Furness Bermuda Line new service to Bermuda in the 1920s created the need of additional modern accommodations for the tourists coming to the island after the first World War. This lead for Furness Withy, parent company of the line, to begin buying existing hotels and purchasing land for this new demand. This led to the formation of the Bermuda Development Company which would Furness' new business development. Eventually the company would manage four main properties: The St George, The Mid Ocean Club, Bermudiana, and the Castle Harbor Hotel. The hotels would continue to see increased business and benefit from legislation passed that would prevent ships from being used as hotels in 1938. [1] Furness Withy would eventually sell all its ownership in the hotels by 1958. [2]
The St. George Hotel, built in 1906, with 100 rooms, was located in the town of St George. [3] Furness purchased the hotel and would eventually renovate and enlarge it, and build a new golf course. [4] The hotel also had a beach club at Achilles Bay, which is now managed by its successor, the St. Georges Club. The St. George also became known for having one of the largest indoor swimming pools in Bermuda. [2] The hotel also had a ship shaped bar building called the Sea Venture at the top of the hotel's rose walk. [5] The hotel was torn down, and today the property consists of the St. George Club while the golf course land still exists and in the process of being restored. [6]
The Mid-Ocean Club was opened in what is now Tucker's Town on March 3, 1922, by Governor Sir James Willcocks. [2] A 18-hole golf course in Tucker's Town, Bermuda. Designed by Charles Blair Macdonald in 1921, it was modified to its current design in 1953 by Robert Trent Jones. The hotel would be used for several Western Big Three Conferences that would include dignitaries such as Winston Churchill. [7] The original hotel building would be torn down in the 1970s, but the golf course remains. [8]
The Bermudiana hotel was constructed through 1923 and opened on January 28, 1924.It had 248 rooms located on Hamilton Harbor. [2] The hotel would close in 1939 after the start of World War II, opening again in 1941 to house members of the Imperial Censorship. [9]
In 1951 after a complete renovation, the hotel became Bermuda's first apartment hotel, offering accommodation to both visitors and permanent residents who could lease the apartments. The renovaition also built the new Bermudiana Theatre, designed by architect C. Howard Crane, and able to seat up to 445 people. The theater would offer “21-weeks’ season of continuous plays” would be offered and that the new theatre within the Bermudiana Hotel would allow performances to be viewed in an “atmosphere of luxury and comfort on a par with any metropolitan theatre.” [9]
The hotel would change ownership in 1955, and would later burn down in 1958. [10] A new 237-room hotel, also named Bermudiana, was opened in 1960 on the existing property, until it was demolished in the 1990s. [11]
The Castle Harbor Hotel, located on Castle Harbour opened in 1931. [12] [13] All the materials for constructing the hotel were pre-cast in England and brought to Bermuda by Furness ships. [2] The hotel closed in 1984 for renovations and expansion, and re-opened as the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel in 1986. The originally built Castle Harbor Hotel would closed in 1999 for a complete rebuilding. The original hotel building was eventually gutted to the structural steel 'skeleton', and rebuilt. [14] The hotel reopened as the Rosewood Bermuda, which is remains today with some recognizable elements of the original property, including the iconic elevator tower, built to bring guests up from the shoreline.
Furness Bermuda Line would purchase and construct tender boats to ferry passenger from their ships to their hotel properties. This was due to the long duration by land it would take to transport passengers from the ship piers. Furness would first purchase the former British Admiralty vessel HMS Arctic Whale in 1923 and rename it the Bermudian. [15] In 1929, the company would custom build a tender Mid-Ocean, which would later be renamed the Castle Harbour, when the Castle Harbor Hotel finally opened. [2]
Ship Name | Year Completed | Shipyard | Years in Service for Hotels | Status | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bermudian | 1915 | Admiralty whaler, Adty No 878. Smiths Dock Company, South Bank, UK [16] | 1923-1947 | Scrapped 1958 |
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![]() | Castle Harbour (originally Mid-Ocean) | 1929 | Blythswood Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland | 1929-1939 | Torpedoed & sunk during WWII off Tobago1942 [17] |
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about 1,035 km (643 mi) to the west-northwest.
Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 km (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1,350 km (840 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, west of Portugal, northwest of Brazil, 1,759 km (1,093 mi) north of Havana, Cuba and north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 km (640 mi) west-northwest, followed by Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada 1,236 km northward. Although commonly referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands, with a total area of 57 km2 (22 sq mi).
The flora and fauna of Bermuda form part of a unique ecosystem due to Bermuda's isolation from the mainland of North America. The wide range of endemic species and the islands form a distinct ecoregion, the Bermuda subtropical conifer forests.
The Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, A Fairmont Managed Hotel is one of the grandest and most famous hotels in Bermuda, located in Pembroke Parish just outside the City of Hamilton. It also happens to be the oldest hotel in the Fairmont chains. One of the largest in Bermuda, it has over 400 rooms. It is one of two Fairmont Hotels on the island, the second being the Fairmont Southampton, which was originally opened as the Southampton Princess.
Hamilton Harbour is a natural harbour in Bermuda which serves as the port for the capital, the City of Hamilton. It is an arm of the Great Sound, and forms a tapering wedge shape of water between Paget Parish and the peninsula which forms Pembroke Parish, and upon which the capital sits.
Castle Harbour is a large natural harbour in Bermuda. It is located between the northeastern end of the main island and St. David's Island. Originally called Southampton Port, it was renamed as a result of its heavy fortification in the early decades of the Seventeenth century.
St. George's Harbour is a natural harbour in the north of Bermuda. It serves as the port for the town of St. George's, located on St. George's Island, to its north. To its south is St. David's Island. The harbour and both islands lie within St. George's Parish. It was for two centuries the primary harbour of the British Overseas Territory.
Tucker's Town is a small community in St. George's Parish, Bermuda at the mouth of Castle Harbour. It is the only part of the parish on the Main Island, and includes the Tucker's Town Peninsula that today is the site of many homes belonging to wealthy non-Bermudians. The most densely populated part of Tucker's Town was historically situated west of Tucker's Town Bay, and was almost entirely cleared to make way for golf links.
This is a list of regular named Holidays in Bermuda. Every Sunday is also considered a holiday.
The British Overseas Territory of Bermuda has been affected by several tornadoes and waterspouts in its history.
The Mid Ocean Club is a private 6,520 yard, 18-hole golf course in Tucker's Town, Bermuda. Designed by Charles Blair Macdonald in 1921, and originally built in collaboration with the Furness Bermuda Line (part of Furness Withy.
The Talbot Brothers were a musical group based in Bermuda that were among the most popular calypso performers of the 1950s. The band was composed of brothers Archie, Austin, Bryan, a.k.a. "Dick", Ross, a.k.a. "Blackie" and Roy Talbot (bass), and their cousin Cromwell "Mandy" Mandres (accordion).
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is an international luxury hotel and resort company operating 31 hotels in 16 countries, currently owned by Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotel Group. It was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1979 by Caroline Rose Hunt, the daughter of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt. The company was sold by Rosewood Corp. and Maritz, Wolff & Co. in 2011 to New World Hospitality for $229 million, along with five of the properties that were sold for $570 million. Arranged by Perkins Coie, the $800 million deal was awarded “Merger & Acquisition of the Year 2011” by the Americas Lodging Investment Summit.
Fort Victoria is a disused British Army fort, built to house coastal artillery atop Retreat Hill, within St. George's Garrison, at the North-East of St. George's Island, in the British colony of Bermuda.
Admiralty House, Bermuda, was the official residence and offices for the senior officer of the Royal Navy in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, originally the Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station.
HMS Castle Harbour was a civilian harbour vessel of 730 tons that was taken-up from trade (TUFT) during the Second World War by the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda for use by the Royal Naval Examination Service and later armed and commissioned as a warship, providing harbour defence from submarines.
Al Donahue was an American violinist and big band leader.
Furness Bermuda Line was a UK shipping line that operated in the 20th century. It was part of Furness, Withy and ran passenger liners between New York and the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda from 1919 to 1966.
The St. George Hotel, was a hotel built in 1906 in the historic town of St. George's, Bermuda. The hotel would have multiple owners through the years, including the Furness Bermuda Line and be one of their many properties on the island. The hotel was torn down in the 1970s and replaced by the St. George Club.
St. George's Garrison was the first permanent military camp of the Bermuda Garrison established in the British colony and Imperial fortress of Bermuda, with construction of Old Military Road and the original Royal Barracks commencing during the war between Britain and France that followed the French Revolution. It would remain in use until 1957, when it was transferred to the civil (colonial) government with most of the other Admiralty and War Office properties in Bermuda.