|
Mustique offers guests that rare combination of elegance
and informality. This, combined with its natural beauty,
warm trade winds, rolling landscape and deserted beaches,
bring together the necessary elements to ensure complete
privacy and tranquillity. In short, Mustique is the
epitome of a true international hideaway retreat.
It was these attractions that drew Lord Glenconner
(the Honorable Colin Tennant) to find this outpost at
the northern tip of the Grenadines and buy the island
over forty years ago. Colin Tennant first came to the
West Indies in 1953 to look after the family estates
and in 1958, returned to sell the family’s remaining
estate in Trinidad for $66,000. Tennant had heard Mustique
was for sale and after inspection of the island, bought
it for $67,500. This was a risky and venturesome decision
as the land provided no water and there were no roads
or a jetty for sea access. The landscape was just a
mass of dense scrub with a few cattle and sheep tended
by the 100 or so people living in the antiquated village
of Cheltenham. In the years that followed, painstaking
time and effort was invested to create a working infrastructure
for the island.
As part of St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Mustique’s
first inhabitants during the 16th and 17th centuries
were Arawaks and then later, the Caribs. Europeans came
to Mustique in the 1740’s when they discovered sugar
could be grown easily there. Once a favorite hiding
place for pirates, Mustique was heavily defended against
the French in the 18th century, and the remains of three
strategic forts can still be seen. At one time, Mustique
had seven sugar plantations. Today, only the sugar mill
at the Cotton House remains.
Tennant’s arrival brought great improvements to Mustique
and in 1964 he created a new village for the workers
called Lovell. By 1968, islanders were producing sea
island cotton on a plantation as a means of employment
for most people. Tennant also initiated the planting
of coconut groves and cultivated limes, oranges, grapefruits
and vegetables. Wild livestock were controlled and the
local fishing industry began to prosper. These and many
other improvements turned life around in Mustique and,
with a proper working infrastructure and services, the
island moved closer to becoming self-sufficient. At
this time, Tennant formed The Mustique Company to look
after the interests of the island and to oversee the
planning of its future development.
As work successfully progressed, Tennant’s close circle
of friends and associates began to hear more about the
beautiful island. Its new development and the wider
accessibility of air travel brought more frequent visitors
to the island. The sailing of the Royal Yacht Britannia
to Mustique, and Tennant’s wedding present to Princess
Margaret of a 10-acre plot of land in 1960, heralded
a wind of change for the island as word quickly spread
and worldwide interest was raised on Mustique.
The original villas and Cotton House were designed
by the late British theatrical designer, Oliver Messel,
who later collaborated with architect Arne Hasselquist
(now deceased). Oliver Messel was known to draw reference
to the Shakespearean quotation, which said that “all
the world was a stage.” This was certainly true of Mustique
in the international playground of the 1960’s and 70’s,
which drew royalty and the famous to the island. Princess
Margaret was well known for hosting house parties at
her home “Les Jolies Eaux.” Mustique became the exclusive
hideaway, the place to see and be seen. That, combined
with the island’s rare beauty, convinced visitors, several
of whom were celebrities from the world of film, fashion
and entertainment looking for a place to escape to and
relax with the guarantee of privacy, to purchase villas
on the island.
In 1968, an agreement (Mustique Company Limited. Act)
was entered into between the government of St. Vincent
and The Mustique Company to develop the island while
preserving its original character. The agreement encompassed
a charter of fiscal and social plans including strategies
to encourage responsible tourism and the building of
private homes, which could number no more than 120.
The second Mustique Company Limited Act came into effect
in 1989. This carried on the goals of the original act
to ensure that the maintenance and preservation of Mustique
would be upheld during its transitory development period
and for future generations.
The tiny airstrip and airport were opened in 1969 and
the first new villas and the Cotton House, which accommodated
guests, were constructed. Gradually, further improvements
to the island’s infrastructure progressed including
regular air services, a complete road network, dependable
electricity and telecommunications, a desalinization
plant for the supply of fresh water, and a medical clinic.
One of the most remarkable engineering achievements
is the underground concealment of all electrical cabling
and water pipelines.
In 1976, Tennant sold The Mustique Company to a consortium
controlled by Hans Neumann, a resident of Venezuela.
In 1988, the company was sold to 55 island homeowners,
the majority of whom rent their villas during the year.
There are currently 85 privately owned villas on the
island and housing for all 1,000 employees in Mustique
and the Britannia Bay fishermen. The remaining plots
of freehold title land available for new villa owners
are situated to the south and are being sold with villas
over a six to ten year period. Each residential site
will be spaciously separated by greenery, pasture land
or forest.
Mustique has come a long way since the day Colin Tennant
arrived in 1958 and made the decision to undertake the
changes necessary to make the island properly habitable.
The gradually evolving development has not harmed or
detracted from the serene beauty of Mustique. Its privacy,
tranquility, natural environment and peaceful mode of
life are undeniably intact. Provisions have been made
to ensure their continuation for a long time to come.
|
