Times of the Islands Spring 2021

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The new Bottle Creek Lodge, under the ownership of Jim Brown and Melanie Lee-Brown, overlooks Bottle Creek in the Readymoney area of North Caicos. The site offers two open-concept cabanas—named Seaside and Treehouse—each of 225 square feet, with furnished kitchenette, dining space, bathroom and private screened porch. While there is no air conditioning—ceiling fans, floor fans and the breeze off the creek provide plenty of comfort. Another accommodation, the two-room, 450-square-foot Elizabeth’s Cabana, is currently undergoing renovation. The Bottle Creek Lodge buildings descend from the main road to the edge of the creek along paths lined with trees and plants that explain North Caicos’ reputation as the Garden Island. Planted and enhanced by previous owners, they include aloes, sea grape, papaya, banana, sour orange, limes, coconut and sugar apple: a cornucopia of vegetation. At the base of the property, a dock provides access to Bottle Creek. Kayaks, snorkeling gear and bicycles are available for guests. Seaside was home to the Browns while they renovated and improved the Bottle Creek Lodge property. Discovery and deliberation As Jim Brown tells the story, “In October 2006 we were looking for a plot of land to buy here on North Caicos, a place to eventually build our retirement home.” They enjoyed a stay at Bottle Creek Lodge, then owned by Sandy and Jay Johnson. “Two years later was the one-two punch of hurricanes Hanna and Ike. Bottle Creek Lodge At the base of the Bottle Creek Lodge property, a dock provides access to Bottle Creek. Kayaks are available for guests. 70 www.timespub.tc
sustained significant damage from the storms and never reopened. Jay occasionally came back and worked on liquidating some assets […] but otherwise the place was abandoned and hurricane damage was left unrepaired. Over the years we would drive past when we were on visits to North Caicos, and reminisce about our great stay there.” On one of those trips, in 2015, Jim and Melanie saw a “For Sale” sign on the gate. Jim continues, “Melanie and I are biology professors in North Carolina, and we were both feeling increasingly burned-out and ready for a change. We agreed that we were at a ‘fork in the road’ in our careers; we could either change now or run out our careers until full retirement. So when we saw the ‘For Sale’ sign, Treehouse is one of two open-concept cabanas for guests to stay at Bottle Creek Lodge. we looked at each other and thought the same thing.” After much thought and discussion, the Browns completed a purchase in the summer of 2016 and began in good enough shape for us to live in while we worked Creek Lodge, one of the cabanas (we call it Seaside) was renovations. There was much to be done, and much history to both honor and build on. call it Treehouse) was in much greater need of repair, on it and the other buildings. The other small cabana (we both inside and out. The roof of the larger two-room Hilton-Gibbs-Johnson cabana (we call it Elizabeth’s Cabana) had a flat roof The main stone-and-frame structure on the property which also served as the deck for the main house. It was was built as a private home by Englishman Fred Hilton. in very poor condition. The roof had been leaking for When Howard Gibbs bought it in 1997, some time after eight years, the siding was rotten, and there was standing water inside. The main house also had a leaky roof on Hilton’s death, he focused on turning the property into an eco-lodge. He expanded the main house (adding a the incorporated spaces of the front and back porches, restaurant), built the cottages and a workshop, and but was generally sound. The workshop was also in good worked extensively in the gardens. His vision was to keep shape, except that water blown in under the open eaves the lodge ecologically sustainable and small; Gibbs even had soaked all the remaining fixtures, tools and hardware, converting them to rust. Everything that had been installed composting toilets in the cottages, hoping to draw tourists who wanted to live lightly while exploring at the waterline, including the boathouse and elaborate another land and culture. dock and boardwalk, had been destroyed by the hurricanes.” When the Johnsons purchased the place in the early 2000s, the focus shifted toward fishing. Sandy and Jay The Browns set to work in the summer of 2016, doing built a boathouse, dock and boardwalk and ran fishing what they could themselves, but hiring Kenny Higgs and charters out of the property while maintaining it as a Kenneth Hall for most of the renovations: replacing the guest lodge and restaurant. The hurricanes, however, put roof, wiring and plumbing; re-doing interior walls; repairing cisterns; and doing renovations to the kitchen and an end to their efforts. According to Brown, “After Hanna and Ike in 2008, the bathroom. Seaside and Treehouse renovations have been place was empty and continued to succumb to weather completed, and there is a new, smaller dock. Work is still and damage for eight years. When we bought Bottle under way on the larger cabana, workshop and gardens. Times of the Islands Spring 2021 71
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TIMES OF THE SAMPLING THE SOUL OF T
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Page 48 and 49: It is January 1, 2021. The day star
Page 50 and 51: MARTA MORTON—WWW.HARBOURCLUBVILLA
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Page 69: esort report The new Bottle Creek L
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Times of the Islands Spring 2021

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