Moonhole

Moonhole is a community owned by Moonhole Company Limited www.moonholecompany.com on the island of Bequia (Bek-way)) in the Grenadines, started by Thomas and Gladys Johnston. In the late 1960's, Johnston had a lucrative advertising business on Madison Avenue, in New York City. He sold the business and bought the narrow western tip of the island. Moonhole got its name from a huge hole formed in the lava through which the setting moon shines one of night of the year. Tom and "Gladdie" moved to the island with a book on construction with prestressed concrete and began building a house beneath a large natural rock arch with the aid of local masons from the nearby village of Paget Farm. Using whalebones, native hardwoods, and objects recovered from the sea, they built large open rooms with magnificent views of the sea. With no wells or electricity, they collected rainwater from the roofs and stored it in cisterns for bathing and washing. The master bath had a large tree that grew right up through a large hole in the roof. When it rained, rain dripped through the ceiling and into the roots in the bedroom. Windows were often very large and only those that faced the prevailing winds (west) had plexiglass panels that could be lowered into place. The various apartments surrounded a central social dining room, veranda and large bar made from a whale's jaw bone. People from Paget Farm walked in daily to bring in fresh fruit and freshly baked bread and to do any necessary cooking. Although there is a wet and a dry season, the weather is very temperate and lovely. The beaches are magnificent and white.

Tom and Gladdie formed Moonhole Company Limited and contributed the 40-acre property to the company in the late 1960's. Tom eventually built a commissary and office, a dozen other houses, a "Gallery" where "Moonholers" and friends congregated every Sunday, artist studios, and other creative structures in his inimitable style. Tom often drew his architectural "plans" with a stick in the sand, trusting his loyal crew of masons and carpenters to bring his inspirations to fruition. Most houses are adorned with Tom's large whalebone sculptures.

Tom bequeathed his controlling interest in Moonhole Company Limited to a trust for the protection and preservation of Moonhole for posterity. The Thomas and Gladys Johnston Moonhole Conservation Trust Limited is dedicated to preserving the unique architecture, lifestyle, and vision of the Johnstons and to protecting the birds, wildlife and marine life on the peninsula at the western end of Bequia.

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Rainbow squall at Moonhole

In 2004 The New York Times described Moonhole as "an amazing residential community where some houses, with professional cooks and other staff, can be rented by the week. It is a quirky 19-home ecologically oriented development built of native stone, with whalebone accents, on the steep hills of the island's southern tip. The name comes from a soaring natural arch on the shore through which the moon can be seen at times. The whalebones, remnants of the minimal whaling by the islanders, are big enough to work as elements like stair railings.The houses, which rely on solar electricity, rainwater and propane tanks, are mostly fanciful open-air affairs with lines blurred between indoors and out. Floors slope so that rainwater can flow to cisterns and the gardens -- it can flow in because windows tend to have neither glass nor shutters. Most of the seating is built-in stone benches topped with cushions Steep stairways link the houses, which appear to have sprouted from the rocky landscape. The community, which evokes Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater as well as Gaudí's Park Guell in Barcelona, fronts a white sand beach with dreamy turquoise water on one side and overlooks a cliff-edged bay popular with divers on the other." Steve Bailey, "Where Being Green Can Be Easy." NYT 10/31/04.

The Moonhole compound is private. There are no public tours. The original Moonhole structure may now be viewed only from the sea. Moonhole Company Limited does, however, offer several other homes for rental by the week or month. The Moonhole Company's official website is http://www.moonholecompany.com.

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