Building an Eleuthera Home? What Our Settlers Taught Us

When the Eleutheran Adventurers settled on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas around 1648, they brought with them remarkable building skills from Bermuda. The Eleuthera homes were not only charming in appearance, they were built well – so well that even today, historic homes using the old building technology are still standing up against cat 3 hurricanes.
So when our Great Harbour Cay real estate agent, Lauren Higgs, spent a family vacation in Eleuthera, she found herself prisoner to Hurricane Irene in one such home. Here's Lauren's first hand report on the ordeal.

By Lauren Higgs


(Scroll down for pictures) Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera, is the oldest settlement in the Bahamas. The breathtaking beauty and tranquility of this historic town led me to choose this destination as an end of summer get away for my family. The timing for our Eleutheran adventure couldn't have been worse . Seventy-two hours after arriving in Governor's Harbour, we were slammed by Hurricane Irene's category 3 winds. The cyclonic winds came fast and furious on the eve of Aug 25th. We were bunkered down in an historic home dating back from the Loyalist times. While we could hear the rumbling and chaos right outside the shutters, the house didn't budge! Irene, with her sustained winds of 115 mph and higher gusts up to 140, lashed throughout the entire following day (with an hour respite when the eye passed over). When it was safe to venture outside, we were shocked at the devastation- mostly downed trees, electricity poles and picket fences. What was most surprising, however, was every one of Governor's Harbour's classic old homes had made it through the hurricane with barely a shingle missing. This storm ordeal has impressed upon me that these 150 year old homes were well built to withstand hurricanes. Many major storms have come though this island since the 1800s and these houses are still standing! Today, building standards in the Bahamas are no different. They meet or exceed the strict building codes of South Florida. As we drove along the Banks Road to assess the damage, we saw that the newer built beach homes fared just fine, as well. The first picture below shows the home I stayed in during the hurricane. The second picture is of a nearby home. Note the storm took down the trees, but the homes remained intact.