Mangrove Bay Road, Somerset is one of the few places in Bermuda that has remained unchanged from years gone by. Old Bermuda homes with sweeping cedar staircases, wooden verandas, gapping Georgian windows and views overlooking the pristine waters of Mangrove Bay, line the historical road which was once a popular place for planters, seafarers and local fisherman. Today, the road is quiet and peaceful with homes and families who cherish the character and spirit of old Bermuda.
One such family, the Fowles, live in one of Bermuda’s ancestral homes that line Mangrove Bay, the Old Post Office, a family heirloom passed down through the Fowles since John Fowle purchased the property from the Gilbert’s in 1826. He subsequently got to work building a home with a spacious commercial basement and a high narrow gable. It’s unclear what he meant the purpose of the building to be, but in 1843 he rented it out as a Court House, a Post Office and a prison until 1909 when the Somerset Police Station and Post Office were finally completed nearby. After being rented out as a tea room in 1921, the building eventually became a home with permanent residents. The Fowles, Graham and Eleanor and their two daughters Lily and Nea, moved in in 1990 and have enjoyed their historic home ever since.
The former commercial basement of The Old Post Office was converted into a beautiful kitchen where the family gathers to cook, laugh and enjoy quality time together, often gathering around the custom built cedar table created by Graham’s father, Bobby Fowle. Carefully renovated to coexist with the home’s architectural heritage, the Fowle’s modern kitchen is old in charm yet young in spirit.
Continuing from the kitchen is a family room that plays host to a collection of paintings by Bermudian artists including numerous prints by famed Bermuda artists and relatives, Ethel and Catherine Tucker and modern day artist Jonah Jones, a family friend. The old Bermuda fireplace and Cedar beams in the ceiling are a gracious reminder of the home’s unique history.
An extension of the family room, the Fowles often enjoy spending time with each other in their outdoor living space, a porch and garden at the rear of the house. Visitors can’t help but notice a very large tub presently taking centre stage in the garden. The Fowles are hard at work nurturing thousands of Bermuda Cedar tree saplings that they hope to transplant to one of their fields, one day making a Bermuda Cedar forest! Ironically, the first families to settle in the Mangrove Bay area were not only governors, but planters as well, who chose the property for its planting potential and later grew tobacco on the land.
Although steeped in Somerset and Bermuda history, The Fowle family and indeed their most cherished family heirloom, The Old Post Office, exude a young and lively spirit, filled with fun, laughter and family togetherness that no doubt will be passed on for many generations to come.
Ethel Tucker's watercolour painting of Mangrove Bay
Ethel Tucker's watercolour painting of Mangrove Bay Road and the Fowle's home, the Old Post Office
