Times of the Islands Fall 2023

Above: The museum is the focal point of the promenade. More artifacts are planned for the interior of the building.
Bottom left: The promenade is named for Carlton Williams, who with his father helped to revive the sisal industry after World War II.
It’s sisal. The fiber of a tough, pointy plant known as
Agave rigida var. sisalana twines through these disparate
experiences, tying them together in the Carlton Williams
Promenade in Bottle Creek, North Caicos.
The creekside complex, which was dedicated on June
13, 2023, is a collection of buildings and roads representing
a coalition of several government offices and private
enterprise, intended as a tourist destination that also celebrates
Turks & Caicos history. The complex includes a
café, gift shop, and room for other tourist enterprises
such as watersports and tour operations. A sisal museum,
however, is the focal point, the raison d’etre of this promenade.
Why sisal?
Until now, the sisal industry on North Caicos has received
little attention. H.E. Sadler’s history of the Islands, Turks
Islands Landfall, details the farming and production of
sisal in the Islands by the East Caicos Sisal Co. Ltd. and
West Caicos Fibre Co. Limited, which began operation in
the late 1800s. That history, while focused elsewhere,
includes plantations where sisal was grown on North and
Middle Caicos, plus some small extraction operations on
both islands. Altogether, the companies’ production gave
the world a good supply of important sisal products such
as nautical rope, plus twine for baskets and other domestic
uses.
The TCI’s large-scale production of sisal declined as
world economies found better value in manila hemp from
the Philippines, but on North Caicos there was a small
revival after World War II, when the government planted
600 acres of sisal in the Caicos settlements for a steady
market with a Jamaica cordage factory. But the industry
faded again, as politics shifted and other products
replaced the natural fiber. This is the history told by the
new sisal museum and the Carlton Williams Promenade.
36 www.timespub.tc