West End, Grand Bahama Island - It was the famous Italian navigator and explorer, Christopher Columbus, in an expedition backed by the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who first set foot on the Island of Guanahani -- now San Salvador -- one of the 700 plus islands that make up the archipelago, also known as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The date was October 12th, 1492. Thinking he had reached the East Indies, Columbus referred to the native inhabitants of these islands as “Indians,” a term that was ultimately applied to all indigenous peoples of the New World. In fact, the broad group of Amerindian tribes settled in the archipelago was the Lucayans (or Arawaks), who worked their way up the Caribbean from South America's Amazon between 5 and 7,000 years ago. The Lucayans had superceded the Siboney Indians, the earliest settlers on Grand Bahama Island, who lived off conch and fishing and whose remains suggest that they were here as early as 7,000 years ago. 

In 1492, there were 40,000 Lucayans in the islands of the Bahamas and 4,000 on Grand Bahama Island. Surprisingly little is known about the Lucayans, a fact that comes from their rapid extinction shortly after the arrival of Columbus. It is believed they had an advanced political and social structure, and lived in well-organized cities. 

After the Spanish claimed the island of Grand Bahamain 1492,the Lucayans were enslaved and transported to work the gold and silver mines of Hispanola and Cuba, and the pearl fisheries of Margarita, near Trinidad. The conquerors gave the island the name "Gran Bajamar" – great shallows – a term that eventually became the basis for The Islands of The Bahamas themselves.

After they stole away its inhabitants, however, the Spanish seemed to have completely ignored Grand Bahama Island. Grand Bahama Island was viewed as a perilous landfall due to the treacherous shallow reefs surrounding it. So many ships would collide with the reefs where the waters are particularly shallow and difficult to navigate that "wrecking" became a major livelihood for what few inhabitants there were, most of who lived in West End.

After Great Britain claimed the Islands of The Bahamas in 1670, other ports and colonies gradually developed, as well as an army of pirates and privateers. Grand Bahama said to have been probably well known to famous pirates like Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Henry Morgan, as its reefs

would have been perfect for running aground vessels, a common pirate tactic. By 1720, the crown had successfully established control over the pirates, and the island probably saw a lot less visitors than it had during "The Golden Age of Piracy." The colony lay largely undisturbed for another 200 years.

Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Grand Bahama Island had largely been left alone by the outside world. Records from 1836 show that the population of West End numbered only about 370 inhabitants. In 1861, however, the flow of people reversed direction, and population of the town virtually doubled overnight. The reason was the American Civil War.

At the outbreak of the war, The Confederacy of Southern States immediately fell under a strict Union blockade and embargo. Getting goods such as sugar, cotton, and weapons in and out of the Confederacy was essential to the war effort, and smugglers operating out of West End were able to command hefty prices from the South due to proximity to Southern Florida – just 56 miles.

As soon as the war ended, however, so did the economical boom. But soon thereafter, the next smuggling boom came from a much different banned good in the US: alcohol. Prohibition brought warehouses, distilleries, bars, supply stores, and inns to West End. Just as it was during the Civil War, however, as soon the US solved the problem, the economy dove and people started fishing again. It was only with the rise of tourism that the up and down economy would change for good.

In 1955, Grand Bahama was one of least developed of The Islands of The Bahamas, a place where a few hundred people made their living off of the sea. No one could have imagined then that the island would become the quintessential tropical playground.

No one except a man named Wallace Groves. Groves was an American financier from the state of Virginia and was keen to the possibilities of the island as a tourist destination. Less than a hundred miles away was the United States and its thriving post-war economy.

To encourage investment, it also freed the Port Authority from paying taxes on income, capital gains, real estate and private property until 1985 - a provision that has since been extended to the year 2054. Soon after the Agreement was signed, Groves began to enact his vision. He convinced the shipping tycoon D.K. Ludwig to construct a harbor, and in 1962 he brought in Canadian Louis Chesler to develop the tourist center of Lucaya.

In the meantime, West End would undergo major change as well. Construction had begun in West End in 1951 of the Jack Tar Resort developed by Billy Butlin, one of the most lavish resort properties in Grand Bahama, also the first Caribbean all-inclusive property. The project included an airfield, a marina, a complex of canals, a commercial dock, a 424-room hotel, a 27-hole golf course and the largest freshwater swimming pool in the western hemisphere. The resort prospered in the 50s and 60s, but then eventually began a slow decline until the resort finally closed in the late 1980s.

In 1997,West End Resorts Ltd., founded by the principals of Holding Capital Group, Colt Capital Group, Allen & Company and Cavalier Construction, began the development of what has become one of the most naturally spectacular and elegant oceanfront new residential, resort and marina communities in the Caribbean – OLD BAHAMA BAY.

Old Bahama Bay offers easy access by air or water, the best water/boating in the Bahamas, great infrastructure and safety and value. The phase I of the development of Old Bahama Bay includes a complete residential, resort and marina community including oceanfront swimming pool, massage pavilion, meeting space and fitness center. In 1999, the marina was reopened after extensive renovation. The resort now consists of 55 luxury beachfront suites.

The second phase of the development program calls for additional hotel rooms, condominiums, a deep water marina basin and much more.

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Old Bahama Bay was founded by the principals of Holding Capital Group, Main Street Resources (formerly Colt Capital Group), Allen & Company and Cavalier Construction, (the leading Bahamian construction firm). Old Bahama Bay’s management and advisory team has been involved in the development and operation of such world-class resort communities as South Seas Plantation, Parrot Cay, The Guanahani Hotel, The K Club, Little Palm Island, and many others.

Today Old Bahama Bay is one of the most naturally spectacular and elegant oceanfront residential,
Resort and Marina communities in the Caribbean.
For more information on Old Bahama Bay
contact us at 1-800-444-9469