Famous Visitors Who Made Their Mark on the Caribbean

Art, History & Culture, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article written by Diane Slawych.

The Caribbean has long been a magnet for people from around the world seeking sun, sand and a laid back tropical vibe. Some of the visitors are famous. Most of them come and go, but a few have stayed for extended lengths of time, and some have even left their mark. Here are a few brush-with-fame attractions worth checking out:

Walk in the footsteps of musical greats at Olveston House – Montserrat

Olveston House, a historic island landmark once home to Sir George Martin, where music history and Montserrat heritage meet. Photo courtesy of the Montserrat Tourism Authority.

Many celebrated musicians have visited Montserrat over the years, but perhaps never more so than in the 1980s. And one man in particular drew them to this volcanic island, located southwest of Antigua.

George Martin – producer of most of the Beatles’ songs – had a house and a recording studio on the island that attracted a who’s who of the rock and pop world for more than a decade.

The parade of noteworthy musicians that streamed through AIR Studios Montserrat, included The Police, Dire Straits, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran and the Rolling Stones. More than 70 albums were recorded here in a span of ten years. When not recording, the musicians often hung out at Martin’s home, with its pool and five acres of tropical gardens. As for the recording studio, it was eventually abandoned, then suffered damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and later became off limits after a devastating volcanic eruption in 1995.

Martin, however, continued coming to his Caribbean home regularly, and even donated money to relief efforts. Though he passed away in 2016 at the age of 90, the musical memories of his time on the island lives on.

His home, an historic colonial-style estate on the west side of the island, is known as Olveston House, and now operates as a guest house. Inside are artifacts and memorabilia connected to the legendary AIR (Associated Independent Recording) Studios – gold records on the walls, photographs taken by Linda McCartney of her husband, (and Beatle member) Paul McCartney and other musicians who spent time here.

You can even stay in Martin’s bedroom, although you don’t have to spend the night to visit. Dine in the restaurant, which serves English and Caribbean cuisine, stroll the grounds, once the site of a large lime plantation, and glimpse the view of the Soufrière Hills volcano.

And if you want to see more memorabilia from AIR Studios, check out the Hilltop Coffee House & Welcome Centre.

Noel Coward’s Jamaican Retreat 

Noel Coward enjoyed the views from his hilltop oasis, Firefly.  Photo courtesy of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

While on holiday in Jamaica in 1948, British playwright, composer and actor Noel Coward fell in love with the island and bought a home here, which he called Blue Harbour. Located near Ocho Rios, it became a mecca for his celebrity friends – including movie stars, literary greats and politicians.

But the prolific author – he wrote over 50 plays, including Private Lives,  Blithe Spirit, and Present Laughter, and composed numerous musical theatre works – was in need a retreat where he could work in peace. He settled on a hill-top property nearby with stunning views of the north coast.

He built a modest home here and called it ‘Firefly’, after the luminous winged beetles that appeared in the early evening hours. After Coward died in 1973, the home was donated to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, restored and opened to visitors.

Today Firefly looks much as it did when Coward lived here. There are big armchairs in the living room, two grand pianos, and a library that contains a collection of his books. His Hawaiian-print shirts still hang in the bedroom closet.

Framed photos on display of some of the many celebrity visitors include Katharine Hepburn, Errol Flynn, Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Claudette Colbert. Even Britain’s Queen Mum notably stopped in for lunch on her 1965 trip to Jamaica.

An open patio looks out over the pool, and on the grounds outside is a statue of the playwright seated in a chair facing the sea. In the garden, a simple white marble gravestone marks his burial place.

Firefly is a National Heritage Site and open for tours daily.

George Washington Slept Here – Barbados

George Washington House, Barbados — Step inside this historic Bridgetown landmark, where the future first President of the United States once stayed in 1751. Photo courtesy of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.

Long before he became the first U.S. President, George Washington, took a trip, which turned out to be the first and only journey he ever made outside his country.

He and his older brother Lawrence, boarded a vessel for a non-stop, six-week journey to Barbados. Lawrence was suffering from tuberculosis and thought the warm weather of the West Indies would improve his health and George agreed to accompany his brother.

They arrived in Bridgetown and rented a place called Crofton House where they lived in the autumn of 1751. Sadly Lawrence’s health did not improve (he passed away in Virginia the following year) and the house later became an Officer’s Residence for the British Garrison.

Today the 18^th century two-storey mansion is open to visitors and is now known as the George Washington House. Built around 1717, the beautifully restored home is the oldest residence in the Garrison Historic Area.

It contains many furnishings acquired from estate houses across the island. Specially designed period costumes also help bring 1750s Barbados to life, offering a glimpse of how it appeared when the Washington brothers were here.

Surrounding the home are beautiful flamboyant trees, brightly coloured bougainvillea flowers, and tropical shrubs and fragrant herbs.

Meanwhile, below ground is a network of tunnels! Constructed in around 1820, they extend for about 10,000 feet, a portion of which is beneath the house and the rest under the Garrison, which is considered the most intact and authentic 18th and 19th century British Military Garrison in the world.

The tunnels were largely forgotten until their recent re-discovery. In 2014, 70 metres of this underground network were opened to the general public.

An unforgettable attraction, the Historic Garrison Area, which includes the George Washington House, gardens, and the tunnels, were inscribed in 2011 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Explore These Must-Visit Gardens to Spark Your Green Thumb

Art, History & Culture, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article written by Mark Stevens. Photos by Sharon Matthews-Stevens.

Memories of the scarlet hues of Bougainvillea, the orange glow of blossoming flamboyant trees and the rainbow hues of multitudes of flowers dominated my consciousness for weeks after my first ever trip to the Caribbean.

I can barely tell the difference between poinciana and poison ivy, but those botanical images so haunted me I decided to expand my horizons.

Next trip I visited a botanical garden. Trip after that: another Caribbean country, another garden.

In the process I learned an important lesson.

Want to inspire your own green thumb?

Just add these must-visit gardens to your botanical bucket list.

BARBADOS

Blooms with a View

The profusion of orchid blossoms are a definite highlight of this Barbados must-visit.

One of my first “garden” pit stops took place in Barbados. I like a great view and my wife likes both cacti and orchids, so a visit to Orchid World and Tropical Flower Garden is a win-win. First time we were there it was called simply “Orchid World,” but they’ve since broadened their botanical offerings along with their name.

But the orchids are still the headliner.

Think graceful blushing petals, lavender blooms, flowers suspended from tiny green stems that dance in the breezes from the island’s windward side. Easily ten thousand orchid plants grace the meandering paths, some clinging to trellises sheltered from the sun in modified “greenhouses”, known as orchid houses.

The grounds themselves feature whimsically painted benches scattered over six acres, a whispering waterfall, an impressive collection of cacti and succulents. And then there’s the view.

The gardens dominate an undulating ridge surrounded by cane fields. Graceful emerald stalks of sugar cane dance a stately sarabande in those omnipresent easterlies, swaying back and forth, soothing as the flowers displayed inside the garden itself. Nowadays this oasis is called “Orchid World and Tropical Flower Gardens.”

I think they should call it “Blooms with A View.”

MARTINIQUE

The Island of Flowers

Garden designer Thoze artfully incorporated the sometimes rugged landscape here into design plans to create a perfect mood; photo courtesy of the Martinique Tourism Authority.

Right from the start I’m overwhelmed by the sheer beauty that greets me at the entrance to Martinique’s Balata Garden.

I gaze past a windswept emerald valley where houses are scattered across a verdant volcanic slope like multi-coloured children’s building blocks. Within the garden grounds is a hill falling away past the entrance – a traditional Creole plantation house – to a pond decorated by lotus flowers, sheltered by a parade of sky-reaching royal palms (three hundred types of palms grace the grounds here, in addition to stands of mahogany and bamboo). A procession of blue-gray mountains beyond the pond marches toward the horizon.

The gardens were designed and developed by a botanist and landscape artist named Jean-Philippe Thoze, who scouted the world for exotic blooms and returned to see his vision come to fruition in the grounds surrounding his grandparents’ traditional Creole home.

Stroll along paths snaking through rainforest areas, cross wooden bridges spanning whispering brooks. Treat yourself to a bird’s-eye view of the resident floral displays along wooden walkways and platforms suspended high above the valley floor. Here at Balata I savour the delights of this oasis, hallmark of an island boasting a cornucopia of botanical hallmarks, here I reflect on the original Carib name for Martinique.

Welcome to Jardin de Balata. Welcome to the “Island of Flowers.”

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

Add History to your Hibiscus 

Floral displays complement the gardens’ many specimens, among them a variety of local herbs, spices and fruits

Considered the Western Hemisphere’s oldest such establishment, the St. Vincent and The Grenadines Botanic Gardens opened in 1765.

They were first conceived as a botanical testing ground for medicines and elixirs cultivated to maximize the health of resident soldiers and to test the economic viability of a variety of imported species, overseen by an erstwhile military governor and a garrison surgeon.

Talk about adding history to your hibiscus.

Case in point – and a must-do for me since I’m a history-lover – is the presence of a breadfruit tree grown from a sucker off a tree delivered to the island by Captain Bligh. Take a guided walk and learn some traditional cures, taste local herbs and spices populating this hillside twenty-acre expanse highlighted by a green and white gazebo modeled on a Doric temple.

But the gardens here don’t just play host to plants. Tucked into one corner you’ll find a protected breeding area for the St. Vincent and Grenadines parrot. Rise before dawn and hike through dense rainforest to sight this elusive bird or go with Plan B.

Visit the St. Vincent and Grenadines Botanic Gardens.

CAYMAN ISLANDS

Fit for a Queen 

Perfect place to take a break: enjoying the sights and sounds of the one-acre lake in the gardens.

Cayman Island‘s Queen Elizabeth II Royal Botanic Park on Grand Cayman is best characterized as an idyllic oasis far from the madding crowd.

Visit here for a lazy afternoon stroll, lounge beside a small sun-dappled lake decorated by water lilies, serenaded by the call of a chorus of native aquatic birds. Better yet, go exploring through this sixty-five-acre reserve.

Savour the rainbow blossoms in the Floral Colour Garden, learn about Cacti in the Xerophitic Garden, view four species of orchids found nowhere else on earth, marvel at the varied hues decorating the trunk of a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree guarding the visitor centre. Learn some island history in the Heritage Garden with its transplanted historic Caymanian home, surrounded by traditional ornamental plants and fruit trees.

Stroll the Woodland Trail through a variety of microclimates, discover specimens of Bull Thatch Palm and the rare Cockspur Tree. Bond with the many park residents lounging overhead; these gardens also host the Blue Iguana Habitat, a breeding ground for these indigenous reptiles. Snugged down in the farthest reaches of Grand Cayman itself, these gardens serve up a horticultural helping that’s truly fit for a queen, which shouldn’t be a surprise.

Queen Elizabeth II herself presided over the opening of the Gardens in 1994.

GRENADA

A Bevy of Blossoms

Visit Grenada and you’ll savour the memories of blossoms wherever you look, wherever you go.

Visit Grenada and you too will be haunted by memories of flaming flamboyant trees and the omnipresent scarlet and purple explosions of bougainvillea (Grenada’s national flower) and poinciana blossoms decorating almost every home, growing beside nearly every byway.

Seems like wherever you go on this gorgeous island you’re surrounded by floral delights. Not convinced?

Just take a guided tour of Smithy’s Gardens, snugged down in the hills overlooking St. George’s, and be overwhelmed by the botanical plenitude they offer. Think orchids, heliconias, ginger lilies and even more bougainvillea.

Given the island’s botanical beauty it’s hardly surprising that Grenada’s floral offerings have been honoured nineteen times at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show.

Come November you’ll really be able to bask in this bevy of blossoms. That’s when Grenada hosts its first ever Flower Festival, a weeklong celebration that’s a must-do for anyone with a green thumb. According to Sekou Stroude, Grenada Tourism Authority’s Director of Sales for Canada, the festival will celebrate “the country’s natural beauty and floral heritage”.

Looking to really inspire your green thumb? See you in November. See you in Grenada.

Article written by Mark Stevens. Photography by Sharon Matthews-Stevens

For twenty-five years the writing/photography team of Mark Stevens and Sharon Matthews-Stevens has provided editorial and photographic Caribbean content to a multitude of publications.

They’ve worked with newspapers from The Washington Post to The Globe and Mail, magazines from Travellife to Caribbean Business and Travel, and online publications from ATasteforTravel.ca to VacayNetwork.com. They have hiked the rainforests of St. Vincent in search of the Vinci parrot, sailed the waters off countless islands and traversed Jamaica in search of the world’s best jerk.

In addition to numerous other writing and photography awards, they have been recognized for their writing and photography fifteen times by the Caribbean Tourism Organization during their Canadian Media Awards events.  Mark and Sharon are true Caribbean specialists.