Message from the Executive Director

Happy 2023! As January draws to an end, we are gearing up for a busy month ahead.

February is Black History Month. While Black history is a core part of our island’s heritage that we seek to recognize and celebrate throughout the year, this is an opportunity to highlight the subject. We will be sharing stories of Black heritage on our social media during the month, particularly those related to the places we hold in trust. We will also hold open houses and tours at some of our important sites of enslavement – Tucker House and Globe Museum in St George’s, Verdmont in Smith’s Parish and Springfield in Sandys. You can find details elsewhere in this newsletter.

February is also packed with our regular events, including the Children’s Nature Walk at Spittal Pond on 14 February. We will also be counting on your support for our Plant & Bake Sale (11 February) and Auction & Jumble Sale (23-25 February) - you can help by donating items, volunteering, spreading the word and, of course, coming out to enjoy the events!

Karen Border

Executive Director

Plant & Bake Sale

Saturday, 11 February 2023, 8:30 am - 12:00 noon

Join us for our annual Plant & Bake Sale at Waterville on Saturday, 11 February from 8:30 am - 12:00 noon.

Shop for a diverse assortment of unusual native and exotic plants cultivated and grown locally that are perfect for your garden! Delicious baked goods and preserves will also be on sale, as well as a large variety of locally grown vegetables. Come early to shop for the best products. Coffee and tea will be available for purchase. Don't forget to bring your own reusable bag.

Interested in volunteering, donating plants, baked goods or fresh local preserves?

Click here to sign up or contact Jordan Smith at jsmith@bnt.bm or call 236-6483 x 215.

We will be accepting plant donations the week leading up to the sale, and we ask for baked sale donations to be delivered on Friday, 10 February before 4 pm. All donations should be delivered to BNT Offices, Waterville, 2 Pomander Road, Paget.

Auction & Jumble Sale

Sunday, 19 February - Saturday, 25 February

The Annual Auction & Jumble Sale is back. Join us for the biggest recycling event of the year!

Bring us all your jumble, and please give us One Good Thing for the Auction!

We accept well-made items of any age including furniture, decorative items, housewares, porcelain, silver, carpets, jewellery, Boer war items, maritime items, artwork, antiques, and much more.

Volunteers needed! We need help from volunteers to assist in making the event run smoothly, whether it is assisting the auction committee with accepting donations and setting up the event or making soups, sandwiches and baked goods for the kitchen area. For more information and to learn how to volunteer please email palmetto@bnt.bm.

Donations can be delivered on the following days to the Jack King Building & Commercial Slat House in the Botanical Gardens, Paget.

Natural Heritage Updates

Myles Darrell, Head of Natural Heritage

Bringing back the Yellowwood

Last year we made great strides in the preservation of natural heritage, planting hundreds of native and endemic trees across the island. The species that is particularly noteworthy may surprise you: it’s the Yellowwood (Zanthoxylum flavum), one of Bermuda’s rarest native trees – there are only 16 mature specimens on the island that we know of. We planted 15 young trees in BNT nature reserves last year, and there are only about 28 available for planting right now, thanks to the island’s dedicated and skilled propagation specialists. The value of these beautiful trees is to the biodiversity and integrity of our ecosystems, including fauna.

Today Yellowwoods have their own designation under the Protected Species Act 2003, but they were recognised as being at risk as early as 1632. The Yellowwood timber – an aromatic hardwood – was much prized at the time for furniture making and inlay and it was considered much more valuable than cedar. Although a common tree at the time of settlement, it was pretty much out wiped out by the 1800s, when a gubernatorial proclamation prohibited export of the lumber.

Yellowwood is an evergreen tree with smooth bark and lanky outstretched branches with compound leaves, typically comprised of 5-11 leaflets with one at the tip. Yellowwoods’ creamy yellow flowers bloom in September, soon followed by the seeds much enjoyed by local and migratory fauna.

Propagation can be difficult and with limited seed supply and availability it is not one you are likely to try growing at home. In 1991 the BNT Environmental Committee created a short document sharing the history and importance of this rare native. This is accessible in the archives of documents on the BNT website. Click here if you’d like to learn more about this very special and rare native tree.

No parking lot please in this paradise!

The Trust has recently submitted an appeal to the Minister of the Environment regarding the proposal for an events lawn and parking on the coastal section of land immediately west of the Bermudiana Beach development – land which is part of Southlands Park. It is alarming that a coastal reserve section of this park is under threat of development primarily to benefit a private enterprise – particularly in light of the protests to save the land from development back in 2010, which resulted in it being a National Park. We understand that cars are a necessary part of our daily lives, but believe there needs to be a balance to ensure we don’t continue the path towards overdeveloping our open spaces. There is already ample space to put parking on the brownfield site just west of the Southlands beach entrance. It reminded me of an article by Bermuda’s most prominent conservationist Dr. David Wingate, who wrote “The Case for Nature Reserves without Parking Lots in Bermuda”. Check it out.

Jennings Land Burial Ground Renovation

In a small corner of a property in Jennings Land, Smith’s Parish, lie the tombs of members of the Jennings family. This tiny burial ground was given to the Historical Monuments Trust in 1953 and remains in the care of the Bermuda National Trust. It had been in a sad state for quite a while, with the two unmarked stone graves crumbling and at risk. The area was renovated late in 2022 with the help of landscape contractor, Solterra and Larry Mills, well-known specialist in historic masonry and buildings. In an effort to protect the tombs, we enclosed and defined the space with gravel for low maintenance, and installed a sign. It’s looking good, as you see from the picture!

We were pleased to honour the memory of Stuart Hayward by planting a Red Mulberry tree in the grounds of Waterville Park in November.

Cultural Heritage Updates

Dr. Charlotte Andrews, Head of Cultural Heritage

Black History Month

The Trust is offering several special free experiences during February to recognise the importance of Black History Month, which is internationally themed ‘Resistance’ in 2023. We hope everyone will consider joining us for the following special events to connect with sites of enslavement, resistance and achievement. We will share some evolving ideas and welcome your input on the interpretation and reimagining of these heritage spaces.

Globe & Tucker House Museums, St George’s – Open Houses on Friday 3rd & Saturday 4th February 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.
Verdmont Museum, Smith's – Open Houses on Tuesdays 7th & 28th February 11:00 am - 3:00 pm.
Springfield & Gilbert Nature Reserve – Tour and Volunteer Morning on Saturday, 18 February 9:00 am - 12:30 pm.

TAP INTO RISE exchange

As part of our ongoing participation in the Re-imagining International Sites of Enslavement programme, we recently welcomed Sarah Stroude-Clarke, Head of Museum Affairs at Drayton Hall. Sarah and the Drayton Hall team run a ‘lowcountry plantation’ and historic house outside Charleston, South Carolina that has many parallels to Verdmont in Smith’s Parish. Sarah and I spent several days together touring African Diaspora Heritage Trail and other Bermuda RISE sites across the island while exchanging and examining our experiences, methods and mindsets as museum and site managers and curators. We talked in-depth about how our practice must shift to better engage descendant communities, co-curate with community members, and to evaluate all aspects of our cultural heritage work to ensure an antiracist heritage practice. Meeting with the Trust’s Heritage Team and Museums & Collections Committee at Verdmont also provided valuable insights into how the Trust can move forward differently to better serve the entire community.

BNT is most grateful to the International National Trusts Organisation, and their RISE partner the US National Trust for Historic Preservation, for their TAP INTO grant support of our knowledge exchange, just one step in an ongoing process to reimagine our sites of enslavement and other shared heritage together with you.

Maintenance Update

Springfield in Sandys recently received a fresh coat of paint in one of our historic paint colours. Members were asked to send in suggestions for the colour name and the winning name was "Loquat".

Duane Symonds repairing the down water leader and wall at Stewart Hall Cottage.

Mailboxes made by the Department of Corrections for Springfield.

Heritage at Risk

Mount Pleasant

Ratteray Homestead

This is part of a series of architectural articles by the Bermuda National Trust to highlight some of Bermuda's endangered historic buildings.

by Linda Abend and Margie Lloyd

This article attempts to highlight the perils of leaving life interests in properties. In most cases the house tends to become neglected or eventually derelict because there is no incentive for the life tenant to maintain the building when it will eventually go to another beneficiary.

Mount Pleasant is one of the oldest and most handsome houses in Pembroke. The main section is an excellent example of traditional 18th century architecture. There is a long low roofline with a massive chimney at each end. In 1797 the property was 13 acres and extended south to the swamplands at the eastern end of Mill Creek. It belonged to sea captain and sail maker Benjamin White. After passing through several owners it was purchased in 1881 by planter Cato Smith and was inherited by his daughters Serena Alexandrina Smith and Beatrice Mabel Smith Daniels when he died in 1900. The sisters lived in Bermuda until 1910 when they went to New York for employment. Beatrice worked as a domestic servant while Serena was employed as a nursemaid. In 1930, in the middle of the Great Depression, they returned to Bermuda and began to make changes. They added a rear wing and painted the house a striking deep red rust colour, off-set by white buttresses and chimneys. To finance these improvements they sold a number of lots, reducing the property’s acreage. Serena died in New York City in 1949 and Beatrice at her home Mount Pleasant in 1967. She left gave life interests to her foster son Howard Richardson and a great niece. After their deaths the house was to be sold. Mount Pleasant was well maintained until Howard’s death in 2014. Beatrice’s will stipulated that the property should eventually pass to St Paul AME Church and the trustees of the Packwood Home but the executors of her will (including Howard Richardson) who should have implemented the sale have long-since died. What should happen and who should take the initiative? Today, Mount Pleasant appears empty and is in danger of becoming a ruin. It is a Grade 3 listed building and, in view of its age, should probably have been graded higher.

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