HISTORY

The one-stoplight town of Marsh Harbour, in which the Regattas of Abaco is located, and specifically the grand island of Great Abaco, are locals rich with beauty, character and history. In 1513, Ponce de Leon landed in his quest for the fountain of youth, and was soon followed by the French, but it was not until the 1780s and American Independence, that the island was truly and permanently populated. It was here that British Loyalists immediately after the American Revolution of 1776 found sanctuary - and flourished. Today, visitors are drawn to the island not as a safe haven from oppression or revolution, but to flee from the heavy crush of the concrete jungle - perhaps to protect or re-invent threatened value systems of peace, harmony and friendship.

Loyalist history further veins through much of Abaco's settlements; many of which remain unspoiled by modern pollutants of noise and environmental destruction. The seaside resort of Hope Town, founded as a Loyalist settlement, quietly rests around a protected harbour, and boasts among many other attractive elements, a quaint candy-striped lighthouse built in 1863. The only settlement prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles, it's residents enjoy a tranquil existence with such modest livelihoods as farming, fishing, carpentry and boat salvage.

Reflections of peace and simplicity continue to flourish in the residential colony of Great Guana Cay. Embracing an ease and fortitude shared over many generations, the community has remained much the same from it's Loyalist settlement in the early 1800's - a time when, as tradition states, Guana girls were widely sought for marriage for their kind spirit and beauty, traits which thrive in abundance among the gentle silence of the Abacos.