Pedro St. James Tour

Today, we toured Pedro St. James Castle, the oldest building on Grand Cayman.  It was built in 1780 as a private home for William Eden, who moved to Cayman from Wiltshire, England.  He built his home with thick, stone walls and wooden patios surrounding it on a beautiful 7.5 acre lot, overlooking the ocean and perched up on a small rocky cliff.  It really is a beautiful setting!

Our little helper. 

View from the top deck.

Miaya on the extremely old stairs.

In addition to being a private home, it was actually the birthplace of the Cayman Democracy, established in 1831 in the dining room!  Cayman continued as an independent democracy until 1972, when it became a British colony.  The government meetings were held in the home until 1845.

It actually caught fire in 1908, burning down all the woodwork and surrounding patios.  In 1964, Tom Hubbell, a US Air Force pilot, bought the home and rebuilt the top to look like a castle.  He actually made up a whole story that the castle was built in 1631 and used as a pirate hideout for Buccaneer Morgan to attract tourists!  I like this guy!  I think it's pretty funny that he was able to make up a story like that, took the effort to carve the date 1631 on one of the stones, and market it as a great pirate castle!  That's my kind of imagination!  Unfortunately, he died before all of his plans for it were completed, but others followed his lead and built the restaurant that he had planned.

In 1989, Pedro St. James burned again!  Well, at least all the wood structures burned.  Good thing the actual home was made out of stone!  It was rebuilt and restored to look like the original home built by William Eden.  All the wood used in the remodel was mahogany, and some of the mahogany furniture inside is 200 years old.

Since I always save the best for last, here's a crazy story.  It's called:

The Girl with the Bucket (oooohhh... That's a scary title...)

The Joseph and Samuel Eden families were living in the home at the time.  They were William Eden's grandchildren.  A terrible lightning storm struck the island, and Joseph's 17-year-old daughter, Mary Jean, and her brother ran outside to collect rainwater in some buckets.  They always did that because freshwater was hard to get on the island.  They were walking back up the stairs with their full buckets of water when... CRACK!!!!  A bolt of lightning struck the kids, knocking out the boy and killing Mary Jean!  The house also caught on fire, and the families quickly moved out...  They thought it was bad luck to live in a house where one of the kids had died.  CRAZY!!!

I give the tour a 4 out of 5 star rating, mainly because I really couldn't understand the tour guide.  He had a strong accent, and I wasn't always sure he was speaking English... BUT, everything else was fantastic!  We watched a movie re-enactment of a lot of the history and it was very well made.  As we toured the actual home, there were lots of signs telling about the history of the home and Cayman.  So, even though I hardly understood the tour guide, I was still able to learn a lot.

Question of the day:

Have you ever been struck by lightning or know anyone who has?

BONUS Question:

What is the craziest true story you have ever heard?