Bermuda's Historic houses

125+ web files in a constantly updated compendium on Bermuda's business, culture, cuisine, customs, districts, economy, education, food, geography, government, history, internet access, laws, parishes, politics, religions, traditions, wildlife etc. For tourists, business visitors, employers, employees, newcomers, researchers, retirees, scholars. Funded by and linked to The Royal Gazette, Bermuda's only daily newspaper.

Bermuda's Historic houses

Gracious homes many centuries old, still serving a purpose

To refer by e-mail to this file use "bermuda-online.org/historichouses.htm" as your Subject

Introduction

Some relevant books

Bermuda's Antique Furniture and Silver. Bryden Bordley Hyde. 1971. 198 pages, illustrated.

Bermuda's Architectural Heritage: Devonshire. Andrew Trimingham. 1995. Bermuda National Trust. First in a series of illustrated parish by parish reviews of Bermuda's architecture. Reprinted 2004.

Bermuda's Architectural Heritage: Hamilton Parish. Diana Chudleigh. About the Bermuda Parish by this name. 2002, Bermuda National Trust. 4th in its historic buildings book series. 230 pages. Illustrated with B&W photographs. $29.95

Bermuda's Architectural Heritage: Sandys. 1999. Bermuda National Trust. Third in the series.

Bermuda's Architectural Heritage: St. George's. Michael Jarvis, edited by David L. White. Photos by Robin Judah and sidebars by Trimingham, Andrew. November, 1997. Bermuda National Trust. Second in the series.

Hamilton, Bermuda: City and Capital 1897-1997. Benbow, Colin and the late Marian Robb. 1997.

The Traditional Building Guide: Advice for Preserving Bermuda's Architectural Heritage. 2003. Anthony Short and Sylvia Shorto, with drawings by Anthony Short. A joint production of the Bermuda National Trust.

Please note that for security reasons in the privately-owned properties shown below, there is deliberately no specific mention of content. Most owners will be fully justified in refusing to allow any third parties to film interiors under any circumstances.

As at February 7, 2003 there are 788 heritage properties listed by, partly by the Bermuda National Trust - which works closely with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as Bermuda shares a rich architectural and cultural heritage and other close links with Colonial Virginia - and the Bermuda Government, including 66 owned by the Bermuda Government. Some may also be listed by the Bermuda Garden Club if they show their homes and gardens to the public in the annual Open Houses and Gardens event.

Symbols

- business center	- business facilities	- Ship view	- dining
- disabled access	- fitness	- golf course	- meeting room
- pool	- public buses	- public ferries	- shopping
- walking area

Arcadia House

Slippery Hill, St. George's. A Grade One-listed historic building in St. George's to be demolished due to extensive hurricane damage and years of disrepair. A 100-year-old property owned by the Bermuda Housing Corporation, described as "important, both of itself and because of its prominent site overlooking St. George's", but will now be razed to the ground. A Development Applications Board (DAB) report describes the building as "a well-preserved example of the grand 19th century residential architecture of the British military." Built between 1898-1900, it features a tower, colonnaded verandah, elaborate window moldings, English-style pot chimneys, and "impressive walls and gates on the road side. But in a July 2008 letter to the Historic Buildings Advisory Committee, the housing corporation said: "After nearly five years in a derelict state, the Bermuda Housing Corporation board has resolved to have the above-mentioned property demolished. It was in very poor condition due to damage from Hurricane Fabian as well as from extended exposure to extreme weather over the last several years. Repairs would involve the removal of the upper level; plastering; stripping fixtures windows; and "completely restructuring the upper level floor and roof, very costly and time consuming. The DAB approved the application for demolition.

Belair

Private property, not open to the public. Photograph by Keith A. Forbes, exclusively for Bermuda Online.

11 Cobbs Hill Road, Paget Parish. Occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jed E. Rhoads (courtesy of Mr and Mrs. John Williams). One of several substantial houses built on the hills of Paget in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A curving drive leads up to the house, imposing in its size a symmetry and surrounded by almost three acres of land. The wide two-storey verandahs are reminiscent of West Indian plantation houses which Francis Albuoy, who built Belair, encountered on his travels south through the islands to Demerara in British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America where he had a trading business in the early 1800s. The front door, beneath an elegant fanlight, is surrounded by stone quoining. Across the threshold, circles of thick glass are embedded in the floor allowing light into the quarters below where slaves once lived. Beyond the house are the old stables and a guest cottage.

Bloomfield

Callan Glen

194 North Shore Road. (Photo by this author). It was built by Claude William McCallan and named as such partly because he was a "son of" Callan as the Scots name indicates. He was born on September 4, 1765, in Ayr, Scotland, the son of William and Jean McCallan. At the age of 21, by then having been trained as a young ship designer, he was shipwrecked on Bermuda's north reefs in 1786 and rescued with his shipbuilding tools by a local fisherman, Daniel Seon. McCallan never left Bermuda. Instead he selected a local bride, Lucy Burrows Mercer, and erected this home, of Georgian design, in 1799 to 1800 (a front porch was added in the 20th century. McCallan’s ability to draw plans for a ship on paper and his aptitude for design allowed him to prosper in the colony. Before his arrival, Bermudians used small-scale models, carefully carved from cedar, as guides for building their vessels. He began a whole dynasty in Bermuda. This Callan Glen property once owned a great deal of land east, south and west of it. A son was Claude Thompson McCallan who also once owned an old Bermuda home called Edgewater in the west of the old town of St. George, facing St. George's Harbor. He also owned and operated McCallan's Wharf, a little west of Penno's Wharf, nearby. He enlarged and operated the wharf as a ship watering and victualling business during the American Civil War. He was one of the main suppliers of essential services to ships from Liverpool, England to Confederate ports via Bermuda during the blockade running heyday. Callan Glen remained in the McCallan family for 110 years. All the McCallums of Bermuda, including an interesting local author who first came to local fame in the 1950s, are descended from Claude William McCallan, as are the local Peniston family. In the latter part of the 20th century, the original Callan Glen caused separate streets named Callan Glen Drive and Callan Glen Rise nearby, also in Bermuda area code CR 04. The property was sold in 2004.

Camden

Bermuda Botanical Gardens, Paget Parish. Currently closed to the public until extensive renovations have been completed. Not for the disabled in a wheelchair or who have difficulty walking. Owned by the Bermuda Government. Public property, open 365 days a year. Free for 362 days (except during the Agricultural Exhibition every April). In the grounds of the Bermuda Botanical Gardens. Chiefly of interest for its house, front garden and vegetable garden behind it. With a panoramic view of the South Shore, it stands on grounds open to the public during daylight hours. The house itself is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12 noon to 2 pm. Admission is free. An historic house in typical Bermudian architecture, the official residence of the Premier of Bermuda, although not lived in by her (the Bermuda Government pays for her to live elsewhere). It was first built in the early 1700's. Francis Jones, eldest son of Colonel Thomas Jones of Paget Parish, purchased it and lived there until his death on September 12, 1796 from yellow fever. William Durham acquired it in 1810, but sold it to the Hon. Henry James Tucker in 1823.

He was Mayor of the City of Hamilton from 1851 to 1870. He began to produce arrowroot on a large scale in a factory at the back of the house. He initiated the appearance the property has today. The verandah, porch and bow windows in the dining room and drawing room were probably by his son Thomas Fowle Jauncey Tucker, a bachelor who became well known. He continued the mercantile business and arrowroot factory. The Tucker Arrowroot Trade Mark was a guarantee of genuineness in Great Britain and the USA. Thomas Tucker died at Camden on January 24, 1892, without a will.

The property passed to Boswell Tucker in London, England. In October, 1894, Camden and 23 acres of land were sold to Alexander Ewing Tucker for 3,500 pounds sterling, at the same time he purchased the land on the other side of the South Road for l,100 pounds sterling. He, his wife Violet and his two sisters Mary and Kate, were the last Tuckers at Camden. Alexander died on August 10, 1934. Violet continued to reside there until her death in 1965. The property then passed to Alexander's cousins, Sir Henry Tucker and his brother Noel Tucker. They sold it to the Bermuda Government as an extension to the Botanical Gardens.

The present interior decor was undertaken by Lady Gibbons, wife of former Premier the Hon. Sir David Gibbons, and Mr. Colin Cooke, then Chairman of the Properties Committee of the Bermuda National Trust. Their aim to achieve an air of "casual elegance" was realized. In the front hall are the cedar staircase, a freehand blown glass hall light and Bermuda cedar chest with cabriole legs (circa 1750), one of the many items on permanent loan from the Bermuda National Trust. The carved cedar paneling in the dining room and the entrance hall, and the furniture in the dining room, were by the cabinet maker Jackson during the mid 1800's. They took about 30 years to complete. The door and window surrounds and ceiling molding are trimmed with a motif known technically as quarter sawn "egg and thread" turnings. The design is repeated in the dining room chairs and the large 3 tiered side table.

The panels of "bird's eye" cedar, prized for its interesting grain, and the "mirror image" paneling of the doors, are also noteworthy. The dining room also shows the work of four modern Bermudian craftsmen. George Trott made the table. Edward Cross turned twenty four cedar serving plates. Fred Phillips reproduced four additional chairs. Bob Patterson did the "egg and thread" design on the elegant cedar trolley. The William and Mary cushion molded mirror (circa 1680) over the fireplace reflects the central brass chandelier which, with the wall sconces, provides the only source of light for formal candlelit dinners hosted by the Premier.

Bermuda plates depict endemic flowers, part of a limited edition series produced for the local firm of A. S. Cooper and Sons Ltd. by Coalport. At the top of the stairs hang portraits of five former Premiers of Bermuda. The Honorable Sir Henry Tucker and Honorable Sir John Sharpe were painted by Anthony Harper, the Honorable Sir Edward Richards and Honorable Sir David Gibbons by prominent British, Bermuda based, artist Sam Morse-Brown and the Honorable Sir John Swan by R. Samimi. There is a carved walnut Italian Renaissance chest (circa 1650) on the landing. The drawing room is lit by a great Waterford crystal chandelier. The inlaid Sheraton console table (circa 1790) is a fine piece and the cedar chest (circa 1750) is unusual for its small size and lower drawer.

The fireplace is in the Adam style with fluting reflecting the molding of the columns at either end of the drawing room. A large gilt Regency mirror hangs over the mantelpiece. It is a handsome example of Regency detail. Lady Gibbons stitched the needlepoint cushions which repeat the poppy design of the curtains. The walls are decorated with water colors of old Bermuda by Augusta Russell (circa 1810), part of the collection of the late Hon. Bernard T. Gosling, on loan from the Bermuda National Trust.

Beyond the drawing room is the study, fitted on one wall with cedar bookshelves. Immediately opposite the drawing room is the gallery, hung with paintings provided by the Bermuda Society of Arts. The rosewood pedestal table of the Regency period bears a large silver epergne, donated in 1864 by a grateful legislature to Alexander Ewing, a long term Speaker of the Bermuda House of Assembly. The highly ornate epergne, based on a grape and grape leaf design, was wrought in London by A. B. Savory and Sons.

Also see, at the historic Camden house, the mahogany Hepplewhite secretaire/bookcase (circa 1780) with a complete set of Herend hand painted porcelain plates depicting Bermuda flowers, on loan from the Bermuda National Trust. Around the gallery are occasional chairs of the Victorian period (circa 1860). It is in these two rooms that official receptions are held. Beyond the gallery is the ladies' powder or withdrawing room, decorated with water color paintings by local artist Gay Corran. The silk flower arrangements are by Mrs. Maureen Bartley.

The Cedars

Over 300 years old, and with three floors for many years it housed as a 3rd floor tenant the local branch of the UK-headquartered English Speaking Union, not a union at all but a cultural organization established in England in 1918 to promote understanding and friendship. The Bermuda branch was established in 1922 and held its first meeting at the long-gone Hamilton Hotel. It has about 165 members. Phone 292-7684. Currently on 0.36 acres of land, much of which is rented car parking. The once-grand house, in a poor state, sold in 2002 for $2.5 million. It was once a lovely Bermudian manor house. In the book "An Immigrant Speaks" the home is described by one-time owner Anne Seymour Drake Burrows, who later changed her name to Anne Lous.

Clifton

Off Middle Road, Devonshire Parish, just east of Corkscrew Hill. Over 200 years old, a sprawling architectural gem. In 2006 the Bermuda Government-provided home of Bermuda's Premier. In 2005, the Government spent more than $1.5 million in renovating it, including furnishings, a sophisticated security system and a telecommunications link to the Government communications network. Earlier, Chief Justices resided there. After Ewart Brown became Premier in late 2006, and decided not to move in, the sumptuous 4 bedroom property became empty. It also has a dining room, study and office and a separate two-bedroom apartment elsewhere on the plot. It was put on the market for rent in July 2007, initially for $25,000-30,000 a month, then $15,000-20,000 per month.

Clifton Heights

164 North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish. Owned by Mrs. Francis J. Mulderig. A graceful, mid-nineteenth century house likely built by Englesbe Seon who represented Hamilton Parish in the House of Assembly. The craftsmanship of early Bermudians, visible in the delicate woodwork, is matched by the artistry of the present owner who has created rooms of beautiful composition and colour. The present owner has established a garden of old Bermuda roses. A pathway by the rose garden leads to the pool.

Between 1911 and 1922, Frances Hodgson Burnett spent winters with her sister at Clifton Heights. Born in England on November 24, 1849 and died on October 29, 1924 in the USA, this American naturalized author won international renown in 1886 for her book "Little Lord Fauntleroy" before she emigrated to the USA. In 1911, her "The Secret Garden" was published and also became a global best seller. It has often been claimed, wrongly, that she wrote this book based on a garden she kept in Bailey's Bay, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda. Actually, it was a garden in England - to be specific, the walled garden at Great Maytham Hall at Rolvenden, Cranbrook, Kent - where she wrote it, with its 18 acres of parkland nearby with bluebells, daffodils and flowering trees.

Some time after the book published, she visited Bermuda for the first time - and stayed. After a brief sojourn at the Princess Hotel, she rented the house "Clifton Heights" then owned by the Outerbridge family. Burnett settled in Bermuda to get away from the chronic claustrophobia of an adoring public in the USA and the winter weather of her Long Island New York home. At "Clifton Heights," she indulged in her passion for growing roses, first gained from her earlier live in Britain. She once wrote to her friends about her 762 roses: "They will bloom when New York is 70 degrees below zero and London is black with fog and slopped with mud and rain." They did. She and her sister devoted time to landscaping the three-and-one-half acre property She loved Bermuda so much she continued to reside here until her death in 1924 at the age of 75. She was buried at Roslyn Cemetery, Roslyn, New York, USA.

Fleetwood Manor

39 Harbour Road. Ideally located, situated on land stretching from Harbour Road to the waters of Turtle Cove. Originally a 1790s Georgian house, one room in depth with two rooms above. It may once have been the home of a Bermudian shipper or captain, in the 1850s. In 1910, the original house was extended on the south by a two-storey, gable-roofed wing and verandah. An American family, who bought the house in the 1920s, enclosed an end section of the verandah and later added a shed-roofed kitchen. For the past quarter of a century, the present owners, the Darlings, have blended the structures into a house full of character, charm and comfort and established gardens of great beauty. In 1981, with cedar beams salvaged by the owner from a derelict building, the shed roof of the kitchen was replaced by a traditional, open beamed ceiling beneath a pitched roof. In 1983 the owners built a glorious summerhouse using 18th century construction methods. At the same time, the grass lawn that sloped to the sea was made level. It is enclosed within sheltering limestone walls. Antique bricks traverse the walled garden to an arched gateway and the vegetable garden is planted in a quarry, protected from the northwest wind. In many other respects the house and gardens are noteworthy and quoteworthy.

Humdinger

Long Lane, Tucker's Town. On the Ordnance Survey Map, prepared in 1898 and 1899 by British Lt. A. J. Savage, this property was once a modest cottage named Mariposa. At that time, Tucker’s Town was a small, scattered community of fishermen, boat builders and farmers. In the financial boom after World War I, Furness, Withy and Co. agreed to build luxury steamships for Bermuda in return for the right to buy swathes of land in Tucker’s Town where the company would develop the Mid Ocean Club and golf course on property requisitioned from the owners. Overseeing the work force, the superintendent lived in Mariposa where he viewed the transformation of the land into green and grassy fairways where once thick cedar, fiddlewood, palmetto and sage, overgrown with jasmine, covered the hills. In the front hallway, a graceful staircase with cherry treads and an open spandrel was designed to replace an earlier one and was built by a Bermuda craftsman without the assistance of a plan on paper. Delicate watercolour botanicals attributed to Lady Ramsbottom, wife of a former Bermuda Governor, line the stair carriage. The hallway contains a lovely Irish pine chiffonier, dating from the 1860s. The floors are cherry. A view of the lovely garden is framed by the Spanish cypress woodwork of the verandah. The gardens boast mahogany, poinciana, fig, guava, banana and olive trees as well as many species of tropical palms. Spacious rooms beneath high ceilings contain handsome oak furniture, hand-carved in Toronto in the late 1920s. The collection of art includes paintings by Bermuda’s first modernist painter, Alfred Birdsey, and 20th century Canadian artist and family friend, Hilton Hassell.

Marechaux Cottage

3 Salt Kettle Road. The earliest part of the house, built between 1845 and 1860, is the beautifully proportioned living room with its old growth, long-leafed yellow pine floors, a great hearth and cedar surround. In the 1930s, renovations were completed and again in the 1980s. The present owners, who valued the 19th century origins, made sympathetic alterations, adding bedrooms and wide brick terraces, excavating to create a basement and garage, and transforming the old kitchen into a spacious family room with views over the rooftops of Salt Kettle to the Harbour. The exterior lines of the house are defined by new pilasters, painted white, in contrast to grey stone-washed walls; windows are now framed in cedar. Furnished with many antiques inherited or found at auctions. Old Bermuda maps and historic etchings, paintings and watercolors.

Mayflower

15 Middle Road, Devonshire Parish. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Cox. Completed in 1893 by William J. Cox, it is an outstanding Victorian interpretation of a traditional Bermuda house. Characteristic of the era are high ceilings, wide verandahs, three-storey tower and widow's walk. The handsome doors, windows and floors are Bermuda cedar or imported solid pitch pine which was more highly valued than cedar at the time because of its scarcity. At the end of a long drive through spacious grounds, Mayflower looks out on a pool and to the South Shore beyond. May 2002 photo by the author exclusively for Bermuda Online.

The several garden areas include a nice grouping at the front of the property and more flowers and plants by the pool with a view of the South Shore.

Montpelier

Middle Road, Devonshire. The historic property has an interesting history. From the mid 19th century, like most of the Parish at the time, it was once - but no longer - part of British Army lands at "Montpelier" nearby. Today, it is owned by the Bermuda Government and now lived in by the Deputy Governor, his wife and family.

Mount Hope

13 Mount Hope, Smiths. Former rectory for St. Mark’s Church, looks out over the church spire to a verdant hillside and the sea. Originally a single storey house with a hipped roof and enclosed yard, built in 1847 by John W.R. Pearman, a shipbuilder and a farmer who later became a Member of Parliament for Smith’s Parish. His son, Jeremiah Scott Pearman, upon inheriting the house, made substantial changes, excavating to create two storeys at the front and adding a fashionable, T-shaped verandah, supported by cast iron columns; its design is credited to Edward Peniston, his brother-in-law. Interior woodworks are in the Charles Eastlake style, popular at the time. Eastlake, an Englishman who wrote Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details, advocated low relief carvings and flat surfaces easy to keep clean, the use of rugged woods like oak and the abandonment of applied decoration. The double doors with miniature panels in the entry hallway are an example of Eastlake style. The stairway, despite its modest size, has a tapered and turned column carved with a barley sugar twist and rosettes, repeated in the balustrades.

Mount Pleasant

8 Middle Road, Paget Parish. Owned by Mrs. Robert B. Chappell, Jr. One of Bermuda's most distinguished houses both in character and setting. In the late 1 700s, the Honorable John Harvey, Chief Justice of Bermuda, located his courtroom in a small outbuilding now connected to the house. The main house was built by his nephew between 1800 and 1820. Mount Pleasant has two-storey verandahs and lovely architectural detail with elaborate quoining and dentil moulding. Original interior woodwork includes a handsome cedar staircase in the entrance hall and Adam-style cornices and door frames in the small drawing room. The paneling in the dining room is pickled cedar Notable are the collection of antique Bermuda maps, lining the stair wall, and many fine pieces of furniture and silver which show the artistry of Bermuda's 18th and early 1 9th century craftsmen. Unusual and beautiful trees grow on the property. The grand white cedar (Tabebuia pallida) was planted in the mid-1800s. At the far end of the splendid gardens, impeccably cared for by the owner, is a cloistered quarry garden.

Ocean House

North Shore, Pembroke. Traditional Bermuda home acquired and restored recently after many years of neglect. With welcoming arms, eyebrows, cedar work and former slave quarters under the house. Owned and lived in by Colin and Julia Washington and their four children. A Grade III listed building.

Old Walls

41 St. Mary's Road, an early 18th century farmhouse, built in 1709, owned by Mr. and Mrs Ian Davidson, extended to the east in the 1820s, with its extensive garden.

Oxford

On Bluck's Point, a long, narrow peninsula curving into the Great Sound south of Spanish Point. It was originally Oxford Point, after a gracious old Bermuda home, Oxford, still there, was once owned by 17th century Bermudian merchant, Thomas Oxford. When the house was acquired by John Bluck, the point was re-named. In 1856, men of the 3rd Company of the 56th bivouacked at the Oxford home of Mr. Bluck, in hope of escaping the disease, at the order of Bermudian physician Dr. Harvey. They were lucky enough to escape the disease-carrying mosquito.

Orange Valley

Private property, not usually open to the public except on special occasions. Corner of Parsons Lane and Orange Valley Road, Devonshire Parish. Owned by Mrs. Michael Cox and Mr. John Cox ( whose many credits include chairmanship of the venerable Bermuda Historical Society). Set in 15 acres of glorious woodland gardens and citrus orchards, it was built in 1802 by Bermudian sea captain William Cox, in an estate he owned since 1796. After his death in 1842, the house has been owned by William Cox (1807-1867); Henry James Cox (1858-1948); John William Cox (Sir John), 1900-1990; Michael John Cox (1931-1989) and currently John William Cox (born 1955). Six generations of the Cox family have occupied the house and the family's heritage has been carefully preserved by each, in a delightful old-fashioned style that has preserved all the original charm of the house. The house is furnished with handsome antique cedar and mahogany pieces and a lovely collection of Sevres porcelain - a specialty of present owner, historian and author John Cox (a book he co-authored is "Bermuda's Favorite Haunts, Volumes 1, 1991 and 2 (subtitled "Picking Up The Threads") 1996. Ghostly stories). The house is reputed to have ghosts. There are fine marine paintings, English landscapes and family portraits. The well-tended grounds and interesting garden areas boast a croquet lawn and some of the oldest and most beautiful trees in Bermuda, including guava, palmetto, black ebony, mahogany, royal poinciana, Indian rubber and silk cotton.

Palm Grove

The Parapet

111 Main Road, Sandys Parish. Mr. Stewart Mott. In the 1870s, Scaur Hill Fort was built on the highest point of Somerset Island to defend the landward approach to the Royal Naval Dockyard. On the southeastern side of Scaur Hill, below the fort, The Parapet stands on some ten acres of well-tended land which extend down the hill to the waters of the Great Sound. In the 1930s, when visitors to Bermuda arrived by steamship from America, spending six months at a time on the island, the director of General Motors and his family bought this house. Generations of the family continue to spend holidays here and have benefited Bermuda through the generosity of the family’s foundation. The memorabilia, family photographs, marine paintings, the long cedar dining table made by a Somerset craftsman and many handsome pieces of furniture remain unchanged. In a small studio by the house, the American artist Georgia O’Keefe painted banana and banyan trees during the months she spent at The Parapet in the 1930s.

Peppercorn Farm

Information from the Garden Club of Bermuda. Private property, not open to the public.

Hallelu Lane. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. George Wardman. It stands at the top of joyous sounding Hallelu Lane which draws its name from the songs of slaves heard through the night as they built the nearby Methodist Chapel in the 1820s. Built in the early years of the 20th century, the house enjoys a rural setting. Farmers grow crops in fields bordering the two-acre property much as they have in centuries past. Entered by way of a sheltered courtyard, the house is furnished with French, English and Bermudian antiques. Among the art are old English engravings and prints and lovely portraits of the owner and her two children painted by a Bermudian artist. Framed menus from restaurants around the world were chosen "for offering great memories" to decorate the spacious family room. A wide terrace presents grand vistas of the harbor and the Great Sound. On a lower terrace are a poorhouse and a pool with water spilling over one edge, appearing to cascade down the hillside.

Peppers

Queen of the East

It's deterioration is particularly tragic in light of its former standing as “one of the showplaces of Bermuda.. The house served as a bakery in the 19th century and as a laundry and brothel at the turn of the 20th century. It was later a Soldiers and Sailors Club before being purchased by architect Bayfield Clark and his wife, an interior designer, in 1938. The couple renovated the building to such “great skill and taste” that it featured in several US magazines. One journalist, Margot Hill, described it as “one of the most attractive and habitable homes in Bermuda”.

Ramsbury

St. Mark’s Church

51 South Road. One of the most charming of the parish churches and its spire, designed by Dr Henry Hinson, one of the loveliest. Consecrated in 1849, it took the place of Harris’ Bay Church which stood on the site of the present graveyard from the early 1700s until 1846; a simple, silver chalice dated 1676 is a treasure left from the old church. Land for St. Mark’s was given by sisters, Sarah Trott and Mary Sears. When first built, the church was a plain, rectangular building with a gable roof and arched windows. It remained a country church until transformed under the leadership of The Reverend George Tucker and parishioner Jeremiah Scott Pearman, who made the care and ornamentation of the church his life’s work. They blessed the building of a Gothic tower, measuring more than one hundred feet, and an octagonal, buttressed spire, above which rose a cross. Julian Tucker, the chief mason, skillfully executed the work and later built a comparable steeple for St. Paul AME Church in Hamilton. The pews were made from mahogany logs washed ashore in the Turks Islands and later shipped aboard the HMS Beta to Bermuda. The altar, the exquisite reredos and pulpit, all made of cedar, were artistically carved by Arthur Wilkinson of Bailey’s Bay. The font was fashioned from Bermuda limestone by convicts. The bells which pealed for the first time in 1911 were given by the congregation in memory of Archdeacon Tucker, St. Mark’s well-loved rector for nearly forty years.

Sandhurst

Now owned by the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) and most recently the rented home of four families, about 20 tenants.

After the building sustained severe roof damage during Hurricane Fabian, they were relocated.

The BHC is consulting with the Corporation of St. George's, the National Trust and Bermuda Historical Society to work out some guidelines for the renovations.

They will include roof repairs as well as plumbing and rewiring, anticipated to be in excess of $1 million.

Seabright

North Shore Road, Devonshire, across from Devonshire Dock. On 4.5 acres of lush tended gardens. An 18th century U-shaped form with residential storey above storage space. Built by Josiah Cox in about 1755 when he married and for years the ancestral home of the Dill family. Current owner is Katie Fetigan, youngest child of Tommy and Marge Dill. The library is rich in cedar work.

Salt Winds

3 Salt Kettle Lane. Property is noted in 1660 in Richard Norwood’s second survey of Bermuda. Norwood, an English surveyor, initially measured and divided the Island into tribes (after 1684 known as parishes). A 1758 will described the structure as a “store house”. Hewn out of rock at near water level, the storehouse provided safekeeping for cargo unloaded from sailing ships moored in the harbour. After 1801, the second floor living quarters were completed. In the 1940s, the wide verandah, graceful dual flights of steps and a bedroom to the west, were added. Salt Winds’ present owner is a 13th generation Bermudian. The family’s genealogical chart, in the front hallway, shows that he is a descendent of the merchant adventurer Perient Trott who in the mid-1600s was the largest landowner in Bermuda. Perient Trott’s eldest son, Samuel, subsequently managed his father’s interests, including a whaling industry. He is credited with building one of Bermuda’s oldest extant buildings, his home in Walsingham, the cruciform core of what is now known as Tom Moore’s Tavern.

Soncy

7 Point Shares Road, Pembroke Parish. Occupied by Mr. and Mrs. John Lummis. (Owned by Mrs. Bernard Cooper). Once the residence of Royalty and the holiday destination of a U.S. president, Soncy stands on the shore of a protected cove. The house was built in the early 1880s on some fifty acres of land (bought for $8,000 and known as Point Shares) by General Russell Hastings, a Union veteran of the American Civil War, and his wife Emily, the niece of U.S. President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes. The Hastings’ family papers recount that they renamed the property Soncy, a Scottish word “signifying thrift, prosperity, and all things good.” The deep yellow Isabella Sprunt was one of the two roses introduced to Bermuda in about 1880 by General and Mrs. Russell Hastings. Another was the Safrano or Saffron rose, a slow growing lemon yellow tea rose up to five feet high. It was well-known in rose catalogues in the American South in 1843. The family prospered at Soncy as a result of the General’s venture into growing and exporting the bulbs of Bermuda’s distinctive, pure white Lilium longiflorum eximum. With the arrival of spring in the 1880s and 90s, more than 100,000 lily blossoms could often be seen in the fields at one time. In the 1920s, Lady Patricia Ramsay, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, lived at Soncy with her young son. In this century, the old house offers many of the same pleasures to its residents as in the past. It has large rooms with high ceilings, wide verandahs, a tree-shaded lawn running down to the water, and swimming and boating in Soncy Bay.

Southsea

A gracious family home of 4,821 square feet with pool in 3 acres (once 12 acres) in Paget, off South Road, opposite junction with Point Finger Road. The home of D. Colin Selley and built by his grandfather, O. R. Loblein, in 1917-18 for his wife and three daughters, Olive, Helen and Jessie.

Tankfield

Tamarind Vale

Historic house, most recently owned by former Premier, Dame Pamela Gordon. By 1998 when she was defeated in the polls, the Bermuda Government had spent over $400,000 on renovations to it.

Tivoli

Another Bermuda National Trust-owned historic house. It recently received extensive refurbishment of windows and doors, electrical work, landscaping, masonry and repainting. Built in the early 19th century it is a good example of elegant Bermudian architecture. The Tivoli estate is 11.26 acres. Donated to the Bermuda National Trust in 1984 by Gloria Higgs, to preserve as open space. Also includes Tivoli Pond and this Tivoli historic house. Thanks to a donation by the family of the late Sir John Sharpe, a former Premier of Bermuda, the pond is being conserved as a remnant of marshes that once extended through Warwick Valley. It is a refuge for wildlife and protected green space in a busy suburban area and a learning resource for schools.

Tom Moore's Tavern

Best known as the place where the Irish poet Tomas Moore lived during his Bermuda stay. Actually, it is Walsingham House, built in 1652 by architect John Millner. It is now owned by Italian Bruno Fiocca who owns the tavern.

Tristan

12 Tamarind Vale. A lovely, rambling, one-storey house set amidst tranquil gardens where citrus, old cedars and bird-of-paradise grow. Originally a small stone cottage, built about 1918. Rooms were added as the living requirements of a family changed, often at the time of the birth of a child or to accommodate a maiden aunt. Bermuda was then noted for having a disproportionate number of aging spinsters. This house is a typical example. The reception rooms are painted intense, rich colours and furnished with fine Bermuda cedar pieces and Canadian pine antiques. Many of the Island’s artists are represented in the owners’ collection of paintings. A covered porch extends the house into the gardens where a waterfall cascades over stones into a free-form swimming pool bordered by massive Delaware River rocks.

Verdmont Historic Manor House

Georgian style and three floors, on Sayle Road, at the top of Collector's Hill, Smith's Parish. Telephone (441) 236-7369. Both the house and garden are open to the public at specific times. With a parking area. Admission during the season is Tuesday through Saturday (except public holidays) from 10.00 am to 4:30 pm, Saturdays only in December 2000 until further notice, $4 for adults, free for Bermuda National Trust members or members of National Trusts elsewhere with which the Trust is affiliated, and children under 12. It has a superb collection of antique Bermuda cedar furniture and valuable mahogany.

Other period artifacts include English and Chinese porcelain, Georgian silver including pieces by Bermuda silversmiths, portraits in oils, children's furniture and toys. Also see a fine Bermuda cedar staircase, an Oriental room, powder rooms (once used for powdering wigs, not faces) and toy nursery. The house has its share of resident ghosts and ocean views. It was a private residence until 1953. It was never plumbed or electrified. There is no kitchen or running water or air conditioning or ceiling fans or heating. This stately house, in rose and flower, herb and mixed period gardens, was originally acquired and added to by late 17th century Bermudian visionary, Captain William Sayle (in whose honor Sayle Road nearby is named). Governor/Captain William Sayles and the Eleutheran Adventurers sailed from Bermuda in 1648 and settled the Bahamas. Governor Sayles served three terms as Governor of Bermuda before becoming the first Governor of the Bahamas and first Governor of Carolina (before it was split in two as North and South Carolina).

It has remained architecturally unchanged since the late 1700s. It was re-built in about 1716 by John Dickinson, the more recent name of Verdmont is a unique example of early Georgian architecture.

Later, it was acquired by Hon. Thomas Smith who, as Collector of Customs, spawned "Collector's Hill" both as the name of the house and the main nearby access road (another is Collector's Close. Later yet, it was acquired and added to by the English portrait painter John Green who married the daughter of Thomas Smith. Green called the property "Verdmont" as a French pun on his surname, combining the word for green and mountain. It has been this ever since. So have other access roads built since then (Verdmont Road; Verdmont Drive; Verdmont Lane; Verdmont Valley Drive; Verdmont Valley View; and Verdmont Valley Close).

Also, because the Verdmont estate was once hugely bigger than it is now and centuries ago stretched between the South and North Shores, further variations of the Green name were made - and have stuck - at Green Hill Lane not far from the North Shore, at the top of Store Hill where it intersects with Middle Road; and Green View Lane, near the foot of Collector's Hill on the South Shore.

Friends of Verdmont

Meets third Friday each month (Except July and August) at Bermuda National Trust headquarters, Waterville, Paget, 3:30 pm. A volunteer group aiding in preservation of Verdmont. New members are welcome. Call 236-6483.

Winterhaven Farm House

On the Winterhaven Nature Reserve, dating from the 18th century, it is a fine example of traditional Bermudian architecture. It was owned until recently by the Bermuda National Trust but was sold to Bermuda's Premier Dr. The Hon Ewart Brown, and is now the Brown-Darrell Clinic, a medical stem cell research centre opened in 2008 (to get its official opening soon), involving Dr. Brown, his wife Wanda and Stemedica Cell Technologies, a California-based biotech company. A scanner said to be capable of producing sensational images has been installed there. It is a Siemens Somatom Sensation 64-Slice CT Scanner, with the technology to provide previously unknown sharpness, diagnostic detail and clarity. The Premier says a complete scan takes as little as five minutes, meaning less time and discomfort for patients, faster results for doctors and the ability to avoid more invasive tests if necessary. Stem cell patients are expected to fly into the Island for treatment. Presently, Bermuda has no stem cell regulations.

Windsong

Warwick. Historic. Extensively refurbished. On the market for more than $15 million in December 2007.

Woodcroft

12 Between the Walls, Pembroke. A handsome, Edwardian house, built around 1910, when C. W. Woodford Walker was developing land in the area. The neighborhood quickly became fashionable. With more than an acre of lovely gardens to explore and a splendid flat, open, field for baseball games or soccer matches. The house is cement washed with deep, double verandahs extending across the front and side. Woodcroft opens to a spacious hall beneath a flat, high ceiling. The exquisite wall colours of the interior are an effective contrast to the simple, gray exterior. Rooms are artfully arranged and eclectically furnished with a mixture of beautiful antiques and modern pieces; fabrics create an imaginative interplay of patterns, textures and colours. There are numerous paintings, watercolors, etchings and prints

Woodlands

Information from the Garden Club of Bermuda. Private property, not open to the public.

9 Middle Road. Paget Parish. Mr. and Mrs. George Peterich. Visitors should note the external architecture of this lovely house, built in the 1820s by Adolphus John Harvey. Once known for its cedar stands, it is equally recognized today for its beautiful gardens which extend from the ridge of a hill, with vistas of Hamilton Harbour, to a valley where citrus grow beside the tennis courts. In the early 1900s, a second storey and servants' wings were added.