What’s a pirate to do when he retires from wreaking havoc on the high seas of the Caribbean?
In the case of captain John Howard Graysmith, circa 1740, he builds a mansion in Nassau that will run the gamut through the centuries from private home to prison, gin joint to five-star boutique hotel.
Apparently, Graysmith was also a church-going pirate who hobnobbed with aristocracy.
That’s how the Third Earl of Staffordshire came to own the residence and how it was furnished with the fine English antiques of Lady Grace’s that are still in some rooms.
Now, as for the rooms: each is one-of-a-kind, but they tend to sport a common theme of colonial uberchintz with a tropical flair. None is numbered, but they are identified with historical names like Woodes Rogers and Baillou.
My wife and I stayed in Pool Cottage, a stand-alone stone outbuilding, naturally, by the hotel’s 25-metre pool in the palm-treed courtyard.
We find out later that Pool Cottage was Sir Winston Churchill’s favourite room, and he stayed at Graycliff numerous times.
The pool was the first one in the Bahamas and has a hand-painted porcelain tile bottom that reminded us of a Ming vase.
The interior of Pool Cottage has pink walls and ceiling with white palm tree mouldings running up the corners; a rattan king-sized bed covered in chintz and five rows of pillows; antique chaise longue, bedside tables and desk; and a bathroom covered in pink marble, antique mirrors and blue bathtub, sink and toilet.
There’s a fine-dining restaurant that earned the first five stars in the Caribbean and attracts an international who’s-who crowd who are and aren’t staying at the hotel.
The 275,000-bottle wine cellar – housed in the maze of a basement that was used as navy quarters during the U.S. War of Independence – offers some 4,000 labels and is the third-largest private wine collection in the world.
Graycliff owner Enrico Garzaroli, who ended up in Nassau via Italy and New York, seems always to be around chatting to guests and diners and sipping wine.
There’s Graycliff Cigar Company and Graycliff Chocolates, which make products for the on-site shops and export and also offer cigar-rolling and chocolate-making classes for those so inclined.
All in all, it’s the kind of place that has something for everyone, is one of the icons that tour buses stop outside for tourists to snap pictures and attracts cruise-ship passengers for cigar and chocolate making and indulgent wine-pairing lunches.
By Steve MacNaull
Postmedia News
