Times of the Islands Winter 2016/17

astrolabe newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum
donations from Hon. Lillian Swann-Misick and Anthony L.
Hall, the Museum’s second director, Nigel Sadler, issued
three Museum publications during his tenure: A Guide to
the Turks and Caicos National Museum, Turks and Caicos
Islands in Old Photographs, and Slave History in the
Turks and Caicos Islands. Ships of Discovery produced
numerous reports and videos detailing its investigations
of sites on land and underwater throughout the Islands
including Sapodilla Hill and Cheshire Hall on Provo,
Maravedi Cove and Yankee Town on West Caicos, Cotton
Cay, Fort George Cay, the Molasses Reef Wreck, HMS
Endymion, and the slave ship Trouvadore. Grand Turk
resident Donna Seim used an island folktale as the basis
for her beautifully illustrated children’s book Where is
Simon, Sandy? All proceeds from its sales go to support
the Museum’s Children’s Club.
The journey continued with many stops along the
way. After noticing that inscriptions made in the soft
limestone atop Sapodilla Hill were disappearing as a
result of natural erosion and vandalism, we mapped, photographed
and moulded them in situ. We surveyed all the
windmills on Grand Turk and salvaged and conserved the
cast iron parts from one example after it toppled into its
salina. After Capt. Bob Gascoine donated a 900 year-old
Lucayan paddle he found in Grand Turk’s North Creek,
we conserved it in the Ships of Discovery laboratory and
returned it to become the main attraction in the new
Lucayan Gallery. We surveyed and mapped Cheshire Hall
on Provo. Museum Manager Brian Riggs recreated several
donkey carts on Grand Turk using the last surviving original
cart as a pattern. One of these can now be seen in
front of the Museum, complete with donkey! Our collections
continued to grow as generous donors, including US
servicemen stationed in the Islands in the 1950s, 1960s
and 1970s, sent us old documents and photographs.
2000: New itinerary
The Museum’s founder, primary benefactor and my good
friend, Grethe Seim, passed away unexpectedly in 2000,
leaving the Trustees to ponder the question of where
the Museum’s journey was taking us. Although Grethe
bequeathed a generous endowment to the Museum, it
would not last forever. Other sources of funding would
be needed in order to continue to operate as a non-profit,
non-governmental entity.
It was clear that Provo was fast becoming the hub
From top: Former Museum
Director Nigel Sadler produced
these publications
for the Museum.
Donna Seim (far right)
wrote the children’s book,
Where Is Simon Sandy?,
based on a local folktale.
The proceeds of the
book sales benefit the
Museum’s Children’s Club
(pictured here).
A Museum visitor gazes at
the 900-year-old Lucayan
paddle found in the North
Creek, Grand Turk.
DONALD KEITH MARTIN SEIM BRIAN RIGGS
Times of the Islands Winter 2016/17 71