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Historic Bay Street
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JULY 2004
Historic Bay Street
Keeping the past alive
As you stroll down venerable Bay Street in downtown Nassau shopping for duty-free bargains in perfume, jewellery, leather, china, crystal, cameras, linen and much else, consider this: You?re treading in the ancient footsteps of bloodthirsty pirates, British colonists, Spanish and French invaders, gun-runners during the US War of Independence, American loyalists on the lam when that war ended, bootleggers and rum-runners during Prohibition, ship wreckers, slaves and their owners, and even the bluest members of blue-blooded royalty.
It all started more than 300 years ago when a small town began to coalesce along the waterfront between 1648 and 1666. Nassau was called Charles Towne back then and Bay Street was known simply as ?The Strand,? a meandering path with a few shacks and coconut palms.
Fort to hotel
The most dominant feature back in 1697 was the just-completed Fort Nassau, located at the western end of what is now the British Colonial Hilton Hotel, built to defend the harbour entrance. That fort is long gone, along with a barracks that replaced it in 1837. The barracks, in turn, gave way to the elegant Hotel Colonial, completed in the year 1900.
The original hotel burned down in 1922, was rebuilt the following year and bought on a whim by Sir Harry Oakes, an eccentric and fabulously wealthy American who struck gold in Canada, settled and invested in The Bahamas, and was knighted by the British Crown. The British Colonial Hilton is now owned by RHK Capital of Toronto, a company that restored and renovated the property to its original splendour, reopening it in 1999. It?s now a world-class hotel and financial centre with office space and convention facilities.
In front of the British Colonial Hilton, don?t miss the dramatic statue of Woodes Rogers, reaching into his belt for one of his trusty flintlocks. Rogers was the first Royal Governor of The Bahamas from 1718-21, serving again from 1729-32. He?s famous for ridding The Bahamas of the pirates who took over the old town in the early 18th century. He once hanged several pirates at once on the beach where visitors now frolic on the golden sand.
Bahamian architecture
Today, Bay Street boasts many fine examples of distinctive Bahamian architecture, the major influence being Georgian, transplanted here by loyalists to the British throne who arrived with their slaves, fleeing persecution after the US War of Independence.
Many of these architectural details can be easily spotted up and down Bay Street ? louvred shutters (called jalousies), wide verandas with hand rails, porticoes, balustrades of various patterns, lattice work, cornices and quoins ? the outsized stones at the corners of many buildings, placed there to strengthen the structures against hurricanes.
Jackson Burnside is an artist and architect who is passionate about saving buildings that display unique Bahamian features. Burnside, who headed up the Historical Nassau Renovation Committee, believes Bahamians have a lot to learn from their history as revealed in architecture.
?Our people were once slaves who built some of our most beautiful homes,? says Burnside. ?We cut the stone with our own hands. And for that reason we should be proud of these icons and what they represent,? he says.
Historic zone
Dr Keith Tinker, director of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corp, says plans are afoot to declare a large section of Bay Street a historic zone, which would help to protect the street from unrestricted development, and eventually open up the waterfront, now lost behind buildings on the north side of Bay Street.
The first building on your left as you walk east from the British Colonial (at the corner of Navy Lion Road) is the Diocesan Building, built in 1893 as St Cuthbert?s, an Anglican church where seamen and fishermen once worshiped. It was subsequently used as a Sunday School by Christ Church Cathedral on nearby George Street. Long since deconsecrated, and now used for commercial purposes, the little building still displays its original arched windows, as well as its original interior walls and arches.
Next door is the entrance to Nassau?s temporary straw market, set up after the original one was destroyed by fire in 2001. The government plans to re-establish the straw market this year in a modern building on its old site, a little further east on Bay Street.
Remnants of slavery
Next door to the straw market is a memorable icon of the slavery era: Vendue House, built circa 1784 as an arcaded open-air marketplace. Back then, cattle, imported goods and most notably, slaves, were bought and sold. Today, this much-changed building is home to the Pompey Museum of Slavery and Emancipation.
Vendue House suffered roof and smoke damage from the fire that levelled the old straw market and two other buildings. Firemen and archivists rescued exhibits from the museum as the fire raged nearby. The building was subsequently closed for repairs. At press time, the Antiquities Corp planned to reopen the museum with two exhibitions in 2004 ? declared by UNESCO to be the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition.
Visitors to the Pompey Museum in the summer and fall of 2004 will be able to see Lest We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery, an exhibition mounted by the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture, attached to the New York Public Library.
The other exhibit, organized by the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, FL, displays gruesome artefacts ? including fetters, irons, manacles, hand bolts, shackles and handcuffs ? recovered from the English slave ship Henrietta Marie, which sank 35 miles west of Key West in 1700, shortly after delivering 190 captive Africans as slaves to Jamaica.
?As a country we are extraordinarily privileged to have these exhibits coming here,? says Dr Tinker. In partnership with the Department of Education, the Ministry of Tourism and other bodies, he expects the dual exhibition to be ?one of the biggest events of its kind ever held in The Bahamas.?
Business and government
Continuing east, you?ll pass the tree-shrouded Royal Bank of Canada, a stately grey stone structure that opened in 1919, a few steps from the original bank, which opened 11 years earlier in 1908. The interior of this building has seen many improvements over the years but the exterior facade remains largely as it appeared 85 years ago.
Still further east is Rawson Square to the north and Parliament Square to the south ? a large open area that hosts many public events, including the ceremony opening new sessions of Parliament and a variety of musical performances. Facing each other across the two squares are a statue of Queen Victoria and a bust of Sir Milo Butler, the first Bahamian-born Governor-General.
Parliament Square is bordered on three sides by loyalist-type buildings completed in the early 1800s. Behind Queen Victoria, now occupied by the Senate and dating back to 1813, is the last of the three buildings to be completed. It was based on the Governor?s Palace in New Bern, North Carolina, described at the time as the most beautiful building in colonial America. The building on the west side of the square is where the House of Assembly meets and the one to the east contains government offices.
Shops with a history
Returning toward the British Colonial Hilton on the south side of Bay Street, look for the Solomon?s Mines building (across from the Royal Bank), located in a restored building from the late 19th or early 20th century. ?Solomon?s Mines? was painted on an old concrete ceiling beam, uncovered during renovation, and this became the name of the famous store that now sells all manner of luxury goods, from watches and jewellery to china, crystal and perfume.
Other historically important buildings include the three-storey yellow Masonic Temple, built circa 1882-1885.
Further west is Fendi, on Bay and Charlotte streets, in a 19th century building that once was home to a dry goods store. Today, shoppers can buy handbags, luggage, watches, fragrances and accessories for men and women here.
And further still is John Bull, located in a building that was originally an ironmongery. John Bull, which specializes in watches, jewellery, perfumes, leather goods, cameras and other luxury items, renovated and restored the building in 1996.
Two more buildings of historical note are the Island Shops between Market and Frederick Streets, built in the late 19th century, and Colombian Emeralds International, at the corner of Bay and Market Streets, which was built in the 1850s. Colombian Emeralds International specializes in top-of-the-line jewellery including, of course, the world?s finest emeralds
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