Lower St Mary’s Street
The building that now houses Hemingway’s was originally owned by Emmanuel Oliver Camacho. The house had rooms for his 12 children and for the maids who looked after them. When Olive Jardine purchased the property, it became known as Jardine’s Court.
Along this stretch are a number of interesting buildings, from the stone-built store on the corner to the single-storey raised residence further up the street.
Hemingway’s
Emmanuel Oliver Camacho was the son of Antonio Joseph (A.J.) Camacho, who was born in 1831 in Madeira and arrived in Antigua in 1847 while others believe he came with funds in hand. In any case, he was listed as a merchant in 1871 and bought his first two estates in 1871 and 1878. By 1900, he was the single largest landowner, and sugar producer, on the island.
When A.J. Camacho died, Emmanuel O. took over the export and merchant part of his father’s holdings. His other sons were John Joseph, who was most involved in the estate part of the business and who also owned property in town (see here), and Martin Joseph, who became a lawyer.
The Kensington Hotel
The lower part of St. Mary’s Street also had one of Antigua’s first hotels, the Kensington, across from Jardine’s Court. This photo is from the 1950s, before the Kensington was torn down and replaced by one of the Antigua Commercial Bank’s parking lots.
Bertha Higgins’ House
Bertha Higgins (1889-1966) was an Antiguan teacher, artist, and musician who trained in Bermuda, married there, and returned to Antigua in the late 1930s, after her husband died, to live with her spinster sisters in this house. She taught art at both T.O.R. Memorial High School and at the Antigua Girls High School.
In the mid 1940's she organised Antigua's first Art Group and ran it successfully until her death in 1966. The Art Group held annual Art Exhibitions on the upper floor of the old Court House. In the early 1950's, as steel band music was spreading north from Trinidad to Antigua, Mrs. Higgins supported two of the early steel bands, Hell's Gate and Brute Force, teaching them music. Her female piano students learned to play the pan while they were teaching the bands to read music.
In 1958 Mrs. Higgins was appointed a Senator in the Parliament of the now defunct Federal Government, and in 1960 she was awarded the M.B.E.
The house, rebuilt in 1933, is typical of the larger family homes, with its tripartite gables, shutters, and covered front porch.
