The caption on the photo reads: This Silk Cotton tree was situated on the old site of the present police station – The Secretariat at the right and the Post Office at the centre. This tree is said to have been the ancestor of all Silk Cotton trees on New Providence. It was 200 years old when destroyed by disease in 1950.

(The tree was between the present Senate Building and Supreme Court building and may be the same tree as the picture of the tree below)

This picture was taken about the year 1900. This Silk Cotton tree was situated in front of the first Telegraph/Telephone Exchange in the Bahamas. The photo was donated to The Bahamas Historical Society by Mr Owen B Jones and with the compliments of Mrs Higgs.

The lines below are an excerpt from Reflections on ‘Over-The-Hill’ by Sir Orville A Turnquest (A Grant’s Town boy from “Ova da hill”) at our February meeting. The full text of the speech will appear in the 2010 edition of the Journal of The Bahamas Historical Society.

"Ova-da-hill" was the area to which the majority of the population returned at the end of their work day, to their homes and their recreation. It was the location of their Churches, their bars and rum shops (or "bar- rooms" as they were called), their petty shops, their lodge halls and, most significantly, their cotton trees. Huge silk cotton trees lined the side of the main roads leading from the northern hill range southwards to the Coconut Groves and to Big Pond; so that in Grant's Town as one proceeded southwards from the Southern Recreation Grounds at the foot of the hill, there were not less than seven or eight such giant landmarks, standing as silent sentinels at regular intervals down the eastern side of the road. The only silk cotton tree remaining along Baillou Hill Road today stands at the corner of Cockburn Street, just outside St. Agnes Church. There used to be a popular one, a regular rendezvous, just in front of the "Biltmore Shop", a general store at the comer of Cameron Street, owned by Mrs. Minna (Frances) Thompson, one of the more affluent women of substance of Grant's Town.

Indeed, "Minna" Thompson, Mrs. Letitia Curry of Hay Street, and Mrs. Lee Laing of Market Street, were the only three ladies "ova-da-hill" who owned motor cars in that era, and they were chauffeur-driven. In a sense it is a great pity that those majestic cotton trees, towering over Market Street, Baillou Hill Road, Hospital Lane and West Street, had to be taken down for road widening in later years; for these imposing giants served several purposes in addition to the stately aura which they provided to the area. They were regular assembly points for men of the district, particularly after Church, where discussions on every topic took place, and solutions were given for every current political issue or local problem.

Shoe shine boys set up their stands on Blue Hill Road, under the cotton tree outside the Biltmore Shop, to earn their livelihood. The grandeur of the cotton trees gave authority and credence to "cotton tree justice" which was dispensed from these venues, for the traditional tribal practice was still prevalent in that period whereby the respected elders of the district dealt with reported neighbourhood wrongdoing. They received the complaint, heard the evidence of the various witnesses and persons concerned, and handed down their summary judgment which was always accepted, otherwise neighbourhood ostracism was the penalty.

There is not much heard about "cotton tree justice" these days, but it was quite a feature of "ova-da-hill" life in times past.

Young boys, in particular, who were caught, or reported, for cursing, pilfering, ill-manners to their elders, or other such bad behaviour, they were summarily dealt with under the cotton tree, receiving the appropriate number of strokes with a belt or switch. And frequently they begged their chastisers not to report the infraction to their parents, lest they afterwards receive a double dose of punishment at home.

(Please be reminded that our lunch/fashion show will be held at the Yacht Club on Thursday 22^nd April – tickets are getting scarce!

And the Annual General Meeting takes place at the museum on Thursday, April 29 ^th at 6pm – we are hoping to have light refreshments and fellowship afterwards.)

The Bahamas Historical Society (BHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating interest in Bahamian History and to the collection and preservation of material relating thereto. Its Headquarters, the former IODE Hall, was a gift from the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE). BHS is on Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue in Nassau. www.bahamashistoricalsociety. com