Acklins and Crooked Island are two of the four islands forming an atoll which hugs the beautiful shallow waters of the Bight of Acklins. Bordered by the nearly uninhabited Castle Island and Long Cay, they are as natural as they were when The Bahamas was first "discovered." Columbus reputedly sailed down the leeward side of the islands through the narrow Crooked Island Passage, which has ever since served as an important route for steam ships travelling from Europe to Central and South America. This seaway, referred to locally as 'the going through,' also earned these islands the notorious reputation as convenient bases for buccaneers and pirates, who attacked ships in these shallow waters.

The islands existed in virtual obscurity until 1783, when American Loyalists began to settle here. These former plantation owners brought slaves and money to start a short-lived cotton industry which, by the beginning of the 19th Century, had more than 40 plantations employing 1200 slaves. The population turned from the land to the bounties of The Bight, after cotton growing became uneconomical due to Emancipation and soil depletion. Diving for sponges became the economic cornerstone of these islands until the sponges were decimated by a fungus. The inhabitants now earn their living by fishing and simple farming.