The unique geography and history of The Bahamas contributed to a distinctive architectural feature — the Bahamian clapboard house — that is today one of the most broadly copied styles in the tropics. But this design wasn’t perfected and standardized until the early 19th century. The earliest clapboard-sided houses were usually angled to receive the trade winds. Large window openings and high ceilings increased airflow, and awning-style push-out shutters shaded the windows and helped direct breezes indoors, even during rainstorms. Unlike larger, more impressive houses where foundations were massive edifices of coral, brick, or stone, the first floors of Bahamian cottages were elevated on low stilts or light masonry pilings to allow more air circulation. Raising the building also kept the floor joists, beams, and planks above floodwaters during a hurricane surge.
Ruggedly built of timbers whose ends were often pegged (not nailed) together and pinned to stone pilings several feet above the ground, Bahamian-style clapboard houses survived when many rigid and unyielding stone-built structures collapsed during hurricanes. Modern engineers claim that the flexibility of these structures increases their stability in high winds.
Within The Bahamas, you can check out some of the best-preserved and most charming examples of the Bahamian cottage style in Harbour Island (off the coast of Eleuthera) and, to a lesser extent, in Spanish Wells and Green Turtle Cay.
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