Turks & Caicos National Museum
The treasures inside the island's national museum belie its modest façade, a charming but somewhat creaky-looking 150-year-old timber house built by Bermudian wreckers 150 years ago. You can easily spend a couple of hours poking about the two-story structure, packed with wonders like a Lucayan duho (chieftain's ceremonial chair) and a Lucayan paddle—the latter discovered in 1996 in a mangrove swamp in Grand Turk's North Creek. Both are estimated to be approximately 1,000 years old. A geological model of the Turks & Caicos islands shows two spits of land rising almost 10,000 feet above deep-sea trenches. The museum's first floor is devoted to artifacts from the wreck of a Spanish caravel that sank on the Caicos Bank (near Providenciales) sometime before 1513. Recovered from the site, known as the Molasses Reef Wreck, were 16th-century surgical instruments, tools, cannons, and bowls, all on display in the museum.
The museum gift shop is a fine place to pick up locally made crafts and jewelry, as well as a handsome new set of guides to birding in the TCI. The museum now has a Providenciales location, in a re-created 1880s Caicos home in the Village of Grace Bay (📞 646/941-9358; open Mon–Fri 9¬am–1pm; tours $10 per person). Note that the museum publishes a lively bi-monthly, "Times of the Islands."
The treasures inside the island's national museum belie its modest façade, a charming but somewhat creaky-looking 150-year-old timber house built by Bermudian wreckers 150 years ago. You can easily spend a couple of hours poking about the two-story structure, packed with wonders like a Lucayan duho (chieftain's ceremonial chair) and a Lucayan paddle—the latter discovered in 1996 in a mangrove swamp in Grand Turk's North Creek. Both are estimated to be approximately 1,000 years old. A geological model of the Turks & Caicos islands shows two spits of land rising almost 10,000 feet above deep-sea trenches. The museum's first floor is devoted to artifacts from the wreck of a Spanish caravel that sank on the Caicos Bank (near Providenciales) sometime before 1513. Recovered from the site, known as the Molasses Reef Wreck, were 16th-century surgical instruments, tools, cannons, and bowls, all on display in the museum.
The museum gift shop is a fine place to pick up locally made crafts and jewelry, as well as a handsome new set of guides to birding in the TCI. The museum now has a Providenciales location, in a re-created 1880s Caicos home in the Village of Grace Bay (📞 646/941-9358; open Mon–Fri 9¬am–1pm; tours $10 per person). Note that the museum publishes a lively bi-monthly, "Times of the Islands."
Details
Bookstore
Available as paperback
and as e-book.
