GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
CLUB PEACE & PLENTY
JANUARY 1958 - JANUARY 2008
On January 14, 1958, Lawrence Lewis, heir
to the Henry Flagler railroad fortune opened the charming colonial
style 24-room Club Peace & Plenty on the un-discovered Bahamian
island of Great Exuma. The main building was originally a sponge
warehouse and the bar, a cookhouse dating back several hundred years
to the Loyalist cotton plantation days.
Following success in offering a safe, relaxed
Bahamian Out Island atmosphere, pristine waters on sheltered Elizabeth
Harbor, white powder beaches, and world-class fishing, another wing
of 12 rooms was added to the Club for a total of 32 rooms and suites.
When manager George Franks moved to Nassau in 1969, Lewis sold the
Club to Paul Swetland, Armand Angelone and Charlie Pflueger. In
the same year, while on vacation, Stan Benjamin, a Cleveland, Ohio
industrialist fell in love with Exuma and its people. A few years
later, he purchased the property and began a long successful association
stretching to this day.
The hotel experienced numerous remodeling
efforts over the years, including the addition of three Bay View
Suites on the end of the west wing and the conversion of six rooms
into three deluxe harbor view suites. The owner decreed that in
any remodeling, the original character of the buildings must be
maintained to preserve the old colonial style as first envisioned
by Lewis. Today's visit provides proof that although the Entire
hotel has been upgraded; it visually appears as it did when first
constructed by Tippy Lightburn and Cavalier Construction in the
mid-1950s. Probably, the most significant change is from the original
concept of a first-class fishing club to the present day family
vacation Mecca.
Over the years, Benjamin, the Peace &
Plenty and its management have been singled out for Bahamian Tourism
awards including Stan's lifetime tourism award presented by the
government's deputy director-general for tourism a few years ago.
The hotel also received in 1998 the Silver Jubilee Award from the
Commonwealth of the Bahamas, for Out Island hotels. Pflueger, the
long-time general manager, served as president of the Bahamas Out
Island Promotion Board in 1889-90 and won the prestigious Bahamas
Hotel Association Hotelier of the Year in 1991. The hotel also boasts
over 40 years of actively promoting the Bahamas Tourism industry
around the world.
Through the years, Club Peace & Plenty
and the Exuma area have been fortunate enough to have hosted interesting
celebrity visitors, some of whom include Jimmy Buffet tying up his
sea plane to the Peace & Plenty Beach Inn dock while working
on his musical Don't Stop the Carnival; Prince Phillip of England
(who yachted down from Nassau), actors Robert Mitchum, Sam Elliott,
Gene Hackman, Johnny Depp (who accepted on national TV the Golden
Globe Award in the bar at the Club while in Exuma filming Pirates
of the Caribbean II, Hume Cronyn and wife Jessica Tandy (who used
to own nearby Children's Bay Cay); Ester Rolle (star of 'Good Times'
television show and originally from Rolletown); Today's Show's Al
Roker (whose grand parents hailed from Exuma); Jackie Kennedy Onassis
(who dropped by the hotel restaurant for lunch from a yacht in the
harbour); baseball greats Mickey Mantle (who stayed at the Peace
& Plenty Bonefish Lodge early in the year before his unfortunate
death), Dusty Baker and Davey Johnson; golfers Jack Nicklaus, Ray
Floyd, and Greg Norman (who designed the Emerald Bay/Four Seasons
course next door) and Tom Weiskof; footballer Joe Namath and coach
Don Shula - to name a few of the international celebrities that
found their way to the island paradise.
This jewel on the crown of the Out Island's
hotels celebrates its golden anniversary with a week of festivities
capping the night of January 12, 2008 with a lavish cocktail party
graced by tourism officials, VIP guests and the global media. The
invitation includes a poolside junkanoo with traditional costumes
and music, dance, commemorative shirts, plus exciting prizes and
surprises. A similar event is planned for January 14, the actual
opening date in 1958, gathering previous managers, local dignitaries
and guests. Parties and activities the rest of the week conclude
the opening celebrations. Other programs have been slated around
the 14th of each month including special discounts for the remainder
of 2008. Guest stays inclusive of the 14th day of any month after
January also receive the fourth night free throughout the year,
when booking the special four-night anniversary package. Reservations
can be made by calling (800) 525-2210 or online at www.peaceandplenty.com.Celebrate
with us our golden anniversary. Email us quoting code:goldenanniversary
and get invited to the exclusive club party on the Out Island of
The Bahamas.
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