3. History to heritage: an assessment of Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, the Bahamas

Kelly Delancy

In his book Silencing the Past Michel-Rolph Trouillot observes that ‘any historical narrative is a bundle of silences’ (1995, p. 27). These are not merely absences, but the result of an active process in which ‘one silences a fact as an individual silences a gun’ (ibid., p. 48). All historical narratives contain silences, as any attribution of significance implies parallel attribution of insignificance. However, it is the actively manufactured absences in historical production as a result of power that have led to this study of history and heritage. Individuals, referred to as the ‘historical guild’, including academics, professional historians, journalists, political appointees and nations have often led in the privileging of certain histories over others in efforts to secure positions of dominance and legacies of majesty and colonialism. Heritage, being a past legacy in the present, has taken shape in much the same way as historical production. Persons in positions of power have attributed significance to tangible and intangible representations of narratives that privilege their position and establish hegemony. This authorised heritage discourse (AHD), as coined by Australian author and heritage worker Laurajane Smith (2006, p. 4), gives credence to epistemologies of dominant societies leading to top-down legacies. In counter to dominant narratives of the Bahamas derived from colonial records of Great Britain and influence from the nearby United States, this chapter seeks a history of the Bahamian community of Tarpum Bay from its members, with the overarching goal of ascertaining how the residents and descendants define their heritage and themselves. By assuming a bottom-up approach and giving the Tarpum Bay community a voice to share their unique history and values for themselves and in their own words, their history and heritage values may be preserved in a way that the present and future community can appreciate.

The significance of this work lies in its approach to the problem of representation in historical narratives and heritage-preservation activities. It is an example of how decolonisation methods can be applied in practice. This chapter is taken from a larger master’s thesis project, completed in 2015, that explores the idea of history and heritage at Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, through memory to reveal cultural-heritage values. Within the field of heritage conservation, this is a living-heritage approach, the key concept of which is of continuity for the core community. It is specifically the continuity of the purpose for which the heritage was originally intended. It is for the community’s enduring connection with the heritage, the care of heritage by the community as expressed by the community and the continuous process of embracing changing circumstances (Poulios, 2014, p. 22). The position of the ‘professional’ is to provide a framework of support and assistance to the core community to meet its own needs (ibid., p. 27). In conducting the heritage assessment of Tarpum Bay, this author applies the living-heritage approach by listening to and documenting the community’s articulation of their history and their connection with heritage.

This approach is appropriate here because, like many settlements on the Bahamian Out Islands (all Bahamian islands outside the capital island of New Providence, also known as Family Islands), the Tarpum Bay settlement developed in relative isolation, thus the islands developed their own unique characteristics that may still be observed today, including distinct accents and some differences in food preparation. Unfortunately, narratives during the early period of Bahamian history, including the 19th and 20th centuries, focus heavily on Nassau and the island of New Providence at the expense of many outer islands, or generally group the outer-islands all together. Though the Bahama Islands may share a common history, it does not mean the people there share a common experience of that history, heritage values or a common connection to heritage. The living-heritage approach is therefore valuable here in challenging meta-narratives and understanding how the Out Island community of Tarpum Bay has experienced history and defines its their heritage and what the community’s needs may be relating to it.

In some cases, there are gaps in archival records on Out Island settlements and in others the historical details have yet to be drawn out of archival records and presented in historical literature on the Bahamas. Documentary sources consulted for information on Tarpum Bay include unpublished records such as archived Out Island Resident Justice and commissioners’ annual reports, registers of records and Votes of the House of Assembly located at the Bahamas National Archives at New Providence. The Commissioner’s Annual Reports, compiled by Out Island commissioners, provide a more specific focus on the Bahamian Out Islands, though they can still be very general when it comes to the community level. The reports were a summation of a district’s (a large portion of an island) economic activity and statistics, not necessarily values and experiences. At the Bahamas National Archives, Resident Justice Reports for Tarpum Bay begin in 1884. Later Commissioner’s Annual Reports situate Tarpum Bay in the district of Rock Sound, begin in 1908 and continue up to 1974.

The settlement of Tarpum Bay is located on the south-western coast of the island of Eleuthera, approximately 67 miles east of the capital island of New Providence, and has an estimated population of 766 people (2010 census).¹ Using history as a proxy this research identifies, along with the community, the heritage and underlying heritage values of Tarpum Bay for effective cultural-resource management. At the same time, the study contributes documentation towards the development of a more accurate and inclusive picture of insular and national identity. This author uses a network sampling method known as the snowball technique to contact community members. This method is used to study populations that are scattered over a large area (Bernard, 2011, p. 147). A total of 33 recorded interviews were conducted over 11 months. They included 19 residents, ten descendants and two Eleutherans residing outside Tarpum Bay but familiar with the community. This chapter also draws on numerous informal conversations with many others. These individuals are members of the community directly and indirectly.² Residents offer information from experience on historical development and heritage. Descendants offer knowledge on their understanding of the history and their experience of heritage, while the Eleutherans residing outside Tarpum Bay offer yet another perspective on the place and people from their own observations and experiences.

It should be noted, however, that the oldest interviewee, Vera Carey, was born in 1917. Therefore, personal experiences and memories of interviewees date no earlier than the 1920s, with the exception of recounting narratives passed on from older family members, while the settlement of Tarpum Bay was in existence over a hundred years prior to this. As a result the history and heritage expressed here are of the early 20th century to the present and do not reflect earlier periods. This is important as, for example, memories reflect tomatoes being the chief export of the settlement. However, Resident Justice Reports from the 19th century show that pineapples were the chief export for the settlement during the late 19th century. In the 1880s and 1890s pineapples were the chief export of the Bahamas and the island of Eleuthera ranked first. The main pineapple-growing areas on the island are cited as Gregory Town, Hatchet Bay, Governor’s Harbour, Tarpum Bay, Rock Sound and Wemyss Bight (Bahamas, Public Record Office, 1977). An 1886 Resident Justice Report for Tarpum Bay notes ‘a number of commodious dwelling houses have been recently erected; this, with the cheerfulness of the people generally, leads to the inference that the pine-apple industry is not retrograding. The majority seem to ignore every other industry and trust the cultivation of the pineapple’. Tomatoes became the chief export from Tarpum Bay during the 20th century after the decline of pineapple exports, hence the present recollection of tomatoes being more prevalent than pineapple growing.

A community history of Tarpum Bay

Present residents and descendants alike agree that within their memories the main industry was farming and tomatoes constituted the main farm produce for export in Tarpum Bay, followed by pineapples. Boats came to Tarpum Bay from England for pineapples and from the United States for tomatoes (Mingo, 2015). Qurina Mingo (b. 1941) remembers the boats that anchored directly behind the rocks at the bay because the water was too shallow to enter it. He recalls ‘black spots [in the water] with black stones are ballast. When they left, they would throw those out because they would carry loads of pineapples and tomatoes back. They say if you had a good breeze it would take three weeks to sail to England’ (2015).

Tomatoes grew into the chief export of the district as early as 1911 (Commissioner’s Annual Report, 1911). William McCartney (2014) recalls that his grandfather on his mother’s side, William Wilkerson Allen (also known as Willie Butcher Allen) (b. 1875), was a tomato farmer. His grandfather on his father’s side, William Ashwer McCartney, was captain of one of the fast sailboats on Eleuthera. His grandfather’s boat was named The Imperial and used to transport tomatoes from Tarpum Bay to Florida.

Willie Butcher Allen also had a packing house at Tarpum Bay, as did ‘Boy’ [William Albert] Carey, John Hilton, Henry McCartney with Edwin Allen and John Louie (Johnson, 2015). Newton Carey ran a government-associated tomato packing house (Herbert Carey, 2015). The government supplied this with fertiliser and seed (Commissioner’s Annual Report, 1940; Herbert Carey, 2015). The others were independent packing houses where the farmers bought their own fertiliser and seed. Herbert Carey (2015) remembers tomatoes being packed according to size and exported during the 1930s through to the mid 1950s:

It is said that Willie Butcher then went to the settlement of Wemyss Bight and had a packing house there. Samuel Johnson’s (2015) three brothers and father worked for Willie Butcher, who eventually migrated from Tarpum Bay to Nassau:

The mass movement of people from Tarpum Bay in the 1930s was economically driven. Dorothy Moncur (granddaughter of Willie Butcher Allen) recalls that when her father moved from Tarpum Bay to New Providence, ‘it was because of a depression and people were not able to make a living’. This is community knowledge rooted in memory. Dorothy Moncur (2014) has been told that her father, Alfred Arnold McCartney, owned a shop, ‘but after a while people didn’t have any money to buy anything, so he had to close the shop out’. She and her family subsequently moved to New Providence in 1933. In addition to New Providence, people of Tarpum Bay relocated to Key West and Miami. Steven Carey (2015) said that after having travelled back and forth to Florida with produce:

Those who remained at Tarpum Bay continued to farm and supplemented farming with available opportunities such as fishing, sponging, construction of boats and buildings, teaching and small businesses. According to Herbert Carey, the tomato industry began to decline in the early 1950s because Mexico was able to produce tomatoes at a cheaper rate than the Bahamas. People continued growing tomatoes, however, on a smaller scale. This is significant because the people of south Eleuthera, including Tarpum Bay, identify with tomato production (in the past and present), yet today the entire island of Eleuthera is ascribed an identity linked to pineapple production as a result of the modern tourism industry. This may be seen as another example of lack of representation leading to misrepresentation.

Samuel Johnson (b. 1924) also recalls the downturn in the economy. He says (2015): ‘Things all over the island were bad. Things were not good here … all we knew then was farming. We lived off the farm. With the little money we had, we had to travel then to look for a livelihood’. Samuel Davis (b. 1926) remembers the Contract as the first in a series of events that brought prosperity to Eleuthera and the Bahamas. The Contract, also called the Project, was a negotiated agreement between the government of Great Britain, as the Bahamas were a British colony, and the government of the United States for the recruitment of Bahamian labourers to fill shortages created by World War II. Bahamian workers in the United States began sending more modern items to their families in the Bahamas. At Tarpum Bay during this time Samuel Davis (2015) remembers wompers [locally made shoes from recycled rubber] transitioning out and into tennis shoes and then various other types of footwear. He saw thatch roofs transition into ‘sheets’ and shingled roofs become concrete roofs.

In the 1950s and 1960s investors began developing the island of Eleuthera. Tourism became a major industry for the Bahamas and Tarpum Bay felt its effects. Investors included Arthur Vining Davis, who served as president and later chairman of the Aluminium Company of America (ALCOA), and Juan Trippe, founder of Pan American Airways. According to Henry Allen (2015):

During the 1940s, Davis established South Eleuthera Properties Limited, acquired approximately 35,000 acres on Eleuthera and set the island’s tourist industry in motion (Cleare, 2007, p. 120). South Eleuthera Properties would come to operate the Rock Sound Club, the Cotton Bay Club, the Winding Bay Club, the Eleuthera Beach Inn and Three Bay Farms. Davis also operated the Davis Harbour Marina near Wemyss Bight, sport-fishing boats for hire, a hardware store, supermarket and a machine shop where the company’s vehicles, boats and equipment were serviced. Juan Trippe built the Cotton Bay Club in 1959 with an 18-hole golf course. He also bought the Rock Sound Club from Davis and expanded the Rock Sound airport: ‘It was just a little short airport. I helped to work on it when it was extended. When the first jet came here, I think it was 16 shillings. You took that ticket and spend a day or two in Miami and came to Nassau and spend a day or two and come back to Rock Sound on that same ticket on that jet … When Trippe came here it was like glory’ (Johnson, 2015). Similarly, Steven Carey (2015) remembers Juan Trippe’s influence in the district as a positive one. He recalls: ‘That’s the first time that Pan American used to fly here, 747 used to fly here twice a day, you went to Miami for $27, I used to work for that company’.

Pan American Airways began a jet service between Rock Sound and the US in 1964 with two Boeing 707 aircrafts. By 1966 Pan American Airways had two daily flights between New York and Rock Sound via Nassau (Commissioner’s Annual Report, 1966). Some 20 years earlier a modern schoolroom was erected at Rock Sound, replacing the old buildings and sites owned by the Board of Education (Commissioner’s Annual Report, 1940). Improvements were made to the road between Tarpum Bay and Bannerman Town; buildings were constructed for housing machinery, storing stocks of lumber and cement and for housing workers. Other buildings were renovated. Davis introduced electricity to Rock Sound in 1944 as well as internal plumbing for the modern convenience of running water. The power plant was supplying electricity and Eleuthera Water Supply water to the Rock Sound community, and later all of Eleuthera, under government supervision. With the exception of a few American employees, the entire staff were Bahamian. Several thousand pounds were paid in wages during the year.

Contributing to the agricultural development at Eleuthera was the American, Austin Levy. He established a dairy and poultry farm in north Eleuthera, became the largest employer in the area, and was responsible for much of the infrastructure that developed at Hatchet Bay/Alice Town. George Baker was another individual who benefited south Eleuthera in more ways than one. As a representative for Eleuthera in the House of Assembly, he promoted the interests of the people. He ensured that public roads were improved at Tarpum Bay, had the government build a sea wall after the devastating effects of hurricanes, and personally assisted poor constituents whenever possible. George Baker’s business interests also benefited the district economically. His canning factory at Rock Sound provided employment for the people of south Eleuthera, and he also hired boats to buy, can and sell peas produced by the people at Acklins Island in the southern Bahamas (Johnson, 2015):

Henry Allen (2015) speaks of the continuing legacy of Arthur Vining Davis:

Foreign investment had ushered in a new way of life for the Tarpum Bay community and Eleuthera at large. It improved infrastructure, expanded resources for education and improved the economy. During this period, many gave up farming in favour of serving a new clientele, receiving new training and a weekly wage.

The events that led to the closure of these major developments on Eleuthera are rarely discussed and interviewees often seemed reluctant to talk about them. Responses often began with ‘I know, but I hate to say it …’ and ‘Gee, I’m telling you this, I shouldn’t tell you that’. Others rejoiced at the opportunity finally to share what they believe to be the truth of what caused the demise of the best thing ever to happen to Eleuthera. The change is attributed to a change in government. The social effects of that change, specific to Tarpum Bay, are not detailed in historical accounts. Therefore it is only through accessing the memories of residents that the social experience can be understood. It is necessary to describe the change as the meta-narrative constructed during the struggle for national independence (approximately 1950–73) and visions of a postcolonial Bahamian future by and for ‘true’ Bahamians, being black Bahamians, permeated from the capital through to the outer islands of the Bahamas with momentous impact.

A white mercantile elite, based in Nassau, had dominated the House of Assembly for generations, from the era of slavery to emancipation and beyond (Craton and Saunders, 1998). Though all forms of slavery were abolished in British Caribbean colonies on 1 August 1838, there had been little change in the relationship between former slave owners and former slaves in the post-emancipation era (Lee, 2012, p. 17). The white elite continued to use legislative, economic and property requirements to bar the majority class of darker-skinned Bahamians from participation in national life and control of the country (ibid., p. 13). Members of this ruling white oligarchy owned all the businesses along the main street in downtown Nassau, called Bay Street, and came to be known simply as the ‘Bay Street Boys’. They maintained control of the country and promoted their interests through legislative and economic monopoly well into the 20th century.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) was formed in 1953 to challenge the white oligarchy. It was modelled on the Jamaica’s People’s National Party (PNP) with its activist philosophy and call for democratic socialism (Dodge, 2005, p. 110). The PLP sought to represent the majority of Bahamians and gain equality for black Bahamians. With the PLP success in the 1956 general elections (they won six of the 29 seats in parliament) the Bay Street Boys formed the United Bahamian Party (UBP) in 1958. The white oligarchy sometimes functioned as benevolent overlords. For example, George Baker was elected as a representative for Eleuthera in 1949. His business investments in Eleuthera benefited his personal fortune but also brought greater prosperity to the labouring class in south Eleuthera. George Baker, being white, however, became a member of the UBP.

After being defeated in the 1962 general election, the PLP rallied and won by a slim margin in 1967 with the help of a white, independent candidate, Alvin Braynen, who represented Harbour Island (a tiny island just north of Eleuthera). The party sought to create a sense of Bahamian national identity with a strong emphasis on the black majority, separating themselves from the British identity. Their goal was to establish the country as an independent nation. As Bahamian anthropologist Nicolette Bethel expresses, Bahamian independence became ‘more the outcome of racially-based competition than the result of some universal, nationalist uprising’ (2000, p. 16). National symbols emerged with rhetoric similar to that of the Black Power movement in the United States: ‘the darker one’s skin, the purer one’s status as a “true” Bahamian’ (ibid., p. 17). Through the PLP’s work an African heritage was emphasised at the expense of others as the Bahamian national identity. The imagery and symbolism of slavery, combined with slogans like ‘Remember your chains’, became propaganda used to remind black Bahamians of the struggles of their ancestors and their continued servitude to white masters (Lee, 2012, pp. 64–96). This was used to stir emotion and invoke the masses to continue voting for the majority black political party. This use of black Bahamian history to create ideas of heritage for purposes of political propaganda also had a great effect on Eleuthera. The propaganda cultivated divisions between white and black, employer and employee. One resident remembers:

Samuel Johnson (2015) recalls an atmosphere of animosity. He remembers this period and expresses a relationship between the change in government from the UBP to the PLP and the downturn in the economy of south Eleuthera:

As for the resorts, it is said that the staff began stealing many of the items, possibly as a form of rebellion. Brenda McCartney (b. 1951) commented (2015) that the ‘biggest blow was when Cape Eleuthera closed down. Eleuthera has really gone backward from where it was to now. Even though people were poorer then’. Cape Eleuthera closed around 1978.

The above accounts evidence how the silencing of certain perspectives in historical retellings have contributed to the strength of meta-narratives constructed during the struggle for national independence (approximately 1950–73) and visions of a post-colonial Bahamian future of black power and prosperity. This time in Bahamian history is remembered differently by different groups of people. The meta-narrative of its being a time of power and prosperity for black Bahamians differs from that at Tarpum Bay, where it is remembered as a time of division, hatred and economic downturn.

Tarpum Bay’s community heritage

The overarching goal of this research was to ascertain how residents and descendants of Tarpum Bay define their heritage and themselves. Initially the common response to the question of heritage was, ‘Heritage … exactly what do you mean?’ (for example, Priscilla Clarke, W. McCartney and Vashti Simmons). This response suggested the potentially limited value of the concept of heritage for these people in contrast to academic understanding of the concept. Though the word ‘heritage’ is often used locally, it is used synonymously with history. Knowing I was conducting a study for academic credit, these interviewees would seek clarity on my definition of heritage. To avoid leading interviewees towards a certain belief system, I would instead ask about anything that might be unique to the place or people of Tarpum Bay; or what was valuable in their opinion. Interviewees found it difficult to articulate heritage or ascribe value to anything tangible. In reference to older or historic buildings, elder Priscilla Clarke (2014) recalls a beautiful wooden house that has been present in the community for as long as she can remember. However, she states that ‘lots of them could be demolished to make something else. A lot of them could be built up and something nice made out of them’. To the contrary, Ruby Knowles and Samuel Davis lament the loss of certain buildings and evidence of key people who helped to make the community what it is today. For Knowles this is the loss of a building on the waterfront used to house principals of the old prep school.

Having listened to these different people expressing their feelings on the subject of identity and heritage, common threads that emerge are Christianity, civic engagement and accomplishment, expressed through an incomparable work ethic. Within the collective memory these three pillars characterise the people of the community and are associated with the place being their home. This results in a feeling of pride that many cannot trace to any tangible thing because the value is within the people themselves. Henry Allen (2015) refers to J. W. Culmer’s⁴ house as a historical home, valuable to the community and worthy of being kept by virtue of the man himself being ‘an historical man’. Culmer’s significance can be attributed to his contribution to the community as a developer (for example, the drainage system), as an employer and as a House of Assembly representative. Residents’ respect for Culmer is demonstrated by their referring to him as the governor of the Tarpum Bay settlement. He embodies civic engagement and accomplishment. This reiterates the sentiment that it is the members of the community that give its places value, not the materials themselves that are of value or have valuable attributes. In other words, the value is intangible. Without knowledge of the man and what he did for the community, the home has no value for these interviewees. Architectural style, material and date of construction are irrelevant to them.

Heritage is most often expressed as a feeling of pride. Among the responses to the question of what Tarpum Bay heritage is, ‘It’s about who I am’ (A. Carey, 2014); ‘I’m proud of it … It’s a feeling I get whenever I hear the name or even if I meet someone from there’ (D. Moncur, 2014). Similarly, William McCartney (2014) finds his value of heritage in the way the community has developed: ‘Most of the citizens, the residents of Tarpum Bay and each person is a really, very business-like, very hard working, very … well, in other words, most of the Tarpum Bay people do own their own business. They like to be in charge of their own destiny financially’. Similarly, Henry Allen (2015) expresses the view that Tarpum Bay and the island of Eleuthera have been able to sustain themselves up to this point due to foresight and making provision for the future:

Steven Carey (2015) shares this sentiment and adds that:

Among residents, descendants and extended members there is also constant mention of the prime minister of the Bahamas at the time, the Right Honourable Perry G. Christie, and the then deputy governor general of the Bahamas, the Right Honourable Oswald Ingraham, respectively descendant and resident of Tarpum Bay. The constant mentioning of these individuals in conversation about heritage not only indicates that they are a source of pride but also confirms the intangibility of heritage at Tarpum Bay. The heritage values are indwelling character traits.

All interviewees agree that Tarpum Bay heritage should be preserved. When they are asked how, their responses involve making any kind of positive contribution to the development of the community and the country, practising the heritage of Tarpum Bay by placing faith in God, being hard-working, striving toward self-sufficiency, financial independence and excellence, and documenting community history. The descendant William McCartney (2014) asserts that documenting the history of Tarpum Bay is important because ‘if some of the younger people read the history and monitor the activity of the original people, that would help them to develop an appreciation for their settlement, appreciation for their family name, appreciation for their educational endeavours. I believe it would be very important’. Ownership of heritage, according to the community, belongs not only to residents and descendants but also to all who are willing to uphold and contribute to the hardworking and positive legacy of the Tarpum Bay people. This indicates, again, that heritage, to this group of people, is intangible and is the reason many of them live according to certain principles. This also indicates that heritage not only has the power to affect lives but has a potential use as a motivating force for future generations to create positive legacies. Preservation of knowledge of the past is therefore of utmost importance.

A museum does not exist in the traditional sense of materials or artefacts being displayed all year round. An attempt at building a museum was made in recent years by the Eleuthera Arts and Cultural Centre aiming to fulfil a shared vision developed by Friends of Lighthouse Point and later the One Eleuthera Foundation. The venture failed due to lack of attendance. Audrey Carey, director of the centre, said, ‘The stuff sits there and collects dust’ (2014). She expresses the need for a different sort of museum and an alternative way of commemorating the past at Tarpum Bay. Instead, the facility is promoted as a cultural centre. She describes it as a mini-museum where the building itself is on exhibit with additional components being exhibited on the exterior. She alludes to participation, programming or activities as being an engaging and essential component of the museum/cultural experience at the centre: ‘If we have an exhibit it’s located out[side]. You have activities that take place here in the centre. So, it’s not just you coming in and walking in. The building itself, we have the outdoor surfaces, the patios steps were done by a local artist by recycled glass bottles, conch shells so it’s … not the usual, traditional museum where you walk in and we showcase a few different exhibits’.

To the question of museum activities and preservation of Tarpum Bay legacies, Samuel Davis (2015) responds:

In relation to Trouillot’s thesis, silences have occurred in the process of historical production concerning Tarpum Bay at these four moments: the moment of fact creation (making of sources); the moment of fact assembly (making of archives); that of fact retrieval (making of narratives); and that of retrospective significance (making of history in the final instance) (Trouillot, 1995, p. 26). Previously, the people of Tarpum Bay had little to no input into the making of sources, as most of the early generations were not educated to read or write beyond sixth-grade level. There was no input into the making of archives, as the National Archive is mainly a repository of government documents. Residents also had no input into the making of narratives due to a lack of opportunity and the lack of value the community ascribed to such tangible heritage assets as books written by locals. Finally, residents had little to no involvement in the making of the national history that is generally presented.

By assuming a bottom up-approach to this research, it was possible to gain access to local histories and values that could not have been obtained at the National Archive within Colonial Office records. But this was only through actively engaging with the local community. This project brings light to the overlap between sociohistorical processes (facts/that which has happened) and the narrative (knowledge of that process/that which is said to have happened), which Trouillot terms ‘historicity 1’ and ‘historicity 2’ respectively (1995, p. 29). Having used history as a proxy to understanding heritage at Tarpum Bay, this author finds that residents and descendants remember it as more than the maritime community it is passively identified as in literature. Instead, Tarpum Bay is remembered as a community of hardworking farmers, entrepreneurs and tradesmen. Also, contrary to the current branding of the entire island as pineapple producers, Tarpum Bay’s chief produce in the early to mid 20th century was the tomato, and much of south Eleuthera is identified as a tomato-producing area by inhabitants. Older residents still engage in the growth and bottling of tomatoes today.

The community’s heritage is largely intangible. Passed from one generation to the next has been a belief in God, a hardworking ethic that contributes to an entrepreneurial zeal and community leadership and farsightedness. The pride of Tarpum Bay is in the work of its residents and the achievements of its descendants. These people are notable business owners, wide-ranging professionals, upstanding citizens and civic-minded individuals dispersed across the Bahamas and the United States. Family and extended community values constitute heritage values in this settlement and keep it united. In discussing tangible heritage specifically, the subjects that are brought to the fore are those structures and materials relating to the arts, music and the annual Junkanoo street parade on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day;⁵ the tomato industry, packing, bottling and canning; religious life and education.

Conclusion

The community of Tarpum Bay on the island of Eleuthera has identified its heritage as the people who have come before them and the residents and descendants who continue to advance the community and the country. A sense of pride in the past and present emanates from these sources. This chapter applies lessons from past heritage work to the preservation of a community’s heritage for a more accurate and inclusive picture of insular and national identity. These lessons include embracing new ontologies, which require long-term contextual study; the privileging of local epistemologies; inclusion of constituent voices; and the creation of an atmosphere of awareness within the community for the establishment of mechanisms for the community to represent itself. The fact that many Tarpum Bay inhabitants are concerned about heritage loss reflects a threat to that heritage and heritage preservation as a means for enabling ontological security in an uncertain present and in consideration of the future. It is evident that the community would like to preserve heritage, but they have been tentative about how to do so.

In an interesting contrast to uses of social memory, the social memory at Tarpum Bay is not associated with space or the built environment as in recent archaeology (Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson, 2006; Kearney, 2010), but rather with familial bonds and a connection to a community of people. This chapter demonstrates the need to decolonise the heritage sector in the Bahamas to account for differing relations to the past, because at Tarpum Bay heritage loss is not the losing of material or necessarily a change in landscape but is a loss of knowledge regarding the past and in relation to people. In his book Archaeology That Matters: Action in the Modern World (2008) Jeremy Sabloff expresses the view that in today’s modern world heritage is important in strengthening cultural identity, pride in one’s past and an ethic of stewardship. This research reveals how true this statement is. Empowerment of cultural identity and pride in one’s past, as experienced by older residents and descendants, can be effectively reiterated and preserved, beginning with the documentation of this community’s development and heritage. By documenting their heritage, community members hope that younger generations will learn about the past in order to learn from it. They wish for the preservation of their heritage to strengthen community and cultural identity, pride in their past and an ethic of stewardship for the future. Based on the information gathered through this history and heritage project, future directions may include the creation of a local history book; the revitalisation of the Tarpum Bay Historical and Heritage Society for the sustained collection and preservation of the community’s history and heritage; the creation of an interactive community webpage where residents and descendants can learn about the community’s history and interact; and the creation of heritage spaces that align with the values of the community.

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Commissioner’s Annual Report for the District of Rock Sound, 1966 (1966) Department of Archives, Nassau, Bahamas.

Craton, M. and G. Saunders (1998) Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People. Volume Two: From the Ending of Slavery to the Twenty-First Century (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press).

D’Amico-Samuels, D. (2008) ‘Undoing fieldwork: personal, theoretical and methodological implications’, in F. V. Harrison (ed.), Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further toward an Anthropology for Liberation (Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association), pp. 68–87.

Delancy, K. (2015) ‘History to heritage: a heritage assessment of Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, The Bahamas’ (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Florida).

Denzin, N.K., Y.S. Lincoln and L.T. Smith (2008) Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies (Los Angeles, CA: SAGE).

Dodge, S. (2005) Abaco: History of an Out Island and its Cays (New Smyrna Beach, FL: White Sound Press).

Jordan, G.H. (2008) ‘On ethnography in an intertextual situation: reading narratives or deconstructing discourse’, in F. V. Harrison (ed.), Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further toward an Anthropology for Liberation (Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association), pp. 42–67.

Kearney, A. (2010) ‘An ethnoarchaeology of engagement: Yanyuwa llaces the lived cultural domain in Northern Australia’, Ethnoarchaeology, 2: 99–119.

Lee, M.A. (2012) ‘Black Bahamas: political constructions of Bahamian national identity’ (unpublished honours thesis, University of Richmond, Virginia).

Poulios, I. (2014) ‘Discussing strategy in heritage conservation: living heritage approach as an example of strategic innovation’, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 4: 16–24.

Resident Justice Annual Report for Tarpum Bay, 1884, in Votes of the House of Assembly 1885, Department of Archives, Nassau, Bahamas.

Resident Justice Annual Report for Tarpum Bay, 1886, in Votes of the House of Assembly 1887, Department of Archives, Nassau, Bahamas.

Sabloff, J. (2008) Archaeology that Matters: Action in the Modern World (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press).

Smith, L. (2006) Uses of Heritage (London and New York: Routledge).

Trouillot, M.R. (1995) Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston, MA: Beacon Press).

Interviews

Allen, Henry, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, 29 July 2015, call number HOEP 006B.

Allen, Hilda, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Bethel, Philip, interview by Kelly Delancy, Nov. 2014.

Carey, Audrey, interview by Kelly Delancy, Nov. 2014.

Carey, Herbert, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Carey, Steven, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Carey, Vera, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Clarke, Priscilla, interview by Kelly Delancy, Oct. 2014.

Davis, Samuel, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Johnson, Samuel, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Knowles, Ruby, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015. Call number HOEP 020.

McCartney, Brenda, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

McCartney, William, interview by Kelly Delancy, Nov. 2014.

Mingo, Qurina, interview by Kelly Delancy, Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Collection, University of Florida, July 2015.

Moncur, Dorothy, interview by Kelly Delancy, Oct. 2014.

Simmons, Vashti, interview by Kelly Delancy, Nov. 2014.

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1 Bahamas Department of Statistics. South Eleuthera Population by Settlement and Total Number of Occupied Dwellings: 2010 Census. Nassau: Government Printing, p. 3. Available at: https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/a3b7140e-7992-42b2-9b21-73b81a0b8cad/SOUTH+ELEUTHERA+POPULATION+BY+SETTLEMENT_2010+CENSUS.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.

2 ‘Indirectly’ in this context means that the individuals do not have a direct connection to Tarpum Bay as residents or descendants, but have a connection through other means, such as being married to someone from Tarpum Bay, having worked with people from Tarpum Bay or having observed or experienced them in another setting.

3 Interview which forms part of a collection held at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida.

4 J.W. Culmer was a community leader in the 1800s but his dates are not known.

5 Junkanoo is a street cultural parade that takes place on many islands of the Bahamas during the Christmas season. The origins of the parade are debated. It has been taking place for centuries and widely believed to be of African origin.