An interview with Mary Caldwell
or
The making of a resort island

When did you stop at Palm the first time?
We stopped at Palm before arranging to charter. It was to get acquainted with the islands trip. We had then the two boys on board Outward Bound. It was in 1960.

How John and you come to the idea of Palm Island?
We came to realize the island had a tourist potential when John was planting coconut trees in the Grenadines!
Outward Bound anchored off Prune Island for lunch each time she was in the Grenadines. A picnic lunch was arranged on the beach under a manchineel tree and guest swam in the clear blue waters while John planted coconut trees along the shore. Unfortunately each time we returned to the island, the trees had been eaten by the goats.
John approached the government of St Vincent and arranged to pay the rent (48 EC$) to remove goats and plant trees. Mr. Joshua the then Chief Minister said: “If you think the island has so much potential, why don’t you develop it?”

What was the original plan?
The original plan was to build a resort cottage type hotel, a little rustic in design. Five star hotels were not so popular then. People wanted to get away to a little island and relax.

What was your life at this period?
We were sailing around the world having crossed the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic oceans. It was not far to go to complete the circumnavigation. We never made it!

How was the charter then?
We were kept very busy on charters. Only taking one couple and traveled up and down the Windward and Leeward Island from Anguila to Grenada. We rented an apartment at the old officer’s quarters of English Harbor, Antigua, for the boys with a housekeeper, and they both went to a local private school (Sunnyside)

With how much money did you begin?
We began with ten thousand dollars saved from chartering. That was all we had.

What is now your description of Palm before any work?
Palm was an overgrown jungle. It was necessary to hack your way thru the bush with a cutlass to get inland from the beach. There were two massive mangrove swamps. Once in, it was dark, damp and inhabited with millions of mosquitoes.

What was Union Island then?
Union Island was not very developed. At night time, there were just feeble lights from kerosene lamps. The people were friendly. A lot of the young people had gone to St Vincent for school and work. We always stopped at Clifton for the night while on charter and got to know a lot of the local residents.

How did you organize at the very first beginning?
When we first got the island, we picked up supplies for cleaning the island in St Vincent: wheelbarrows, picks, shovels and many cutlasses. We arranged radio contact with Hazell’s, a store in St Vincent. We sent orders by radio to be delivered to Union Island on the mail boat twice a week. Ten workmen were hired from Union Island, covered in diesel oil and a generous tot of rum, they went to battle.
John and Johnny tackled the manchineel trees with reversed chain saws to avoid the deadly manchineel sap when cutting down the trees. Along with our workmen, we trimmed and cut sea grape trees, and raked years of leaves from under the trees. At Union Island, the expression was: “Palm on fire again!”
The workmen brought me over long strands of grass which I planted in the hotel area. There was only patches of Prune grass that did not spread very well.

What was the major problem?
The major problem was the mosquitoes that annoyed the workmen and the family. We discovered in the mangrove swamps numerous crab holes and found they reached the fresh water table, allowing the mosquitoes to breed. We learned to dip cubes of bread in an insecticide and drop them in the crab holes killing a lot of mosquitoes. This required a huge amount of bread, and one day we got a radio message back from St Vincent:” How can you guys, eat so much bread ??? “ By cutting a swath East to West by compass enabled the fresh trade winds to assist in the cleaning.

Where the boys were living then?
Roger was in boarding school, Mapps college, Barbados. Johnnie had gone back to Australia by Messageries Maritimes ship “Polynesia” from Martinique to Sydney (6 weeks on the ocean) to visit my parents. He returned when we got the island and worked with us on the development.

Did you find any traces of previous habitations?
There were some old ruins on the island : on the West coast, remains of an old foundation, and a two bedroom house foundation on the North West corner. We understood the island was planted with sea island cotton. Some of the cotton bushes still remain on the island.
Where the island was cleared, a prickly dense vegetation grew, hence needing a cutlass to get through. It was also obvious that there was some effort to get salt from the sea. A culvert had been dug and stone walls erected to allow the sea water in to the swamps. But it was not successful and abandoned.

Were the beaches different than now?
The beaches were much narrower because of the vegetation. We cleared further inland and found beautiful white, wide sandy beaches.

Tell us about the first buildings?
The first building was a shack on the beach. Half living quarters and half store room.

And your first night ashore?
While this was going on, we lived aboard our yacht Outward Bound. We could not stay ashore because of the mosquitoes. They followed us to the boat every evening despite our zigzag course. Eventually, we built a shack ashore and braved the mosquitoes under layers of mosquito’s nets, listening to their symphony most of the night.

How did you get water then?
We had a couple of galvanized tanks collecting rainwater from the roof of the shack. One for the workers, one for the family.

Then construction began?
More workmen were engaged mainly in the construction field. Plans were going ahead for the hotel and construction began on the bar. It was a tilted round building situated on the sandy point of Casuarinas beach.

When the first wharf has been built?
The first wharf was built before December 1966. It was necessary to build a jetty as we were employing more workers who come over by boat from Union Island and were ferried ashore in our yacht dinghy, which was very slow. It was decided to build a jetty. This was quite a task as the uprights had to be driven in by hand, and there was the constant chant of “Once, twice, OK” as the pile was driven in.

How did you fill the swamp for the airfield?
We filled the swamp with soil dug from higher areas of the island. At one stage, we found several skeletons. It looked like a mass grave. (leprosy?)We collected one skeleton intact that filled in a Heineken beer box. It was not a child as several teeth were missing. At the request of Dr ___ we sent the skeleton to St Vincent, and heard nothing further. After that, we started collecting soil elsewhere.
A change from the first comments, on construction of the airfield:” Are you building that for the mosquitoes to land?”
In the meantime the clearing continued and the airstrip was gradually taking shape.

And Later?
The bush clearing continued after the air strip was completed. Later with the Kubota bush hog, I cut down a lot of the small cattle tamarind trees left.

Water was a problem. So we decided to build a catchment’s area on the East side of the highest hill of the island (145’). This was quite an undertaking as cement passed from person to person by bucket up the side of the hill. It took time, but was eventually completed and included a huge cistern at the base to hold the water pouring down the hillside on the catchment area. So with a heavy down pour, it was like Niagara Falls. Fresh water was also needed to construction and as the homes (designed by Mary) were constructed the cisterns were built first to hold rainwater from the frequent squalls over the island.

Gradually everything fell into shape. The island was cleared. The kindly tradewinds blew across the grass covered land. The airstrip was ready for landing, and there was water in the big cistern. A bar, dining room, five cottages were lining the casuarina Beach.
We were exhausted, but HAPPY!

What were the communications at this time?
By radio, as mentioned earlier, later by telephone. We traveled often to St Vincent by our yacht or by the mailboat, at that time the “Solent Swan”. Cable and Wireless installed first radio phones in 1967, but it was difficult to hear due to bad reception.

Tell us about the opening?
We opened the hotel in December 1967. My mother and father were here from Australia. We had a celebration for Christmas. A few guests had arrived on “Outward Bound”. A small gasoline generator that supplied the hotel has turned off at midnight! There was no hot water in the rooms, but it was the best Christmas, we ever had on Palm.

Who were the first guests?
Most of the guests were Americans who had chartered Outward Bound when we were in the charter business. As I mentioned before, they arrived on our yacht. Johnnie was the captain. He met the guests in St Vincent and sailed them to Palm Island in four hours. He then returned to St Vincent with the departing guests.

When was the first landing?
Although the airstrip was completed by December 1967, it was some time before we could get approval from the Aeronautical Board to use the grass field. There was great excitement when a small plane landed on the dirt road beside the airfield. It turned out to be Frank de Lisle, manager of LIAT, who confirmed that LIAT would fly into Palm when the airfield was approved. The first scheduled plane landing was early in 1968 when the LIAT started two flights a day, using the Twin Otter that carried 19 passengers, and was ideal for a short grass field. The family and friends gathered around TROPIC AIR’S flight into Palm Island, one of the first air charter flights into the island, along with scheduled LIAT flights.

And which problems were involved with planes landing?
We had to pick up at Union Island customs and immigration officers . We closed the airfield in 1976 when Union Island airport opened.

When was the first island survey and planning?
The first survey was conducted when we decided to sell lots on the island. Lots 80x125 were planned on the beach and the same acreage for hillside lots. Some lots were bought by our ex charterers and John sold others to visiting yachts.

And the first private homes?
The first private home was owned by Arne and Anita Haselquest from Sweden, on top of the highest hill on Palm. That was followed by Rum Punch, La Quetch and Palm Villa.

Then the evolution of construction?
The land sales escalated as more people visited the island and bought lots. We were quite busy during this period, nearly 300 workmen, as houses were constructed along the North shore and the resort hotel was nearing completion with the construction of the hotel, bar, dining room and 10 rooms on the South side of the bar.

And later?
As time went on and the finances increased, further hotel bungalows were built on the North side of the bar bringing the total of rooms to 22. Roger who had been in boarding school in Barbados, during construction days was skipper of the beautiful 52’ ketch “Illusion” and Michael, Roger’s older son become captain of the catamaran “Foxe” in which they took hotel guests to the famous Tobago Cays and other islands.
A manager’s cocktail party was held at the Caldwell’s house every Tuesday, attended by hotel guest and homeowners who returned many times to meet their friends on the island.

What was this story of rebellion in Union?
The revolution in Union Island was the work of a group of young men, unhappy with the present political situation. They thought that the Grenadines should be a separate country.