The Caribbean of today is not one that brings to mind over-the-top palaces and high-wattage guests. While it still has its luxury locales and high-end destinations, more exotic locations around the globe have caught up or surpassed it in terms of the place to be seen. As a reminder of its more glamorous 20th century status, when it was the destination of choice for royalty, Rizzoli has published a book about about the glory days, Escape: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour. It captures the eye-popping mansions, iconic celebrities, and pristine beauty from a distant era.
The image to the left is a view of a harbor in Bermuda from the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. "Compared to other islands, Bermuda offered a slower-paced escape with no nightclubs or gambling—a warm weather holi-day full of reassuring traditions like buggy rides, cricket games, and dressing for dinner," writes the books author, Hermes Mallea.
Laurance Rockefeller was one of those moguls who transformed vacationing in the Caribbean. His legacy in the region would include large preserves in the Virgin Islands, and was a pioneer in what would now be considered ecoresorts. Here he is seen with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on a tour of one of the Little Dix cottages in the British Virgin Islands during a royal visit in 1966.
Tourism, notes Mallea, has been going on in Barbados since the days of George Washington. However, in the mid-20th century, it reached new levels of elegance when the Broadway stage designer Oliver Messel designed a series of mansions and grounds on the island. His homes attracted the Harrimans, the Heinz, and Princess Margaret. Pictured here is the garden approach to Fustic House, completed by Messel in 1969.
Open up any page of a tabloid today and there will surely be photos of bronzed celebrities frollicking on the shores of Caribbean islands. Decades ago, it was no different, except perhaps that the star wattage was a bit higher. In this photo, Marilyn Monroe is captured dining with her husband the playwright Arthur Miller on their honeymoon in 1957.
The Caribbean still has untouched islands, pristine landscapes, and jaw-dropping vistas, but there's something alluring about photographs of the islands just as they were on the verge of development.
Escape: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour, is available through Rizzoli USA.
Courtesy Rizzoli
