The History

This waterfront property and small house on Bottle Creek was once the home of the Jones’ family.  Build in the thirties it was considered a large house at the time; as was the case in the early years of the Turks and Caicos Islands.  The builders used native rock and a mortar of limestone, sometimes mixed with crushed conch shell.  Walls were 18 to 20 inches thick.  Doorways and windows were built by eye, without the use of carpenters’ level.  Nothing was square which created a challenge when we went about installing new doors and shutters.

Almost everyone we knew told us to bulldoze the old place rather than try to restore it.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, being a history lover and appreciating the look of the old house.  The ants and termites had eaten almost everything made out of wood, but the roof was still there and was pretty sound.  James Jones, the eldest son of Mr. Jones, had rebuilt the roof some 20 years ago using pressure treated lumber because his mother was still living and didn’t want to abandon the house.

Mrs. Susan Jones passed away at the age of 96.  In 2008 I had the opportunity to buy the property.  In the fall of 2010 I started work on the old house.  I tore down one interior wall that separated the kitchen from the main living area.  Then I enlarged a very low doorway to another room that was used as a bedroom.  The main room was also used for sleeping quarters at night.  The property had 80 years of antiques hiding all over the place.  I found old wood stove pieces and an iron and cradle for pressing their Sunday clothes.  I found a couple of English coins, a small china flower vase and several tiny perfume bottles.

After months of work, we had an idea of what could be done with the place.  First my wife Cheryl thought we could make it into a guest cottage.  Then the idea of making it into an old English pub or tavern came to mind.  We decided to work towards securing a café license, which would allow us to open a small restaurant and bar.  Thinking about old taverns, we formulated a plan to build all the tables, chairs and the serving bar in our boat building shop.  We had to add a room for the new kitchen and provide two new bathrooms.  I wanted the new addition to look like it had always been apart of the original house.  So I couldn’t buy doors but had to make them in our woodworking shop.  The Jones family had planted sapodilla trees many years ago in the front of the house.  The trees have grown large and provide a wonderful shady area as well as plenty of sapodillas for the picking.  We have watched a wild flock of chickens come by in the morning to eat the fallen fruit.  And we can agree that the fruit is delicious when ripen and ready to fall to the ground.