Seaworthy.com

 The chart and following text are from The Northern Bahamas Guide by Stephen J. Pavlidis

The island of New Providence lies on a corner of the Great Bahama Bank and is bounded to the west by the deep water of the Tongue of the Ocean and along its northern and northeastern shores by the Northwest and Northeast Providence Channels.  The southern shore is relatively shallow and one must pass a fair distance offshore to pass south of New Providence if bound for the Exumas.  The 147 square miles of New Providence is home to over half the population of The Bahamas owing that distinction to the fact that its major city, Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas, lies along its northeastern shore.  New Providence was once known as Nequa in Lucayan times.

Nassau has a very long and active history in the New World.  The city was originally a haven for Pirates such as Henry Morgan, Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard), Charles Vane, and Calico Jack Rackham.  Originally called Charles Town, Nassau was burned and looted by the Spanish and captured by the Americans in its day.  Nassau has also served as home to blockade runners during the American Civil War years, rum runners during the American Prohibition years, and was quite often a stopover for drug runners from the more recent drug running years.  Nassau is now touted world wide as a prime vacation destination with its beautiful beaches, near perfect weather, casinos, and nightlife.

Nassau Harbour lies between the northeastern shore of the mainland of New Providence and the extremely touristy Paradise Island, once known as Hog Island, the place where Bahamians would picnic on the northern beach on weekends half a century ago.  At one time Edward Lynch, later of Merril-Lynch, owned a winter home called Shangri-La on the western end of the island.  In the late 1930s, the home was purchased by Swedish industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren for $15,000 (today the home has become the Ocean Club on Cabbage Beach).  Wenner-Gren took to refurbishing the mansion and dredged a foul inland lake named Burnside’s Pond cutting two canals, one leading into Nassau harbour, the other leading north to the sea.  Wenner-Gren built two bridges over the canals and the entire lake was renamed Paradise Lake.  Later a boathouse was built near the lake and the cove that was to become Hurricane Hole Marina was constructed.  Wenner-Gren had close ties with Nazi Germany and in the years prior to and during World War II, it was suspected that his construction on Hog Island would somehow be used to further the German war effort, so much so that Wenner-Gren was declared a persona non grata in The Bahamas, which angered him to no end.  Wenner-Gren was famous for his parties at Shangri-La, and was close to David, the Duke of Windsor, who was the Governor of The Bahamas at this time. 

Over the years following World War II, Wenner-Gren spent more and more time living in Mexico although he still purchased lots on Hog Island and continued to visit the island hosting his lavish parties.  At one of his parties in 1959 he met the wealthy American playboy Huntington Hartford, whose grandfather had found the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company which evolved into the huge chain of A&P Grocery Stores.  On the back of a dinner menu, the two men drew up an agreement of the sale of Hog Island for $20 million.  Complaints from Hartford’s lawyers that the “menu agreement” as it was called, was not valid and the price far too high, brought about a more proper sale whereby Harford bought the island for $9.5 million in 1961.

Hartford knew the name had to be changed and applied to the government to change it, so on May 23, 1962, Hog Island officially became Paradise Island.  In a few short years the island was transformed from a quiet Bahamian cay into one of the world’s prime tourist destinations complete with major hotels, restaurants, an airport, a golf course, marinas, and the new huge Atlantis resort with its walk-through aquarium, and a second, new bridge spanning the harbour over Potter's Cay.  An 11th century cloister was transported to the island and rebuilt as the Versailles Gardens.  The cloister was originally from a 14th century French monastery and was brought to the United States by William Randolph Hearst.  Hartford acquired the cloister and brought it to Paradise Island in the 1960’s.  In 1966, Hartford sold 75% of his holdings to the Mary Carter Paint Company who constructed the 500-room Loew’s Paradise Island Hotel.  In 1968, the ownership evolved into what is today known as Resort’s International.  Celebrities who have at one time or another sought refuge on Paradise Island include Howard Hughes and the Shah of Iran.