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Rum Cay, first known as Mamana by the Lucayan Indians, is a small, sparsely populated island, located 20 miles southwest of San Salvador, and 185 miles southeast of Nassau (Lat. N23 42’ 30” – Long. W74 50’ 00”). It is approximately 30 Sq. miles in size, 9.5 miles long by 5 miles wide, and mainly flat, but has a few rolling hills rising to about 130 feet. Rum Cay offers miles of
beautiful white sandy, deserted beaches, rolling green hills and
azure waters. Christopher Columbus made his second stop in the New
World at Rum Cay, giving it the name Santa Maria de la Concepcion.
The modern name, Rum Cay, is said to be in memory of a wreck destroyed
with a cargo of rum which foundered off the coral reefs which surround
the Island's shore. Settled by Loyalist planters
during the 18th century, Rum Cay was once famous for salt and pineapples.
Plantation boundaries known as ‘margins’, which date from
the beginning of the 19th century, and the ruins of slave settlements,
can be seen all over the island. The mid to late 1800’s brought
prosperity to Rum Cay. The population grew to over 5,000 citizens,
founding a number of settlements throughout the island. The island
people primarily worked the salt claims, shipping cargos of salt
to far away, places like England and Nova Scotia. Pineapple, salt
and sisal have all been important industries, but competition and
natural disasters, such as the 1926 hurricane, have all taken their
toll and today tourism and second home ownership is the main source
of employment.
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