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Paradise - what's in a name?
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JULY 2007
Paradise - what's in a name?
Hog's ear into a silk purse
For centuries the little island that forms the northern side of Nassau Harbour has offered succeeding generations differing visions of holiday fun. But it?s only recently that the island?s name was changed to reflect the experience of actually being there.
Paradise Island now includes the world-famous Atlantis resort, with its glitzy casino, restaurants and water parks. Not many realize that it is the thriving offspring of a tourist industry that took its first steps more than 200 years ago. In those days, the island was known as Hog Island, but it was just as much a playground in the 19th century as it is today.
One of the fashionable pastimes among gentlefolk in the early 1800s was the ?maroon.? Inspired by the pirate custom of stranding captives on a desert island, maroons were short picnic and wilderness holidays. Small groups were taken to uninhabited islands with plenty of food and drink and left there for a day or two. Hog Island was especially popular for maroons and its name only increased the appeal for people who wanted to experience the illusion of being castaways.
The first settlers on New Providence did not bother to name the place at all. Until the late 17th century it was known simply as ?the island that makes the harbour.? There were many unsuccessful attempts to release animals there so they would provide a permanent food source. Unfortunately, as soon as they were set free the animals were decimated by ?ill-disposed and disorderly people,? according to the papers of one Royal Governor.
So Hog Island probably did not boast many pigs, at least not for long. Instead it appears to have been christened out of homesickness. The name starts appearing in official letters in the1690s when the Governor of The Bahamas was Nicholas Trott, who was born in Hog Bay in Bermuda. Trott?s younger cousin gave the same name to an island off Carolina.
The first place of entertainment ?a banqueting hall?appears on a map circa 1788. It took another century before commercial bathing houses started springing up along the coast to cater to the then-new craze of swimming in the sea.
Then in 1897, Nassau businessman J L Saunders built a ?casino? on the island. This wasn?t a gambling house but ?a veritable amusement paradise,? according to the first advertisements, which offered dining, dancing, bowling, picnics, billiards, fireworks and organized bicycle races. More than 4,000 people crossed the harbour for the opening.
When American Frank Munson bought land to the east of the casino in the 1920s he set a trend that produced the island we know today. He called it Paradise Beach?making it the first part of Hog Island ever officially to bear that description.
Swedish electronics magnate Axel Wenner-Gren moved to the island in 1939. Wenner-Gren dredged Burnside?s Pond and had it connected to the sea by two canals. Burnside?s Pond then became Paradise Lake.
Wenner-Gren acquired most of Hog Island but then sold it all to grocery chain heir Huntington Hartford II in 1961. With dreams of building a resort that would attract people because of its beauty, Hartford petitioned the government for a name change.
On May 23, 1962, his wish was granted, with the issuance of a three-dollar bill showing Paradise Beach to mark the occasion.
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