Alton Lowe, whose oil paintings are featured in Those Who Stayed, won’t be able to join me in Nassau for this Saturday’s book signing at Logos Bookstore. This week, as a tribute to Alton, I’m featuring some of his gorgeous paintings and corresponding excerpts from the book. Hope to see you at Logos on Saturday!
“John Bartlum” (1814-1871) – oil painting by Alton Lowe
The waters around the Florida Keys were a popular site for many Abaco wreckers. In 1825, however, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Wrecking Act, which stipulated that salvage from any vessel wrecked in American waters must be brought to a U.S. port.
In the years that followed, a number of Abaconians relocated to Key West, then a mostly uninhabited island at the southern end of the chain of Florida Keys.
By 1860, two-thirds of the island’s 3,000 residents were of Bahamian descent, known locally as “Conchs.”
Many Green Turtle Cay natives would be among Key West’s founding families and community leaders, including John Bartlum and William Curry.
