reported date of this image is ca. 1830, which would make the painting the oldest image of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Finding the painting

During the summer of 2008, the museum received an email from a rare books seller in London. It included details of a newly discovered painting and an offer to hold the artifact for the museum until it could be acquired.

The painting had been found at the San Francisco Book Fair. An American rare books seller had discovered the work in a notebook of miscellaneous 19th century papers and prints. The book had been taken apart and each individual page sold. The image of Grand Turk was glued on a page of the book marked in pencil, “Turks Island, British West Indies.” The London book dealer saw the picture, and understanding what it was, bought it and took it back to London.

After being contacted, staff at the national museum began to look for a local foundation who might sponsor a trip to London to view the work. Discussions and grant applications were unfortunately interrupted by the September 2008 hurricanes and the following weeks of clean-up and rebuilding.

Finally in January 2009, museum staff were able to travel to London to authenticate the image. Several photographs were taken to London to verify that the picture was in fact of Grand Turk. Verification of the date of the painting, if possible, was also important.

The painting is small, 20mm x 31.5mm (7 7/8″ x 12 5/8″). However, it is very detailed with attention to subtle value differences. For most of its life, the painting has been enclosed in a notebook where it never saw the light of day. Because of this, the pigments are vibrant and maintain their original intensities. On the back of the painting there is a penciled notation that reads, “Grand Turk, Turks Islands.” This was a positive starting point.

Like the image of South Caicos, the new watercolor painting shows Grand Turk from the view offshore. The area depicted is Front Street between Market Street and Chancery Lane. Today this area is between the library and the Cable & Wireless complex. Museum staff made a positive authentication by focusing on one building that was clearly identifiable. This building is depicted on the painting as a white building with a white roof. The two story porch is covered with a shed roof that continues off the front of the hipped roof. The porch has eight bays with nine supporting porch columns.

This building can be located on several images of Grand Turk taken in the 20th century. It is clearly visible on a 1949 postcard of Front Street. In this image, the building can be located directly to the right of the St. Mary’s Anglican Church. The building is also identifiable in a 1961 slide taken by Ted Phillipona. In this image, the building is identified as the Tatem House. During the 1960s there was a small grocery store on the first floor. The building was one of several that were burned in the early 1970s.

The 1949 postcard also depicts the library, the Frith Brothers & Company iron building, and what is now the Grand Turk Inn. Because these buildings post-date the image, the painting must have been made before any of these buildings were built. The Grand Turk Inn was originally built in the 1860s and for many years was the Methodist Manse. Likewise, the Frith Salt Warehouse was one of two iron buildings brought to Grand Turk from Scotland during the late 1860s. Construction of the library began in 1887. St. Mary’s Church was constructed in 1899. Because these buildings are not recorded in the painting, the image has to at least date before the 1860s.

Sailing vessel

The image also shows a sailing vessel at anchor at the edge of the reef. The vessel is a brig, a two-masted vessel rigged with square sails. The rigging seen between the two masts is for staysails. This would have been used for windward work.

Ship portraits are a very common genre in nautical painting. Many portraits of sailing vessels are painted with the backdrop of a port. The artist is typically sailing on the ship and knows the details from personal experience. In most cases, though the painter is painting from the view of another vessel, they are actually on the ship they are painting. This is why the images tend to be so detailed, as seen in the Grand Turk image.

The flag at the top of the foremast is a blue and white signal flag known as the Blue Peter. Since 1752 the British navy has used this flag as the signal for “all aboard, preparing to proceed.” It is still one of the official 26 signal flags. There is a small boat approaching the brig full of crewmen dressed in white and blue. The boat is possibly returning crewmen to the vessel. A smaller skiff is tied to the front of the brig.

There are unknown objects on the deck of the brig. It is possible that the black object in the center of the ship represents a cannon. There does not appear to be any gun ports marked on the vessel. A brig of 18 guns was fairly common in the early 19th century. But the ship in the image appears to be a merchant vessel.

Is it possible that the vessel represents an English packet boat? It was common for specific vessels to sail a route between England and the Caribbean. Packet boats carried both supplies and people. They were the first passenger ships, taking goods, mail, and travelers.

The steamship Medina stopped at Grand Turk as a mail packet from England. In 1842 the vessel ran upon the reef and was sunk. Subsequently, mail service from England was discontinued. The sketch of the Medina floundering on the reef at Grand Turk was likely completed in 1842. This is one of the earliest images of the Turks & Caicos, but it lacks detail and does not show anything that adds to the physical history of Grand Turk. It does, however, show a small brig very similar to the one in the new Grand Turk image.

In 1850, the governor of the Bahamas wrote a note “pointing out the benefits that might be derived from substituting for the present miserable schooner which conveys mails and passengers from St. Thomas to Nassau a small screw steamer that might drop the English Mails at Grand Turk and Inagua and take the homeward bound mails from those islands on her return from Nassau to St. Thomas.” Prior to this time, the Government of the Bahamas was already paying for “postal communication between Grand Turk and Nassau,” which was a schooner that regularly made the trip back and forth.

Flags

There are several flags in the image. The American Stars & Stripes flies over what would have been the consular office. An American Consul opened on Grand Turk in the early 1800s, and according to H. E. Sadler, the American Consul cleared more than 100 vessels a year loaded with salt bound for the United States.

In the mid-20th century, salt merchants ran flags up poles as signals that salt could be purchased and loaded. There are two flags flying in front of two establishments. The flags appear to be the English flag, the Union Jack.

Both the brig and the small boat appear to be flying the Blue Ensign of the Royal Navy. The blue ensign is a flag with a blue field and the Union Jack in the corner. This flag eventually became the national flag of many English colonies, with the crest of the country in the field. The flag of the Turks & Caicos Islands is a good example, but was adopted as the national flag long after this painting was painted.

In 1864 the Royal Navy drafted new flag regulations that only allowed the blue ensign to be flown on a merchant vessel if the captain and six of the crew were members of the Royal Navy Reserve. Before this date, the blue ensign, red ensign, and white ensign had all been flown on various vessels of both military and merchant class.

Conclusion

The watercolor image of Grand Turk is an exciting new museum collection piece. Research will continue to see what other insights can be learned from the image. If anyone has other information or has some guesses to the clues seen in the image, please contact us and share your thoughts.

With most artifacts, interpretation is an ongoing process and information is often revealed in unexpected ways. What we can be sure of is that the artifacts of Turks & Caicos history still exist and just occasionally, we find a really good one.