Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LOYALIST CAYS
East of Marsh Harbour lie three Loyalist Cays: Elbow, Man O' War and Great Guana. The
fourth Loyalist Cay, Green Turtle, lies miles to their northwest.
Elbow Cay
POP 310
Postcard-pretty Hope Town welcomes your arrival on Elbow Cay with its 120ft-high red-
and-white-ringed lighthouse, set on the eastern slope of a splendid harbor. As you approach
the docks, an entrancing toy-town collection of immaculate white and pastel-colored cot-
tages will come into view. Tiny gardens full of bougainvillea and flowering shrubs spill their
blossoms over picket fences and walls, and pedestrians stroll along the two narrow lanes that
encircle the village.
Lying 6 miles east of Marsh Harbour, this 5-mile-long island mostly relies on low-key
tourism for its income. Hope Town's council is responsible for the conservative but charm-
ing community by maintaining strict building and business codes, and banning cars in the
village. The hamlet was founded in 1785 by Loyalists from South Carolina whose blond,
blue-eyed descendants still live here, interacting, but not intermarrying, with African-Aba-
conians.
A blight in 1938 ruined the island's sponge-bed industry, but some locals still make a liv-
ing from boat-building and fishing.
In July Hope Town hosts Regatta Week, a lively mix of sailing races and land-based fest-
ivities.
OUT ISLAND ARCHITECTURE
If you squint and ignore the palm trees, you might think you were in Cape Cod,
not Elbow Cay. The Loyalist Cays have a unique architectural style thanks to the
influence of the Loyalists, who built postcard-pretty villages on Elbow, Green
Turtle and Man O' War Cays.
Loyalist houses are usually small clapboard cottages painted with paints de-
rived from local pine and mixed with ochre, sienna and other mineral or organic
pigments. Blue and white pigments were the most expensive, hence the classic
white cottage with blue shutters was originally a Loyalist status symbol.
The Out Islands are also peppered with tiny square stone buildings, former
slave homes that have survived decay and natural disaster. Many are still inhab-
ited. Each is the size of a pillbox, with a steep-angled, four-sided roof and an
open kitchen in back, but no toilet. Communal outhouses (they, too, still stand)
were built along the shore, where one would make a deposit straight into the sea.
