Lyford Cay

For the racehorse, see Lyford Cay (horse).

Lyford Cay
Unincorporated community
Interactive map of Lyford Cay
Coordinates: 25°01′45″N77°31′20″W / 25.02917°N 77.52222°W / 25.02917; -77.52222
Country	The Bahamas
Island	New Providence
Supervisory district	Killarney
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Area code	242
Website	www.lyfordcay.com

Lyford Cay is a private gated community located on the western tip of New Providence island in the Bahamas. Considered one of the world's wealthiest and most exclusive neighbourhoods, it contains approximately 450 homes. ^[1]

History

The former cay that lent its name to the community is named after Captain William Lyford Jr., a mariner of note in Colonial and Revolutionary times, and is built on a 448-acre (181 ha) grant he received for his services as a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War. Captain Lyford also received a 92-acre (37 ha) grant on Cat Island for playing a key role in Andrew Deveaux’s raid of April 1783 that drove the Spanish from Nassau.

The Lyford Cay Club was built during the latter part of the 1950s ^[2] by prominent Canadian businessman Edward Plunkett Taylor, who bought the land in 1954 from Bahamian developer Sir Harold Christie. ^{[3] [4] [5]} In December 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stayed at E. P. Taylor's home in Lyford Cay while he held talks with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. ^{[6] [7]}

Cay

Edward Stanford 1901 atlas page: Bahamas, with New Providence Island inset

Lyford Cay, also called Simms Cay, was a cay a few hundred metres off the north west coast of New Providence Island, 1.4 km long east-west, and up to 200 metres wide. On the map in the 1901 Edward Stanford Atlas it is noted: "The Isthmus at Lyford Cay has grown since 1830, when boats could pass at H.W. It is now 10 ft high & covered with bushes."

Notable residents

• The Bacardi family ^[8]
• Louis Bacon, U.S. hedge fund manager ^[9]
• The German-Dutch Brenninkmeijer family ^[8]
• R. Couri Hay, a Couristan carpet heir and the society editor of Palm Beach magazine and Hamptons magazine ^[8]
• Viktor Kožený, Czech fugitive financier ^[10]
• Joe Lewis, British businessman ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Former residents

• Sean Connery, Scottish actor, ^{[14] [15] [16]} Connery died at Lyford Cay in 2020
• Henry Ford II, son of Edsel Ford, grandson of Henry Ford, former president of the Ford Motor Company ^[8]
• Prince Azamat Guirey, of the ruling family of Crimea ^[17]
• Stavros Niarchos, Greek shipping magnate ^[8]
• Peter Nygård, Finnish-Canadian former fashion executive ^[8]
• Helen Singer Kaplan, Austrian-American-Bahamian sex therapist ^[18]
• Tony O'Reilly, Irish former media CEO ^[19]
• Sir John Templeton, American-born British investor and philanthropist ^[20]
• Arthur Hailey, British-Canadian novelist, ^[21] author of The Lyford legacy: a history of Lyford Cay from 1788 ^{[22] [23]}

References

1. Lyford Cay in the Bahamas Offers a Clubby—And Unflashy—Vibe
2. "Carib Song - TIME". Time. February 1, 1963. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
3. "Treasure Islands - TIME". Time. April 20, 1959. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
4. "Crowds in the Sun - TIME". Time. January 19, 1962. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
5. "The Man with Many Eyes - TIME". Time. February 8, 1963. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
6. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t3YyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=894,941320&dq=lyford-cay+taylor&hl=en ^{[ dead link ]}
7. Reading Eagle - Google News Archive Search
8. Monique P. Yazigi (May 25, 2000). "Storming the Last Civilized Sandbox". The New York Times.
9. Konigsberg, Eric (August 15, 2019). "The Billionaire Battle in the Bahamas". Vanity Fair.
10. "Lyford Cay resident Kozeny indicted for fraud". The Nassau Guardian. Archived from the original on 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
11. "Souvenir King becomes Britain's Newest Millionaire". Independent. 13 April 1996.
12. Mitchell, Kevin (26 August 2007). "Jol bruised by boardroom blunders". Guardian. London.
13. "Money". Telegraph. London.^{[ dead link ]}
14. Ferguson, Euan (October 3, 2004). "Scotch myth". The Guardian. London.
15. Shapiro, T. Rees (31 October 2020). "Sean Connery, first James Bond of film, dies at 90". The Washington Post . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
16. "News - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London.^{[ dead link ]}
17. "Paid Notice: Deaths GUIREY, H. H. PRINCE AZAMAT". The New York Times. Aug 14, 2001. Retrieved Aug 8, 2020.
18. "Estate Feuds With Toy Mogul Over Deathbed Divorce Notice". The Wall Street Journal. Sep 20, 1996. Retrieved Jan 3, 2025.
19. "Media Top 100 2004". Guardian. London. 12 July 2004.
20. McFadden, Robert D. (July 9, 2008). "John Templeton, Investor, Dies at 95 - Obituary (Obit)". The New York Times.]
21. "Author Arthur Hailey dies". LJWorld.com. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
22. "The Lyford legacy : a history of Lyford Cay from 1788 | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-02-02.
23. "A Short History - Lyford Cay Property Owners Association". www.lyfordcaypoa.com. Retrieved 2023-02-02.

External links

• Media related to Lyford Cay at Wikimedia Commons