Forgotten Facts

history The roads of New Providence

When one talks about the roads on this island, people often have difficulty understanding that our network of roads is an unfinished work of art.

It has changed a lot over the years and new roads are still being built. The original ‘roads’ were footpaths between the various communities, trod by humans, horses and other animals.

In 1742, there were no wheeled vehicles and much of the island had never felt a human foot.

On the map, you might see that West Bay Street has been diverted for the Love Beach development, for Lyford Cay and for Baha Mar. For Albany, the Southwest Bay Road was diverted.

Many have difficulty understanding (believing) that West Bay Street used to run through today’s Security Gates, past St Christopher’s Church and through what is now the golf course. In the area near Lyford’s western canal, the turnoff to Lyford Cay (where, in the 1940s, H G Christie was advertising a beachfront house for about $10,000) was a track road, identified by a well. Bahamians would say, “When you pass the well, you done pass the road. “For many years, that well was a landmark inside Lyford. The divided highway, in front of the Lyford Cay Hospital, did not exist until the 1960s. Lyford Cay made a deal with government to build that highway and swap it for a stretch of West Bay Street

Some years ago, I got a call from a lawyer who was unable to locate his client’s land on Farrington Road. His client and he had driven, then walked, the length of Farrington Road, from Boyd Road to the roundabout at Bethell Avenue North several times, all to no avail. Did I have any suggestions?

In my youth, Farrington Road started at Nassau Street/Base Road, but the attached map shows it starting at Blue Hill Road. Somehow, a short stretch of Farrington Road has morphed into Boyd Road. If the name wasn’t officially changed, the street signs were incorrectly installed, as so often happens.

The map shows that Farrington Road used to stretch as far as Lake Cunningham, but this changed during World War II, when Oakes Field became the RAF headquarters, and a satellite field was built and named after the Duke of Windsor.

The western end of Farrington Road was improved and extended to Windsor Field and became the Interfield Road. When the President of the United States came to Nassau for a conference with the British Prime Minister, the name was changed to John F Kennedy (JFK) Drive. Now, it’s a four-lane highway.

Another new road (Windsor Road) was built for the RAF,

connecting the Satellite Field to West Bay Street at Old Fort, and continuing to the deep-water port at Clifton. Before that, there were only two routes from Nassau to Clifton – via West Bay Street (through what is now the Lyford Cay golf course) or via Carmichael Road, Adelaide Road and Southwest Bay Roads (through what is now Albany). In 1926, there were only 53,031 people in our islands; 12,975 lived on New Providence. There were cars and trucks, and lots of horse/donkeyPAUL C drawn vehicles, but few Bahamians ventured beyond Lake Cunningham, ARANHA FORGOTTEN FACTS though the residents of Adelaide and Carmichael used to walk to Nassau to sell their produce. (Wild orchids could be bought for some seven cents a bunch) and of course they also had to walk back home. Most of the featureless areas of New Providence were pine forest. Today, it is densely populated with homes and shops and Carmichael Road is a thriving commercial street.