During most of the 18th century the islands of the Bahamas, lying astride Spanish sailing routes from the Caribbean, were contested by the British and Spanish – a matter unresolved until the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. In this pact, England gained uncontested rights to the Bahamas while ceding the peninsula of Florida to Spain.
Then, with the arrival in the Bahamas of the British loyalists from colonial America beginning in 1783, Exuma experienced its second major upheaval. This Loyalist immigration ushered in a new era and laid the foundation for Exuma’s modem history. The American Revolution had ended, and as a result of the British defeat, many colonists who had remained loyal to the British Crown were in serious trouble. Convicted of treason, their property confiscated, and ostracized by their neighbors they were forced to leave the former colonies, (including Florida recently ceded to Spain). In an effort to aid these loyal, unfortunate subjects, the British government offered some financial compensation and extensive land grants in the virtually empty Bahamas.
Several of these beleaguered Loyalists came to Exuma and, since most of them were from the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, cotton culture was at the core of their hopes for the future. England was hungry for cotton, paying high prices and the mills in Manchester were operating at capacity to meet the demand, offering the Loyalists an opportunity to recoup the losses suffered in the American colonies. For about 15 years – from the mid 1780’s until the turn of the century – Exuma flourished. With a few exceptions the entire island was divided into Loyalist land grants, most of which were cleared by the slash-and-burn technique, and field after field was devoted to the growing of cotton. These new landowners came to the island with slaves brought from the southern colonies since slave labor was a necessity if the cotton economy was to flourish. Additional slaves were imported from West Africa and there was a small slave market at the then Bowe’s Tavern, believed to have been on the site of the present Peace and Plenty Hotel.
In this prosperous period, the Port of Exuma was an active, bustling waterfront. There were at least two merchants, Walter Brown and Thomas Teffair and Co., that carried extensive stocks of clothing, food and household needs from England. Vessels departed the island direct for London and Liverpool loaded with cotton and often carrying passengers as well. And, of course, there was frequent boat traffic to and from Nassau – the seat of government. The Loyalists, having become a majority of the population in the Bahamas, gradually assumed – after much political struggle – leadership in the General assembly. Exuma gained its first representation in that body with three members elected in 1784. Several Exumians were prominent in the politics of the colony and John Kelsall, from Little Exuma, was chosen as the Speaker of the Assembly in 1794.
There is no evidence that the plantation houses on Exuma were in any way grand or imposing. Perhaps the Loyalist settlers decided to begin with modest buildings, believing they could be expanded or re-built once the new enterprises were safely launched and thriving. Probably the most extensive facilities of this period were the Kelsall estates in Little Exuma and those on Crab Cay believed to have been built by William Walker. Many of the old walls and foundations of other estates can still be found in Exuma’s undergrowth.
A road was built the length of both Great and Little Exuma, probably in much the same location as the present Queen’s Highway. Each landowner was responsible for that section of the road on his property and, as a result, was not always in good shape. While much of the intra-island travel was by horse, many of the estates had “back landings” on the south-west side of the island and these properties communicated by small shallow draft sail boats along this lee shore.
Some of the Exuma loyalists held land grants here, but spent much of their time in Nassau occupied with trade, business or the legal profession, their cotton enterprises being managed by overseers. On the other hand there were full time residents on the island and the more prominent ones could be likened to an Exuma Chamber of Commerce. They maintained an active interest in the affairs of the island, serving as Commissioners of Roads, on a committee to build a church, as representatives to the General assembly, etc. The record of these times is replete with such names as John Kelsall, Jacob Winfree, Charles Dames, Thomas Forbes, John Mowbray, Walter Brown, Nathaniel Hall, Nicholas Almgreen, William Clarke, Martin Jollie, Benjamin Morley and John Stewart.
In 1791, a bill was introduced before the General assembly in Nassau “to purchase a piece of Ground on the Island of Great Exuma and thereon to lay out a Town”. The bill was finally approved in 1792, the town established in 1793, and lots were offered for sale in 1794. The new community was named “Georgetown,” (spelled as one word in those days) after George III, King of England. This year, 1993, we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of its founding.
In those years, the state religion was the Church of England – or the Anglican Church – where the Loyalists worshipped. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Anglican missionary arm, sent out the Rev. Twining to Exuma in 1787. After the ministry of several missionaries, a church building was erected and consecrated in 1802 The present St. Andrew’s structure is reported to be the third church building to stand on this site. The Anglicans never gave much consideration to the slave population and it was not until early in the 1880’s that the “dissident” churches – the Baptists and Methodists – actively proselyted the slaves under the banner of emancipation. A school, apparently very modest, was constructed by the Church…….. to be continued
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