History of Acklins/Crooked Island

Crooked Island was once called Samote by the Indians and Isabella by Christopher Columbus.

American Loyalists first settled here in 1783, bringing with them slaves and money to start a short-lived cotton industry. At the turn of the 19th century, around 50 island plantations were in existence, and hundreds of slaves worked the fields. In the 1820's, the Blight destroyed most of the plantations, and the islands fell into decline. The remains of plantation sites such as Good Hope House, Marine Farms Plantation, Seaview Plantation and Prospect Plantation are still evident.

In an effort to protect shipping in the Crooked Island Passage from pirates, a British Fort was established on the site of Marine Farm. The cannons, buildings with historic drawings and other artifacts remain as reminders of the early occupants of this site.

The first Post Office in The Bahamas was established at Pittstown Point in the late 1700’s, a portion of which now forms part of the restaurant at the current resort.

Long Cay, formerly called Fortune Island, served as a port of entry for ships using the Crooked Island Passage for the purpose of transferring passengers to the Panama Canal construction site, Jamaica and European ports. Evidence of this period includes the remains of the largest Anglican Church during that era, an old cemetery with numerous headstones from the 1800s, an ancient jailhouse and other structures from the Loyalist occupation