The following is a piece of research we did for the
writing of the Harbour Island Story.
Paragraphs for Chapter 9 – Halcyon Days of “The
Harbour Island Story” by Anne and Jim Lawlor.
The most suitable soil for pineapple
cultivation is the small areas of Bahama Red Loam found in the deep pockets of
the honeycombed rocks on the leeward shoreline slopes of Eleuthera. The
hilltops surrounding Bluff have the highest percentage of the organic minerals
that give the soil its peculiar fitness for the growth of fruit. But the many
small areas of The Crosskill Hills near Gregory Town, The Red Bay slopes, and a
strip that starts behind Tarpum Bay, widens at Savanna Sound and stretches to
Governor’s Harbour have been highly successful in the cultivation of
‘pines’. A sliver of this valuable redland stretches eastwards of
Ridley Head into the Commonages of Spanish Wells and Harbour Island. (see map)
It is of no
surprise that the Harbour Island leaders of Deveaux’ Raiders and their
descendants became the leading Merchants and Traders of the 19th
Century. Samuel Higgs, Thomas and George Johnson, Richard Roberts, Benjamin
Saunders, Benjamin Kemp, Richard Curry and John Cleare left widows, sons and
daughters, who intermarried and maintained a Harbour Island cartel. Perhaps the
most successful was Thomas Johnson, whose 1806 will shows that his total worth
was over 9,000 pounds and that he maintained a home on Harbour Island and New
Providence, Three Plantations on Eleuthera (Hermitage, Eleuthera, Land of 100
acres near water on Eleuthera, Mount Pleasant Plantation House) and a
‘lot of land’ eastward of Nassau. He also owned a sloop
Betsy,
Schooner
Johnson’s Plan, forty three negroes, sixteen head of
horned cattle and four horses. The Higgs and Johnson families, joined by Cash,
Eneas, Roberts, Saunders and Albury dominated the shipping of Pineapples and
other commodities.
Description of Red Loam and its location
on Eleuthera.
a)
Most predominant on the
bay side slopes between Rock Sound and Powell
Point,
especially Red Bays.
b)
Rich on the shoreline
slopes North of Tarpum Bay to north of Governor’s
Harbour. And
forming the plain that gives Savannah Sound
c) The Crosskill Hills around
Gregory Town
d) Hilltops behind Bluff (the
most fertile)
Small areas lower slopes honeycombed
rock deep pockets peculiar fitness for pineapples highest % of organic minerals
at Bluff and Gregory Town
Red Soil of Eleuthera, Shattuck, Plate
xxix, Geographicla Society of Baltimore, 1905
