By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Volunteer and Gift Shop Manager
Mr. Robert Weiglein was kind enough to send us this letter and photos after visiting the Caicos Heritage House building site in Provo. The photos of the Heritage House compared to the 1837 Stone House in France are striking. It is and has been a Small World after all! Thank you, Mr. Weiglein for the encouragement and for sharing.
——
December 30, 2012
Ms. Saxton,
While here for a family holiday, I have read with interest the Times of The Islands‘ articles related to the proposed National Museum and especially, the Caicos Heritage House. While bike riding earlier this week near Grace Bay, I came across the house under construction.
Last December, we discovered one of these small houses on Middle Caicos and met Norma, the daughter of the builder. The thick walls appeared to be a type of limestone block sourced locally. The metal roof, however, may not have been original. Norma shared the history of her life in this house before electricity arrived in the 1980’s and how the house withstood the ravages of Caribbean storms, while more modern structures had not. Ironically Norma had abandoned the old house and lived in a more modern one, with her daughter Cassandra. The newer home had been damaged in a recent storm and was still missing part of its’ roof.
This type of early island house is strangely reminiscent of a stone house, built in 1837, in Foret, Chasnay, France, for which I prepared scale drawings and documents earlier this year. The Foret house was also fabricated out of locally sourced stone, originally covered in a type of plaster mix not concrete as it is presently, the walls are nearly 24″ thick and the floor plan of the original structure was quite small. Unlike the island house, the French one has a highly pitched roof clad with traditional clay tile. Both houses have shutters. The French house, interestingly stands in a region that prizes historical preservation. Local historic architects provide owners with information and sources (at no charge), so that renovation plans are in keeping with the historic qualities that many French people want to preserve. Although the Foret house has been renovated, upgraded and added onto over the years, it still retains much of it’s original character.
Yesterday I stopped by the Heritage House again and met with Nini who was working on the interior. This is a fascinating process to me, so l watched what he was doing with great interest. Making this house a part of the overall plan is a wonderful way to draw attention to the new National Museum. We have always been curious about history of the Turks and Caicos. The new museum will enhance everyone’s experience. We look forward to observing this project as it continues to move forward.
Best regards,
Robert Weiglein
D E S I G N E R
1157 East 56th St.
Chicago, Il 60637
linkedIn Weiglein Design
——
We hope many visitors will enjoy the Caicos Heritage House.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Volunteer and Gift Shop Manager
Recently I was reading the Salt Cay Blog and found the article on our Sister Island’s restoration of Historic Buildings informative and encouraging. It is so important that we all work to preserve the culture and history of TCI. Each of our islands has a different thread to weave into the tapestry that represents the Turks & Caicos Islands. I encourage you to visit the blog at www.saltcayblog.com. There is also a wonderful interview with Ona Glinton now deceased, who was one of Grand Turk’s important educators. The North Primary School was named in her honor. She was also the mother of our museum’s tour guide, Frederick Glinton. He is carrying on the family tradition in education by educating our guests about the wonders of our museum and islands.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
The staff of the Museum want to thank our board members, museum members, museum supporters and wonderful volunteers for a successful 2012. We would not be here without your encouragement and support.
You would be proud to hear all the positive comments we receive from our visitors. They all think the museum is the “must see” attraction on Grand Turk. And they are right! We will continue to work hard in 2013 to improve the museum and continue our mission of preserving the history and culture of the Turks & Caicos Island.
All the very best,
Pat Saxton
Jackie Garbarino
Candianne Williams
Nikki Jennings
Kalivka Devina Mohamed
Fred Glinton
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
The transformation of the second floor is a thing of beauty. The exhibits are standing taller more eager than ever for you to read their stories. The museum is quieter.
The heavy sound of walking has been replaced with the whisper of floating humans above our heads.
The work speaks for itself and was done with minimal disruption of the museum’s schedule.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
In November 2012 the sponsors for Queen Elizabeth II’s original portrait restoration requested the portrait be returned to Provo for naming.
When the four portraits were initially restored, three had original name plates and these were incorporated in the restoration.
Elizabeth never had a name plate and so she slipped through the proverbial cracks.
As luck would have it Mitchell Loeb, half of the 2 sponsors, is also the museum’s volunteer pilot. So the queen had first class transport again to Provo and return.
Ian Worth, the artist of Greensleeves, added the name in style and provided the service as a donation to our museum.
So thanks to Catherine Foley & Mitchell Loeb the flying sponsors and Ian Worth the craftsman, Queen Elizabeth II is back, named and greeting our guests as they climb the stairs.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
The museum movie night drew a capacity crowd on December 4th to witness the inauguration of the new popcorn machine. It is a professional machine and our multi-talented volunteer, Catherine Foley, impressed the corn aficionados as she popped like a pro. Sales were brisk for the fresh butter popcorn. The salty treat also helped the bar sales keeping our loyal and equally professional bartender, Mitchell Loeb, very busy.
Our chairman, Donald Keith, attended his first movie night and luckily had his camera to record the event and his appetite to enjoy the popcorn, homemade pretzels and muffins. Catherine and her niece Dorothy provided the extra treats. Don’t miss the next movie night in January 2013. Date and movie to be announced
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
On November 23rd, Nikki Jennings, museum tour guide and jewelry artisan, turned gems of the sea into exquisite earrings, pendants and rings for an appreciative audience of local residents and cruise ship guests.
Commerce was swift and I am betting many lucky folks from around the world will find a Nikki creation under their Christmas Tree. The venture was so successful, the museum is considering encouraging other local artists to do the same.
Thank you Nikki for sharing.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
The first week of October was a busy one at the museum. On October 1st the director and assistant director of the Cultural Arts Center of Saint Louis in Missouri came to Grand Turk for the day.
Linsey Daman contacted us before their planned vacation in the Turks & Caicos about purchasing a memorial bench to support the museum. Of course that would require a visit to the museum and the bench. They also brought small plush toys that they gave out to some happy 2 year olds at two of our nursery schools. If you go to grandturkevents.com you will see some photos of that event.
On October 4th, Robert M. Hutchings visited the museum while in port from the Carnival Liberty Cruise Ship. The Hutchings name should be familiar to you if you read the Astrolabe article in the Spring Issue of the Times of the Islands. Robert is the cousin of Hugh Hutchings who donated their grandfather’s clock to the museum. The family also donated the TCI flag depicting the island salt “igloos”.
Grandfather H.H. Hutchings held many different posts in the Caribbean. He started in Grand Turk by virtue of his birth here and retired in the 1930’s after serving as Commissioner of Grand Turk. His grandson Robert continued the family tradition of a “rolling stone” starting life in Columbia and now residing in Switzerland. We all enjoyed Robert’s visit with his wife and a friend from Columbia. We sent him off with a several copies of the Times of the Islands. We also showed him a picture of the White House on Salt Cay as another cousin, Georgia Dunn, helps maintain that family property.
The gift shop staff is ordering up for the holidays. We will have new mugs, wine glasses, tote bags, note cards featuring the flower watercolors of Hugh Hutchings’ mother and some new postcards. Hugh’s mother created beautiful and incredibly detailed watercolors of plants found here on Grand Turk. The museum can never thank the Hutchings family enough for their generous and varied donations to our collections.
Congratulations to Editor Kathy Borsuk, her staff and Times Publications on the 100th issue Fall 2012. If my math serves me the quarterly are 25 years old. We are reminded every 3 months how important this magazine is to maintaining our sense of community and our knowledge of the history and culture of our small island nation. Thank you!
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
We promised to keep you updated on the Botanical and Culture Garden renovations so here is the next installment.
Rock base for gravel paths looking west toward cistern.
Wonderful worker hauling gravel the old fashioned way.
Gravel partially laid on the rock bed.
New gravel pathway and wall of flowers and cacti.
Conrad Barron the garden architect and steward. His work brings beauty to the garden.
Our smiling visitors enjoying the museum’s botanical and cultural garden.
Come by and see for yourself the many changes in our garden.
- Published in A Day at the National Museum
By Jackie Garbarino
Museum Gift Shop and Volunteer Manager
New shop arrangement.
Now the cashier has a proper spot to conduct business, the Kid’s Corner is getting more attention on the north for some reason and the map and book room is also more popular.
Moving the baskets and making the postcards easier to browse is a huge improvement.
Come in and admire, browse and shop!
- Published in A Day at the National Museum