& copy; Gail Saunders

Bain Town, like Grant's Town is a part of the Over-the-Hill Community in Nassau. It was settled by Liberated Africans and freed slaves. Grant's Town, settled in 1825, soon became crowded and more land was needed to absorb the rapidly growing population. Some say Bain Town grew out of the overflow from Grant's Town.

In the early days, however, Bain Town was a distinct village. Located west of Grant's Town, it was bordered on the west by Nassau Street, on the east by Blue Hill Road, on the north by South Street and on the south by what is now Poinciana Drive. The area originally a part of a 140 acre grant to one Susannah Weatherspoon, was sold to Charles H. Bain, a black Bahamian businessman in the late 1840s. Mr Bain divided the land into allotments and sold them at moderate prices to African people, both Liberated Africans and former slaves.

A small section of Bain Town was called "Conta Butta." It was probably located south of Meadow Street. Rosanne Adderley stated in her doctoral thesis "New Negroes from Africa": Culture and Community Among Liberated Africans in The Bahamas and Trinidad 1810-1900': "According to oral history informants ranging in age between fifty and ninety years, up until the middle the present century (twentieth) people referred to a small area south of Grant's Town by the unusual sounding name of "Conta Butta." According to the older individuals among these informants, this name in fact constituted a unique dialect pronunciation of the original name of the settlement as "Congo Borough" indicating its original occupation in the nineteenth century by people of Kongo ethnic background; presumably Liberated Africans." (Adderley p. 195).

Adderley continued that one of the informants "had heard that the name had formerly held negative connotations, because Yoruba people and other African ethnic groups looked down on their Kongo neighbours."

In fact the late Cleveland Eneas refers to Contabutta as "an area south of Bain Town - where the Congos lived." He stated that the Yorubas, who originated in south western Nigeria, and who also lived in Bain Town, were clannish and 'looked down' on the Congos. "He regarded him as someone to be shunned, and segregation and discrimination was rife." (Eneas, Bain Town, Nassau, 1988, 35-36).

The Anglican Church was greatly responsible for the education of the people of Bain and Grant's Towns in the mid-nineteenth century. The priest in charge of St Agnes Church in 1849 took responsibility for educating the Bain Town children in an old African schoolhouse situated at Market and Cockburn Streets. Religious services were also held there.

Reverend William John Woodcock, succeeded Rev. Edward J. Rodgers, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, as priest in charge of St Agnes in 1848. Rev. Woodcock's ministry (1848-1851) although short, was very important. He worked tirelessly and it was through his initiatives and generosity that the Bain Town Free Day School (Woodcock School) came into existence in 1849. He died in 1851 before realising most of his plans. However, he bequeathed his property to the free day schools he founded.

Dr Eneas in the highly acclaimed book, Bain Town, described its people and their close relationship with Fox Hill. He also gave an account of Emancipation Day and Fox Hill Day held a week later when Bain Town people moved to Fox Hill and when "much merriment prevailed in the whole area." Christmas time was celebrated with lots of eating and Junkanoo; "it lacked the refinement that it has today, but possessed all of the spirit and may be more." (p.49). Dr Eneas also wrote with alacrity of the 'victuals of Bain Town', and with affection of the women who lived there. He stated, "My memories of Bain Town have always been sweetened by the memory of the women of the area" who dominated the society. "Most of the women that sweeten up my memory, were women of sterling characters, great organizers, idealistic mothers, and gentle souls." (p. 66).

(See Cleveland Eneas, Bain Town, 1988; Settlement in New Providence, Archives Exhibition, 1982; Patrice M. Williams, Guide to African Villages, 1991, Gail Saunders, Bahamian Society After Emancipation, 3rd Edition, 2003).