Lucayans, Loyalists and Eleutheran adventurers -- for centuries, they and other people sought safety and refuge on Green Turtle Cay, Abaco. Propelled by fate or by force, most ultimately moved on. A resilient few remained.
Their stories are the focus of "Those Who Stayed: The Tale of the Hardy Few Who Built Green Turtle Cay", a new hardcover book by Bahamian writer Amanda Diedrick.
The full-color, 185-page publication features close to 200 historic images of Green Turtle Cay, oil paintings by world-renowned Bahamian artist and historian, Alton Lowe, and never-before-published first-hand accounts of 20th century Abaco life.
In 2012, Diedrick -- a ninth-generation Bahamian and her husband, Canadian journalist Tom Walters, purchased her family's ancestral home on Green Turtle Cay. Shortly after she began documenting the cottage's restoration and the cay's history on her weblog, Little House by the Ferry.
"So much of Green Turtle Cay's past isn't immediately obvious," says Diedrick. "You'd never know, for example, that there was once a large Lucayan village near Bita Bay, on the island's east coast. Or that pirates like Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and Mary Read hid out in Black and White Sounds. Or that in the late 1800s, the cay's population was four times what it is today and New Plymouth's streets were lined with large, elegant homes. There was a dance hall, a theater and even an orchestra. It's difficult to reconcile all of this with the quaint, low-key town we know today."
"Those Who Stayed" will be officially launched on January 7, 2017 at A Night to Remember, the cocktail reception commemorating the 40th anniversary of Green Turtle Cay's Albert Lowe Museum, being held at the cay's Bluff House Beach Resort & Marina.
Book signings will also take place January 10 at Hope Town's Wyannie Malone Museum, and January 13 and 14 at the Sand Dollar Shoppe in Marsh Harbour.
Part proceeds from the sales of "Those Who Stayed" will benefit Green Turtle Cay's Albert Lowe Museum.
"Alton Lowe, who founded and has operated the Albert Lowe Museum for 40 years, was instrumental in putting this book together," says Diedrick. "His passion for Bahamian history has long been an inspiration, and he's been incredibly generous in granting me access to rare photographs and documents from the museum archives. He's created an important national resource in the museum, and I'm delighted to be able to support it."
Tickets for A Night to Remember may be purchased online at the museum's website, or through Molly McIntosh at the Bluff House Beach Resort at 242-365-4247, Julie Farrington at Island Property Management at 242-365-4047 or Mandy Roberts at 242-365-4402.
"Those Who Stayed", a book about the intriguing, little-known history of Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas, is available now.
Email: amanda@littlehousebytheferry.com
www.littlehousebytheferry.com
956 South Orange Grove Blvd, Unit B
Pasadena, CA 91105
Tel: 626.795.4125
Fish Hooks Cottage
Green Turtle Cay, Abaco
Bahamas
Tel: 242.458.0479

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