Ruins & Ghost Towns

Download the Old Bannerman Town .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Big Ban Plantation

This former cotton plantation, known locally as "Big Ban" (ban being the word for a traditional stone stove; unfortunately, the original name of this plantation and its owner are presently not known), is located in Millars, just north of Bannerman Town near the southern tip of the island.  Millars itself is actually a 1,000 acre parcel on the former plantation which was owned by a freed slave named Anne Millar.  Anne willed the property to her descendants in perpetuity.  Some of the plantation buildings were occupied by descendants of the former slaves until as recently as the 1960's.

Download the Ban Ban Plantation .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Deal's Town

This ghost town was once a thriving settlement which provided shelter to those awaiting the arrival or departure of ships at nearby Deal's Point.  Based on the size of the jail and a nearby house, the town was quite large in its prime, and reputedly was the largest settlement on this part of the island.  Not much else is presently known about this settlement, when it was built, or when it was abandoned.

Download the Deal's Town .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Bar Bay, Current Island

Also sometimes mistakenly known as Little Bay, this settlement could be quite old given the age of the nearby settlement of Current and its original plantations (of which Current Island was likely a part).  Bar Bay was occupied until the 1960's, with population estimates ranging between 50 and 100 depending on the source (as compared with Current Island's total present-day population of 35).  It is believed that the settlement was abandoned for a variety of reasons including its vulnerability to storms and its less-than-convenient location (exacerbated by a lack of road or ferry connections to Eleuthera).

Back when this town was occupied, it was called "Bar Bay" while the present-day settlement to the north was called "Little Bay" (the settlements being named after the bay nearest to each).  Some time after Bar Bay was deserted, people began referring to Little Bay as the "Current Island settlement," or "Current Island" for short, perhaps as a simplification since it was now the only settlement on the island, or perhaps in recognition of the unification of the towns since many of the people from Bar Bay relocated to Little Bay.  The name "Current Island" now appears on all signs and maps, and the settlement's original name is now mostly forgotten except by the most elderly residents in the area.

The most substantial structure remaining in this settlement is the remains of the old church.  Large, hand-carved rectangular stones were used to build the church and its foundation.  This accounts for how incredibly well preserved the church walls are, especially when compared to other church structures in Eleutheran settlements of the same age.  A large, crumbling stone grave structure can be seen next to the church.  This is likely the tomb of an individual who was considered integral to the church.

Note that while the settlement is only 4-5 miles from the end of the main road, it is not practical to get there on foot.  No trails or old roads to the site exist, leaving the rocky coastline as the only means to walk there (this is slow going, making the round-trip journey a three day affair).  For all intents and purposes, this site is reachable only by boat.  Also be aware that the island is inhabited by wild boars which can be quite large and, at times, aggressive.  Visitors hiking on the island should thus take suitable precautions and remain watchful for these animals.

Download the base .kml file for use with Google Earth.

There are presently several albums of base photos:

bedrooms, six championship tennis courts, a private beach, a pool, a scuba shop, a full library of "stereo tapes" for entertainment, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Bruce Devlin and Bob von Hagge.  The 4th hole of the course was rimmed by the sea, and was often compared to the fabled 18th hole at California's Pebble Beach.  The resort also had what was billed as the finest marina in the Bahamas.  The marina itself featured dock-side immigration, laundromat, showers, and capable of accommodating vessels up to 200 feet in length.  By 1983, one of the exclusive resort's final year of operation, a double room went for $182 in the on-season with two meals a day included in the price.  By 1984, only the marina ("Cape Eleuthera Yacht Club") remained in operation.  A travel guide published in 1988 mentions that, too, being closed. Described as "a private world of beauty on the island of Eleuthera," the resort was regularly promoted in publications targeted toward urban executives.  The advertisement on the right dates from 1973.  According to one 1974 ad, tennis champion Billie Jean King had a residence at the Cape Eleuthera Resort.Click on the symbols on the satellite image below to see photographs and information about the resort.Download the Cape Eleuthera resort .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Arnold Palmer's Beach Front Inn (a.k.a. Islandia a.k.a. Eleuthera Beach Inn)

Download the Islandia .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Whale Point

Whale Point Club & Estates

The Whale Point Club resort (also known as the "Whale Point Inn") was built by Sir Sydney Oakes in the mid-1960's.  Oakes himself came from what some consider to be a family with a curse: many members of the Oakes family had a tendency to die in strange accidents or unusual circumstances.  Sydney's father Sir Harry Oakes had been murdered in Nassau in 1943; interestingly, Sydney's wife was allegedly related to Alfred Fouquereaux de Marigny, the accused murderer.  Sydney's brother William Oakes died at the age of 27 of a sudden illness during a visit to New York City.  Sydney himself would die in a mysterious single-car accident in Nassau in August 1966, only a few months after the resort opened.  Whether it was due to constant equipment breakdowns (the resort depended on its generators and its water desalinator to operate) or legal complications resulting from its having changed hands so many times, there was a long succession of future owners, none of whom could manage to keep the resort open for more than a matter of months.

The resort itself opened auspiciously enough in early 1966 and featured a main club building, two hotel buildings, several cottages, a restaurant, a world-class kitchen, a large swimming pool, a private beach, and a marina.  The resort offered a total of 40 rooms (in contrast with French Leave's 96 rooms) and was thus especially small and exclusive.  Operations were initially handled by the American company Treadway, which handled a number of famous resorts.  Initial rates were $30 for a single room and $50 for a double room with 2 daily meals included in the price.  Cottages were rented by the week, and ranged from $220 to $340 a week not including meals.

The total area around the club included 300 acres of future home sites and 10 miles of roads referred to in marketing materials as the "Whale Point Estates".  The guest cottages (or "A-frames" was they were known to resort employees) were situated near the marina, which was quite far from the rest of the resort.  Perhaps for this reason, they were not very popular with tourists, as evidenced by the fact that they were converted to employee housing soon after the resort opened.

Murder on Whale Point

One of these cottages was the site of a brutal murder in the late 1960's.  The victim was a 9-month-pregnant American woman who lived in the cottage with her husband who worked at the resort.  While her husband was off-island on business, she was savagely murdered by a former boyfriend, who had come to Eleuthera from America to work on bridge construction at the Glass Window, in a fit of jealous rage over the fact that she'd chosen her now-husband over himself.

After killing the victim, the murderer grabbed some clothes and other possessions from the cottage to make the murder look like a robbery gone bad, and dumped them over the Glass Window bridge.  He then fled to the Hatchet Bay Yacht Club and claimed his car had broken down in an attempt to establish an alibi for the evening.  He was caught nonetheless.

While justice in such a case would normally have been swift, and would have concluded at the end of a rope at a Nassau gallows, the defendant was tried in England instead.  Perhaps this had something to do with his nationality or with concerns over media coverage of an American being executed in the Bahamas.  The man was convicted, but spared the death sentence and given a mere twelve years in prison.  It was later learned that the murderer had a criminal record in northern Florida, having been convicted of the attempted rape of a 12-year-old girl.

The murder on Whale Point was sufficiently gruesome as to require that some parts of the cottage be remodeled to remove the blood stains.  The next tenants were no doubt puzzled as to why the bathroom tile had been taken up, or why the upper half of the bed was missing.  Perhaps fortunately, they didn't learn of what had taken place in the house until much later.

Of the original four or five cottages, only two survive today as private homes.  Little remains of the other cottages, including the murder site.

The Cancer Clinic

In the early 1970's, a medical clinic was opened on Whale Point which, incredibly, promised a cure for cancer.  The doctor in charge had originally practiced in the United States, but authorities began to take notice of his operation and investigate the questionable efficacy of his "cure".  At this point, he fled to the Bahamas and opened a new clinic on Whale Point, the ruins of which can still be seen today.  Ironically, one of the series of misguided investors who later purchased Whale Point Estates along with the clinic had been diagnosed with cancer.  Perhaps the purchase was a business decision, or perhaps the glimmer of hope provided by the clinic made the deal seem irresistible.  Unfortunately, the hope provided by the cancer clinic was a false one, and that investor later died of the disease.

The Present

The Whale Point Club buildings themselves have not fared well since the resort last changed hands.  Built from prefabricated steel components shipped to Eleuthera from Kentucky and assembled on-site, the corrosive seaside environment has caused the structures to disintegrate with surprising speed.  The second floor is now completely gone from the main building, as are most of the walls from the two hotel buildings.  The surrounding subdivision has not fared much better.  The heart of the subdivision dead, its beach and gardens overgrown, its pool full of dark, murky water, and its marina clogged with sand, more homes are now shuttered up or abandoned than occupied.  The long road out to the subdivision assumes an eerie quiet during daylight hours, and can be a bit unsettling to drive at night.  The only sound on this misfortune-ridden peninsula is the frantic whisper of the wind blowing through the casuarina trees which now grow up through the ruins.

Download the Whale Point .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Miscellaneous

Snake Hill, James Cistern

Snake Hill is located along the Queen's Highway in James Cistern, just behind the Zion Baptist Church.  This site was home to the original school and church for the settlement.  These buildings were reportedly abandoned some time between the 1920's and 1940's due to the inconvenience of the location (the walk up and down the hill could be somewhat treacherous in the era before electric streetlights.

Download the Snake Hill .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Drug Plane Crash Site, Whale Point

Around the early 2000's (the timeframe in which the below satellite image was taken), this plane crashed in the bush just south of Whale Point.  This plane likely belonged to a drug smuggler who crashed in the course of a drug drop.  The crash was never reported to civil aviation authorities, and appears to have been removed covertly (presumably chopped up by night, and salvaged or dropped into the sea) subsequent to the accident via a road that was cleared to the site.  All that remains of the site now is a large clearing containing charred vegetation, although it's not clear whether the area was burnt in the crash or in some unrelated bush fire.

The picture below appears to show a blue tarp next to the crashed plane.  Presumably this tarp was covered with vegetation to keep the plane hidden from regular air traffic until the wreck could be removed.

Download the Hatchet Bay Farm .kml file for use with Google Earth.

Royal Island

Royal Island is located off the northwest part of Eleuthera, and is five miles long with a natural harbor in the center.  According to Moseley's 1926 book The Bahamas Handbook, Royal Island was originally called "Ryal Island", an Anglicized version of "Real" after the silver one real coin which circulated throughout the Spanish empire.  At least one researcher (AB Molander) has suggested that Royal Island may be Guanahani, the island where Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New-World.

In late April of 1696, the pirate Henry "Long Ben" Every (also sometimes known as John Avery) anchored here in the pirate ship Fancy after fleeing the Atlantic.  Meanwhile, asmaller boat containing four men went on to visit Nicholas Trott, the corrupt governor of the Bahamas who resided on New Providence, as part of a plot to bribe him to ensure Every would not be apprehended by local authorities during the ensuing manhunt by the English government.  Every's plan was successful, and he was one of the few pirates in history to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle.

According to the November 1874 edition of Harper's Monthly magazine (Volume 49, page 765-6), Royal Island's sheltered harbor was also a rendezvous where arms and stores were concealed, and where royalist privateers took refuge during the American Revolution.  The magazine goes on to say that "an old stone house still remains there which has doubtless witnessed many wild, mysterious scenes in days gone by."  Exploring the ruined estate on this island, one can certainly believe it!

The center of Royal Island is home to the ruins of an old mansion which once boasted numerous guesthouses, a bar, a large detached kitchen and bathroom, and several other outbuildings along with an impressive garden.  Most of the references to habitation on this island have been found in nautical references which, as early 1887 (or possibly 1823 -- see below), refer to the house in reference to a nearby well full of good water.  For example, the 1918 edition of the West Indies Pilot makes reference to "a large and conspicuous stone house" near the center of the island and 3/4 miles northeast of "two remarkable wooded paps or hummocks, about 75 feet high."  Perhaps the same house is referred to in the 1887 and 1892 editions of that same reference, although they mention only a "house" without calling it "large" or "conspicuous" so perhaps these sources are referring to one of the earlier building.  The first edition of the Colombian Navigator, published in 1823, refers to "a large house, with its garden, and some trees" on "Egg Isle", but since it does not provide any additional treatment of Egg Island or Royal Island, it seems possible that the "Egg Isle" was confused with Royal Island.  Note that the guest houses scattered around the estate appear to be of much more recent construction than the main house and the older buildings on the east side of the estate.  Further research is required to determine which building was indeed the first to be built.

Current references are consistent in claiming that the crumbling remains of the estate which can now be seen there was the center of a sheep farm on the island which was established by an estranged English dignitary.  However, it is not clear how long ago the house was inhabited.  The most recent individual to own the property was Mrs. Evelyn Guyton, although the house has been deserted for decades and was recently sold to a developer with plans to turn the island into a subdivision of luxury homes.  Unfortunately, the current map of development plans on the Royal Island website seems to indicate that this historic estate is slated for demolition so that a pair of homes may be built on the underlying lot.

Download the Egg Island .kml file for use with Google Earth.