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Presents BUILDERS OF TORTOLA |
Christine Cass Clayton
A California native Christine lived in many places around the world before coming to Tortola in 1979. At a boat show in Arizona she saw a brochure for Florida-based Windjammer Barefoot Cruises (founded in 1947, bankrupt in 2007). She liked the pictures of Tortola (lots of hills), took a ‘redeye’ flight from California to Puerto Rico to join the cruise. She enjoyed the cruise (on the Flying Cloud), and the islands, so much that she decided to stay in the BVI.Initially Christine Cass rented a small house on Soldier Hill; then she met Clifford Martin and bought some land from him on Luck Hill ‘on a handshake’. She returned to California to get her money to pay for the land and eventually build Hawksview. She was also married for a short time to a ‘friend of a friend’ in California but divorced in 1981.
Hawksview was built in 1985-86 by a local contractor. It was a ‘special order’ house made of South American hardwoods and was the second dwelling on Luck Hill. (Marge McMillan’s house just below Christine’s, was the first.) At that time Luck Hill Road was little more than a cart track and that made bringing in construction materials and doing construction a real challenge. In addition, it was hard for a woman on her own to get things done in those days, ‘in a man’s world’, and there were certainly construction difficulties. But the house (actually two separate units) was finally completed. A garage and guest-house was added later.
Things have changed a lot in the past few decades, and Luck Hill reflects many of these changes. The horse and cart track is now (in places) a real, if narrow road. There is a lengthy if discontinuous line of houses along Luck Hill Road. It is now a lot easier to build a house in this area than in the past. But as the road is a dead end Luck Hill remains relatively quiet and remote from much of the new development that has transformed much of Tortola.
Like many others Christine remarks upon the amount of change in the cultural landscape over the years. There are many more and better roads. There are National Parks. Plus many more and larger buildings. It is much easier too build a house now! Finance and Tourism have boomed, and good (and bad) technology is much more common. Farming is rarely done with donkeys today, and few people ride horses. The subsistence economy has been transformed into a cash economy.
In addition Christine notes the many cultural changes. Dress patterns and social interactions have changed – and not she feels, always for the better. Bush medicine, if not a thing of the past, is harder to find. Perhaps because there are more people and noticeably more ‘expats’ attitudes and working conditions have become more of a challenge. The BVI, and especially Tortola, are more multicultural, and despite more modern technology (‘the computer age’) it is easier for people and groups to separate and even isolate themselves from others. There is a lot of stress over land and jobs. At the same time many of these immigrants have made a (positive) difference. And at the same time Christine sees the great culture of the past days come out at the time of hurricanes and other catastrophes. The BVI have seen wholesale change and this has demanded a new learning curve for many people. And this has been a struggle.
From her early days on the island Christine became involved in the life of Tortola. He has worked consistently and hard for the Animal Shelter in particular, but has contributed to other charities in many ways as well. If she were ‘to do it over again’ she would not change much. She might build her house -her sanctuary - a bit differently, but overall things would be quite similar. The greatest change for Christine came when she met Kim Clayton some twenty years back, and married him on June 1st 2005 on a trip to see his family in the UK. In her immediate future she sees more of the same – and that is a good thing.
Draft of August 15th, 2009 of interview of 24th July.
Builders of Tortola Guide