History of Eleuthera/Harbour Island

Eleuthera

Eleuthera's original population of Tainos, or Arawaks, was taken away by the Spanish to work in the mines of Hispaniola, where they died out by 1550. Thereafter, the island is believed to have been unoccupied until the first European Settlers - Puritan Pilgrims - arrived in 1649 from Bermuda.

Captain William Sayle and his band of 70 persons, calling themselves "The Eleutheran Adventurers,” fled persecution in Bermuda and England and sailed away to an island listed as Segatoo in the old Bermudian records. The present name of Eleuthera can be traced to William Sayle, who used a modification of the Greek word for “Freedom,” as it was religious freedom that Sayle and his group were in search of when they left Bermuda.

The settlers first went ashore near “Governor’s Bay,” which is today known as Cupid's Cay, but disputes arose among the group and Sayle and his faction headed off toward the northern part of the island by boat. Their boat floundered on the treacherous reefs known as the Devil’s Backbone. The bottom of their boats was ripped open and their supplies were lost. Many of them nearly starved, but they made do, living and worshiping in a large cavern now known as Preacher’s Cave.

Life for Captain Sayles and his group was very hard as the island was barren and produced little food. Sayle received support for his fledgling colony from two of the churches in Boston. In return, the Eleutherans sent a load of ten tons of Braziletto wood as a gift to Harvard College (University), which sold for 120 Pounds, the third largest sum that the college had collected thus far. As time progressed, many, if not most, of the original adventurers drifted away, but a committed group remained. This hilly, verdant isle became the “birthplace of The Bahamas,” and the western world’s first true seat of democracy.

Harbour Island

Harbour Island's colorful history can be traced through Dunmore Town, the main and only town on Harbour Island,  which dates back to the 18th century and is one of the oldest settlements in The Bahamas. When the Revolutionary War broke out in the United States, the Loyalist Governor of Virginia fled to The Bahamas where he was awarded the title of Lord Dunmore, Governor of The Bahamas. He laid out what is today Dunmore Town, at the center of Harbour Island, giving shape to the village of today.

From a noted shipyard and sugar refinement center in the late 1800s to shipbuilding and citrus farming just before WWI to a thriving tourism business—thanks to weekly flights beginning in 1941 on Bahamasair’s predecessor, Bahamas Airways—Harbour Island’s history is just as fascinating as the island itself.  

Spanish Wells

First inhabited in 1649 when the Spanish Conquistadors sunk a well to provide ships with potable water, Spanish Wells was the last stop for their galleons before the arduous journey back to their homeland with the riches of the New World. In 1776, the island was settled by some of the Loyalists who came from the Carolinas and many of today’s residents proudly claim that their heritage goes back to those early pioneers.