The Tribune

It’s funny how the mind works. How you can want something to happen a certain way tomorrow and in the same instant, wish it could be the way it was in the past. It’s almost as if you had split vision, one eye staring forward, the other gazing back. There’s just something about the holidays that reawakens the nostalgia residing quietly inside us before.

All of which explains why my work family ended up at one of the true split vision treasures of The Bahamas for our holiday party, John Watling’s Distillery (JWD). Everything about the experience validated the belief that there is economic value in historic preservation if done right and they have certainly done it right at JWD which should serve as a model for turning an historic site or cultural icon into a must-see or do experience.

It wasn’t just about the rum-making which was really just bottling rum that was already made (thank heavens for I can only imagine the mess we might have made left to our own devices to turn sugar cane and whatever else goes into making the drink that defines tropical delight). It was about the tour with l’eisha Johnson, who has been there eight years and never tires of telling the tales of pirates and privateers, the good guys and bad guys who inherited or owned the property before or the rich and famous who visited it when it was a hotel and restaurant or later when it was the classy Buena Vista restaurant.

It wasn’t any one thing. It was that this rich piece of history that will celebrate its 236th anniversary in February was alive and flourishing. Hundreds of visitors a day pass through and enjoy the grounds, marvel at the 74-foot deep well, listen to the tales of pirates and freed slaves who owned Buena Vista Estate long before it became a distillery where everyone can watch the action and those who pay a few dollars more can make a sample bottle, seal it and take it home.

In private hands

How many more properties are there like this in Nassau, properties that in private hands can be preserved, renovated, reimagined?

Less than two miles east along the same hilltop ridge lies the decaying but potentially magnificent Collins House. Every year that it remains in the hands of the state-owned Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation it costs more to repair and this is not what governments strapped for financial resources were meant to do. In private hands, Collins House with its fine, strong bones could be a cultural centre, showcasing history while providing a place for events. It could become whatever its owners envision, a place for art, music, wine tastings, drama, TED talks, an active, thriving experience steps from downtown.

What can we learn from the John Watling’s Distillery model? Or the Bahamian Rum Cake Factory where dozens line up every hour of the day, rain or shine to see what it is like to make a rum cake and to taste an authentic Bahamian product? Or Exuma’s swimming pigs where folks fly from continents halfway across the globe to stand in the same water as an animal that belongs on a farm but cannot resist a dip in the sparkling, clear aquamarine bays that boaters seek?

Risk is work

Our nearly nine million guests this year are longing for experiences and we have the historic structures, the built environment and the pristine waters to provide untold new experiences. We don’t lack funding, we lack imagination and courage. That’s the sad truth.

We are scared to put our money into building or creating an attraction that takes investment because it is a whole lot easier to invest in a Treasury note and sit back passively waiting for a few dollars of interest to trickle in.

Our ancestors were risk-takers. Our success stories today are risk-takers. We admire them from a distance and then we turn the other way, afraid to take a chance ourselves, afraid to embrace the past to create the future. It’s a lot of work. But the future depends on our preservation in every sense of the word – in preserving the waters that Bahamians swim in, fish and make a living from, the waters that draw others to our shores. The future depends on our willingness to invest in buildings that need love and a new life and green space and parks. The future depends on our willingness to awaken our nostalgia and throw it into a blender with a heavy helping of imagination, find the funding and go for the unknowable like the two cousins did who reinvented John Watling’s in one of the poorest sections of town and made it one of the richest experiences on the island.

We can create a downtown that rivals any waterfront port of call. Remove parking from the south side of Bay Street, broaden the sidewalk allowing for outdoor dining, a jazz club or music lounge, live entertainment, art gallery, shops that sell more than t-shirts, sunblock and coconut ashtrays.

All that is standing in our way is us. All we need to do is remind ourselves of the beauty of split vision, the economic rewards of untapped resources staring us in the face – one eye looking back, another looking forward and putting the two together for a brilliantly clear picture of success. Just like the distillery that once belonged to pirates and later to freed slaves. Coming up on 236 years of history, an estate at the top of a hill where past meets present and the story of The Bahamas is told and never gets old.