Traditional Caribbean houses were designed to stay cool in the tropical heat. There was no air conditioning, so builders used wind, shade and stone to make houses cool. The location of a home, the direction it faced and what was built around it could all make a difference. There were also many design elements that kept houses cool and you can see them right here.

The Old House was built with a massive stone foundation, this keeps the floor dry and protected in storms or floods. It also keeps the house cool. The foundation acts as a thermal mass, absorbing the heat from the house.

High ceilings give hot air space to rise, leaving it cooler below. Openings between rooms allow air to flow all around the house in any direction. The kitchen was not part of the house, so the heat from cooking fires was not near the living space.

The Old House is designed with windows and doors across from each other, so wind can blow through the house. This design can have ten times the air flow compared to a window on only one side. The windows are at human height so people can enjoy the cooling breeze.

Windows were made with louvers—slats of wood that can be tilted. These allowed air to pass, while still providing shade. Residents could change the angle of the louvers to direct the incoming breeze where they wanted it.

Many of these heat beating strategies were developed over time, right here in the Caribbean. Today we see these features as part of the unique style of Caribbean architecture. But many of these design decisions were made for very specific reasons.

Over time, we have developed new building materials and techniques. We also have electric fans and air conditioning. But relearning some old school Caribbean design tricks can still help us today. Modern designers are looking at how we can use these methods to keep homes comfy while using less energy. Perhaps the Caribbean home of the future will start to look a bit like the homes of the past.

What parts of your home design help keep it cool? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

The idea of being eco-friendly is spreading on St. Martin. We can see images from around the world of birds, sea turtles, and even whales that died after eating plastics. We find litter on our own beaches, and the eternal fire of the Philipsburg dump is a constant reminder that we are making more waste than we can handle.

Progress seems slow at times. Recycling on a small island is a little harder, because those materials usually have to go somewhere else to be recycled. It also takes time to build awareness. Promotion of recycling and other eco practices took decades to become established in Europe and North America.

On the other hand, St. Martin has a deep history of reusing and recycling. In fact, it stretches all the way back to prehistory. Visit an archaeological site and you can see the evidence. Conch shells were made into a variety of tools: axes, scrapers, awls and more. This may be first example of reusing a “single-use food container” on St. Martin.

During the colonial era, St. Martin was a remote outpost. Goods arrived slowly by boat and nothing went to waste. Metalwork was done by hand-powered forge so St. Martiners could make their own nails and horseshoes. Old or broken items could be melted down to make new things.

In the early 20th century, there were few jobs on the island. Some St. Martiners living today remember wearing dresses made from cloth flour sacks. In an interview, Delphine David explained that her mother “used to take the flour bag, wash it good, put it in the sun and let the sun draw out the marks…she would take that bag and measure us and crochet right around, tie our waist with a string and that would be our outfit.”

There was recycling in the kitchen, with graters made by hammering holes in a tin can. On the docks even today you can see fish scalers made from bottle caps nailed into a wooden handle. Perhaps the most elegant examples of Caribbean recycling is the steel pan drum. It transforms waste into art.

Waste on St. Martin is a modern problem, and will require many solutions. We need to generate less trash and adopt alternatives to plastic. We need to process our waste better. In some ways these are new skills and habits. Some of the ideas and expertise may come from outside. But when it comes to reusing and recycling, there are deep traditions on St. Martin that we can tap into. This creativity and ingenuity is a part of local culture we can all celebrate and embrace.

What is your favorite historical or recent example of reusing or recycling on St. Martin? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Skinks are small, shiny lizards. With their sleek bodies and small legs they look like they want to be snakes, and maybe could be in a million years or so. For most of history, the skinks of the eastern Caribbean were all lumped into one species.

Herpetologists—scientists who study reptiles and amphibians—knew that these skinks were probably different from island to island. Even in 1862, the famous scientist E.D. Cope mentioned that American skinks were “in a state of some confusion.” But it took 150 years for someone to take a closer look. In 2012, a groundbreaking paper by Blair Hedges and Caitlin Conn described 24 new skink species from Caribbean islands.

The St. Martin Skink, Spondylurus martinae, was one of these new species. It was described from museum specimens, including ones collected by Dr. Hendrik van Rijgersma in the 1860s. Sadly, it had not been seen for a long time. The mongoose in was introduced 1888 and may have eaten them to extinction.

A few years ago, skinks were seen on Tintamarre, living in the stone walls left over from D.C. van Romondt’s farming days there in the early 20th century. Were they St. Martin Skinks? Could they be the last survivors of a species that was wiped out on St. Martin?

In fact, further research revealed that they were actually a very similar species, the Anguilla Bank Skink, Spondylurus powelli. This is the species that also lives on Anguilla and St. Barts. This wasn’t a complete surprise. Tintamarre is closest to St. Martin, but the ground lizards there are the variety found on Anguilla and St. Barts, not the variety on St. Martin.

Discoveries like this show that the evolutionary history on St. Martin is very complicated. We share many species with Anguilla and St. Barts because our islands were connected during the last ice age. Yet there are also species found only on St. Martin. Finding out why could tell us more about how evolution works in general.

And what about our St. Martin Skinks? It seems that the last specimen was collected in Little Bay around 1963. Perhaps they have died out since then. Perhaps, like on Tintamarre, a few have survived unseen. Keep your eyes open for them!

Have you ever seen a skink on St. Martin? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Learn more about the skinks of Tintamarre at Caribbean Herpetology.

Here we are, in the age of the internet. The world’s knowledge is just a click away, in theory. But where are the stories of St. Martiners?

St. Martin is a people as much as it is a place. This island was home to people who created and preserved its culture, who helped their community every day and built the foundations of what is here today. These people were known and loved by all.

Many great St. Martiners live on in the memories of friends and family. They are remembered in the stories that are told about them. But how long will those stories survive?

Thankfully, the lives and achievements of some St. Martiners have been recorded in books and newspaper articles. But this information is not necessarily easy for all to access. When St. Martin students go online to research the history of their home, will they find cultural icons from the past? Will they learn their stories? Will they see their faces?

There are many people to celebrate: Juliette Mingau, Gaston Boasman, Laurelle “Yaya” Richards, Calypso Barbara, Cees van Dolderen, Yvette Hyman, José Lake, Sr, Inez Eliza Baly-Lewis, Cynric Griffith, Melford Hazel, Roland Bryson, Emilio Wilson, Neville Chester York and the list goes on. Some of these names may be familiar to most. Others may be icons in just part of the island. But few have a proper biography that records their life and works.

St. Martin is proud of its people. There are statues of St. Martiners all over the island. Streets and buildings are named after St. Martiners. But far too often, the stories of these people are out of reach. As time moves on, their stories are vanishing bit by bit from local memory. As photo albums are lost or destroyed, their faces disappear, too.

Do you know the story of a great St. Martiner? Do you have photos of local icons who have passed? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

The calabash tree has many uses, and is much loved in the Caribbean. We see them near homes in grainy old black and white photos. You can spot them on the roadside today, a tangle of green branches like leaf-covered whips.

The fruit of the calabash has a hard skin that makes a sturdy and lightweight bowl or cup when it is dried. They were also used as vessels to carry water. Throw some hard seeds inside and you can make them into musical shakers. Designs carved into the wet skin of a fresh fruit are preserved in the dried shell, and many calabash objects feature intricate designs.

The pulp of the fruit is not particularly appetizing, but in some places foods or drinks are made with very young fruit, pulp or seeds. In Curacao, the seeds are used to make a candy called carabobo. Preparations of the fruit are also used as remedies for cough, asthma and other conditions.

Although the calabash tree is not very tall or straight, the hard wood was used for tool handles, saddles and some furniture. In times of drought, calabash branches were cut down so livestock could eat the leaves.

The calabash tree is also a part of many cultures. In one folk tale, the trickster Anancy gathers all the common sense in the world into a calabash. (Spoiler alert: the calabash falls and the common sense scatters, which is why we all have a little of it today.) Some believe calabash trees shelter spirits, and in some parts of the Caribbean they were planted near graves.

Some of the uses and cultural connections to the Caribbean calabash tree can be traced back to the calabash vine or bottle gourd in Africa. Although the tree and the vine are not related to each other, their fruits are used in many of the same ways. African traditions—transformed and adapted to the New World—are central part of Caribbean culture. The calabash tree is a great example of how these traditions adapt and persevere.

How do you use the calabash tree? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Every slogan tells a story of sorts. The story is always incomplete—a phrase can’t sum up an island—but it has some meaning. Slogans tell us something about how we understand St. Martin, how we misunderstand it, how it is and how we want it to be.

The Friendly Island has been an enduring slogan for St. Martin, but it is far from the only one. In some ways, the English translation of Amerindian Soualiga sounds like a slogan: The Land of Salt. But it is probably not one that would bring tourists running.

A 1970 postmark from Philipsburg proclaims this The Beach Island of the Caribbean. Although almost all Caribbean islands have beaches, St. Martin is blessed with many beautiful beaches for its size. The white sand is also a contrast to some of the more recent volcanic islands to the south.

A graphic in a 1981 issue of The Clarion stated We’re glad!—not mad—We are living in St. Maarten. In some ways the phrasing suggests that perhaps we are mad, but we are doing our best to hide it. Perhaps this highlights a difference between the perspective of residents and the ideal projected towards tourists.

Some older slogans emphasized the colonial heritage of the island. Twice the Vacation, Twice the Fun and Two for the Price of One both suggest the dual-identity of the island. It’s Dutch, it’s French, it’s Caribbean is more explicit. Even when the island’s Caribbean identity is acknowledged, it is almost as an afterthought.

The Friendly Island may be a bit vague. Almost any island could brand itself as friendly. Many other islands have developed more specific identities: Unspoiled Queen, Historical Gem, Spice Island and Nature Island. St. Martin really couldn’t claim any of these titles.

On the other hand, The Friendly Island does speak to the open and cosmopolitan nature of St. Martin. It is a place where people from countless cultures live together. It is a place that invited the world to visit.

Aside from the island’s touristic identity, other slogans tell us something about the island. Semper pro Grediens—always progressing—is the motto of Sint Maarten. It is accurate, in that the country is always in motion. Some may disagree about which progress is good or bad. On the masthead of the Windward Islands Opinion from 1959, we see the message LABOUR CONQUERS ALL THINGS. This may be a prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled, but around the world, voices that share this sentiment are louder than they have been in decades.

What is your favorite St. Martin slogan? What does it mean to you? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

In St. Martin, you can find animals that live nowhere else in the world. It’s one of the things that makes St. Martin special and it is a great reason to protect local nature. If these animals disappear here, they will be gone from the planet.

The Spotted Woodslave is one of these animals. It is a kind of gecko, but probably not the one you see most often. This gecko can be huge and it mostly lives on big trees like old tamarinds and mangoes. True to its name, it is light with black spots.

The Spotted Woodslave has only been a species since 2011. Before then, it was thought to be the Turnip-tailed Gecko, a similar species that is found in most of the Caribbean and beyond. The main difference between the two is that the Spotted Woodslave has spots. On average, there are also differences in the number of scales around the mouth and on the toes of the two species.

It may seem surprising that a new species can be “discovered” these days, but it isn’t rare in the Caribbean. Small islands like St. Martin haven’t been studied as much as many places. Many “new” species are known, but not yet named. People on St. Martin have known about the Spotted Woodslave for generations. Scientists have thought for years that the Turnip-tailed Geckos on different islands might be different species. It just took time for someone to do the research and record the differences.

There are many new species being described in the Caribbean today. In addition to comparing the physical characteristics of specimens, we can also compare the genetics of animals from island to island. In the coming years, we will probably find other new species that have been hiding in plain sight this whole time.

But how did our woodslave get its spots? That’s a tough question. The Turnip-tailed Gecko lives on many islands, but St. Martin is the only place where it evolved spots. The authors who described the new species did not have any suggestions. If spots help it hide from predators or sneak up on prey, why didn’t geckos evolve spots on other nearby islands?

Do you know any stories about St. Martin’s geckos? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

The kitchen garden is a Caribbean tradition. As the name implies, they are usually right next to the home. Gardens or farms a bit further from home are often called provision grounds. Kitchen gardens are often small, but they can include a wild variety of different plants.

St. Martin is densely populated, so some kitchen gardens are as small as a few potted herbs on a balcony. Walk down a street and you can see bits and pieces of kitchen gardens all over. Sugar apple, soursop and papaya trees stand guard in front yards. A maiden apple vine winds its way around a front porch. A line of pigeon pea bushes runs along a fence. Bananas are growing in the wettest corner of a yard and a single clump of sugarcane rises up beside a wall. Along the even busiest streets you’re likely to spot doliprane and vervain.

Kitchen gardens are ancient. Plants and techniques come from African and Amerindian traditions that are thousands of years old. European and Asian plants have been incorporated, too. The result can be chaotic, but the diversity of plants makes kitchen gardens rich and strong. Pigeon peas and beans provide nitrogen to their neighbors, papayas and bananas offer shade.

Kitchen gardens have roots in the colonial era, when enslaved persons would tend their own gardens before and after long days of labor. They were key to survival for free St. Martiners during the long years when the island had little economic activity. Today, with a tourism economy and endless imports, the kitchen garden is not as necessary as it once was.

Will the kitchen garden disappear from St. Martin? It seems unlikely. No matter how busy we get, the promise of a fresh-picked sugar apple and the smell of herbs are still irresistible. The growing power of the Caribbean sun is too strong to waste. Time spent with hands in soil will always be one of the best ways to get a moment of zen in a world that is too busy.

What is in your perfect kitchen garden? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Life on an island is special. For million of years being a St. Martiner was an exclusive club. It was a place for the animals and plants that somehow made the journey here. It was a home for the ones who survived storm and drought.

This changed when the first Amerindian people set foot on St. Martin’s shore. People could choose where they went and what they brought. Into the elite club of native species, they brought useful plants and animals. Hitchhikers caught a ride on Amerindian canoes as well.

The pace of new introductions has only gotten faster over time. Rats arrived on European ships. Mongoose were brought from India to Jamaica and from Jamaica to St. Martin. Frogs and lizards have hopped down from Miami.

Today, new species mostly arrive with cargo, especially plants. Dozens of different insect species can arrive in a single container of plants. During the recovery process, an increase in cargo tends to boost the number of new species introduced.

Many remember the appearance of the Giant African Land Snail soon after Hurricane Luis. The colorful Spotted Oleander Caterpillar Moth may have also arrived after Luis. Surely many less noticeable species could have come during this period.

In many cases, these species would have arrived anyway. The Giant African Land Snail has been invading new areas steadily with or without the help of hurricanes. The Spotted Oleander Caterpillar Moth is native to the region, but may have been rare or absent from the island before Luis. The popularity of Oleander bushes would seem to guarantee its eventual arrival here.

It is usually impossible to pinpoint the arrival of a new species. Most arrive unnoticed. It can take years before populations get large enough to draw attention. However, many St. Martiners know their native plants and animals and are quick to notice new arrivals.

Observations by regular people have documented many species that arrived before Irma. These include the Colombian Four-eyed Frog, Mourning Gecko and Greenhouse Frog. Knowing what was here already can help us understand the impact of Irma on local wildlife. Did the hurricane help spread introduced species that were already here? Did it slow down their colonization? It also gives us a better idea which new species may have arrived as a result of Irma and the rebuilding process.

Have you seen any new plants or animals on St. Martin lately? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Could people be forced to leave St. Martin due to rising sea levels and worsening storms? As islanders, climate it is a real threat. Think of all the low-lying areas that could be submerged: Simpson Bay, Sandy Ground, Philipsburg, Grand Case, Orient Bay and many more. But if humans do lose our ability to live on St. Martin due to rising seas, we won’t be the first to suffer that fate.

St. Martin’s relationship with the sea has changed over millions of years. For a time, the island was totally underwater. The coral reefs that grew then became the limestone of the Lowlands and Billy Folly.

There were also times when the sea was much lower. During ice ages, water is locked in glaciers, and the sea level drops. And when the sea level drops, St. Martin gets big. If the sea drops 100 meters, St. Martin is about the size of Trinidad. It connects to Anguilla and St. Barts and well beyond.

Prehistoric super St. Martin was huge—big enough to support rodents of unusual size. The Blunt-toothed Giant Hutia is one of the most astounding St. Martiners of all time. We only know it from fossils, but those fossils suggest it could have weighed over 200 kilograms. This makes it one of the largest rodents of all time.

Giants often evolve on islands, like the giant tortoises in the Galapagos. St. Martin’s giant hutia probably arrived on the island as a much smaller hutia. On St. Martin, it didn’t have predators to hide from, so it didn’t have to stay small. There also weren’t any big grazing animals to compete with, so the hutia could get big and eat all the leaves.

Hutia fossils from St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Barts actually show a surprising range in sizes. Some scientists believe it may have changed size depending on the sea level. When the sea level was lowest and the island the biggest it was at its biggest, 200 kilos. During periods when the island was smaller, it may have shrunk down to 50 kilos.

One estimate shows that this might be possible over 80 generations. On a shrinking island, the smallest of each generation survive and the hutia adapts to fit the space it has. But this process takes time. If the sea rises faster than it can change size, the hutia would be too big to survive in the space available.

We don’t know for sure what happened to St. Martin’s giant hutia, but we can guess. A bit more than 10,000 years ago, the island went from Trinidad-sized super St. Martin to three islands each less than 2% that size. If it couldn’t shrink fast enough, it wouldn’t have enough land to survive. Rising seas would have inundated it to extinction. That sad fate is implied by the giant hutia’s scientific name: Amblyrhiza inundata.

It is amazing to imagine giant hutias roaming St. Martin, like capybaras the size of black bears. It is perhaps just as amazing to imagine ice age super St. Martin. Look out to Anguilla or St. Barts and imagine land between and beyond as far as the eye can see.

What do you see when you look out over St. Martin? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Dr. Hendrik Elingsz van Rijgersma was a Dutch doctor, sent to provide care to the formerly enslaved people on St. Martin. He was also St. Martin’s first naturalist. He arrived in 1863, and died on the island in 1877. He never published a scientific paper, but his field work was key to our understanding of local nature.

Rijgersma collected shells since childhood. While on St. Martin, he collected many things, including shells, birds, reptiles, insects, plants and fossils. Sometimes he traded specimens for scientific tools or shells from other parts of the world. Many of his specimens are still in museum collections in Europe and the United States. He also painted beautiful watercolors of both shells, fish and plants.

Dr. van Rijgersma collected the fossils of the extinct Blunt-toothed Giant Hutia, a huge prehistoric rodent that lived on St Martin and Anguilla. The Leeward Island Racer snake, with the scientific name Alsophis rijgersmaei, was described from specimens he collected, and the species was named after him.

Most recently, a lizard specimen he collected was used to describe the St. Martin Skink in 2012. Shortly after van Rijgersma collected the skink, the mongoose was introduced and wiped out the skinks on St. Martin. His specimens are a unique window into the nature of St. Martin in the 1860s.

Dr. van Rijgersma died in 1877. He was buried in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery, now known as the Cul de Sac Cemetery. An estate inventory after his death listed four pine cases of shells: the empty cases valued at $8 and the shells “not valued.” This appraisal was highly flawed. His contributions to science—though rarely recognized—were priceless.

What other people from St. Martin’s past are almost unknown today? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

St. Martin has rich traditions of farming and bush medicine. These are important parts of local culture. But the history of Caribbean plant traditions is largely unwritten. How do we tell this story?

The most developed plant traditions in the Caribbean came from Amerindian and African culture. Because written records were primarily European, these plant traditions were mostly undocumented. We will never know who brought certain plants to the Caribbean, or why. But there are many clues to help us fill in the blanks.

The plants themselves can tell us things. In most cases, we know which species are native to Africa. We also know species from Asia that were used in Africa and probably came to the Caribbean from Africa. In some cases, they were used here in the Caribbean by both Africans and Europeans. But many were only used by Africans, so these were probably brought here by Africans.

Caribbean Amerindians were nearly all killed by disease and genocide, but some of their plant traditions survived. Some knowledge was recorded by Europeans looking for plant products to sell to Europe. Amerindians also shared their knowledge with free and enslaved black people, who preserved this knowledge in their traditional medicine.

Other clues can come from plant names and how plants are used. The Caribbean names of many plants from Africa are similar to the names in African languages. Even some local plants have names that may be based on those of their African relatives. Similar usage of related plants in Africa and the Caribbean shows that existing traditions may have been adapted to new plants. 

Other plants have names that come from their Amerindian names. There are also cases where Caribbean plant use is close to how South American Amerindians use plants. This helps us see how some Amerindian plant knowledge survived on islands after the Amerindians who had lived there were gone.

Though there is little written data from past centuries, we can still tap into the oral histories that have preserved these skills for generations. People living today still carry this ancient knowledge. They also have insight about how it has changed in their lifetime. The constant mixing of people and cultures in the region has been making these traditions deeper and richer for centuries. 

Can you share something about St. Martin’s plant traditions? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

Water has always been a challenge for St. Martin. The problem is built in to the shape and location of the island. Most of the time, rain carrying clouds blow past the island high above the tallest hills. When rain does fall, the tropical sun and steady breezes tend to dry the island out.

Most years, the wet months are wet enough to turn the island green. But then the dry season is dry enough to put every plant and animal in survival mode. Our native plants and animals have adapted to this over millions of years. The things that couldn’t survive disappeared without a trace.

Water surely challenged Amerindian people who lived on St. Martin. The island was a bit different then, with forests from the beach to the hilltops. St. Martin would have been better at keeping the rain that did fall. But water access would have impacted how they used the island and the nature of their settlement here.

During colonial times, everything depended on water. Export crops like tobacco, cotton and sugar needed water. Subsistence crops like cassava, sweet potatoes and pigeon peas needed it, too. So did livestock and people. Plantations were located based on sources of water, wells were dug and some of the earliest structures on the island were cisterns.

A severe drought could wipe out a growing season. This would be bad for business, but worse for survival. Ground provisions left in the ground could be an emergency food source before the era of refrigeration. At the same time, rains during the dry season could ruin a salt harvest.

The island continued to be at the mercy of the water table until very recently. Water was sourced from cisterns and wells for most of the 20th century. Plenty of people living on St. Martin today remember using a hand pump to get water from their cistern to their header tank or getting water at a well. Some believe a severe drought in the 1970s caused many to give up on raising cattle.

Today we find the occasional water shortages vexing, but they are minor by historical standards. The island’s modest rainfall impacts how and where we farm, and increases the cost of lush landscaping, but it does not threaten our survival. The ability to produce fresh water and import feed means cows and donkeys will never have to die during a drought. The brown hills of spring remind us of water’s power, but we are no longer completely at its mercy.

Do you have a story about how water influenced your life? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

I don’t miss the sting of the Jack Spaniard wasp. It was always a terrible surprise. The electric pain faded fast, but the swelling and itching lasted for days. I was once told that putting some urine on a Jack Spaniard sting would neutralize the poison. Was it a folk remedy or a trick to get kids to rub pee on themselves? Maybe both.

Jack Spaniards build nests out of paper, so they love dry spaces. They nest under awnings, in caves and in the shelter of large tree branches. They only sting when they are defending their nests, but their nests were everywhere. At least, until they weren’t.

After Hurricane Irma a few Jack Spaniards came to our hummingbird feeders, but within a week or two they were gone. I didn’t see one again for another year. Of all the things that could have been wiped out by a hurricane, wasps weren’t on the top of my list.

The disappearance of the Jack Spaniard did make sense. Wind would have destroyed most nests. It also destroyed the flowers where adult wasps would feed on pollen. For the adults that did survive, it was probably hard to find caterpillars to feed to their young. Some did survive, but with dry weather last spring and summer, it took time for them to recover.

The Jack Spaniard plays many roles in nature. It pollinates flowers so plants can reproduce. It hunts caterpillars, keeping them from eating all the plants. When caterpillars ate every leaf from every Flamboyant tree on the island last year, the Jack Spaniard wasn’t there to bring balance by eating the caterpillars. The Jack Spaniard is also food for birds like the Gray Kingbird and Caribbean Elaenia. It’s a busy insect!

When I started seeing Jack Spaniards again in October, I was surprisingly happy. It was a sign that the island hadn’t changed completely. It was a reminder that natural recovery was still happening in subtle and unseen ways. When I spotted a new nest in December, I wasn’t overjoyed, but they do deserve their place on the island.

Have you seen signs of nature’s recovery lately? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

What will be the story of 2019? 2017 brought destruction by storm and by looting, but also the story of neighbors and communities coming together to survive. 2018 was a year of recovery, with daily progress in the face of enormous tasks, but nothing coming fast or easy.

Every year brings a new start. It’s not because there’s something magical about a change on the calendar, but because we are optimistic. The island didn’t change one day to the next, but we take the moment to imagine a better future. How could we survive without doing this?

Beneath our cheer, there is fatigue. Is there anyone on the island that isn’t tired? Is there anyone that doesn’t wish, after all this work, that things were better than they are today? Is there anyone who isn’t frustrated after months of major problems and countless tiny inconveniences?

As we begin 2019, we start to have a clearer idea of what St. Martin is today. After Irma, thousands of people living under tarps was an emergency. That people are still living this way today is a failure. Any place can be destroyed by a natural disaster. The recovery is a measure of the government and the community. In good and bad, the recovery is a reflection of us.

Leaving the most desperate times behind, we also look to the future. It is a future where other islands are stronger competitors for tourists, and rebuilding what was here before may not be enough to bring them back. It’s a future where the unique culture of the island continues to disappear. Traditional architecture crumbles and decays. Museums and libraries shut their doors in neglect with no plans to reopen. The last generation of St. Martiners who lived through the pre-tourism era pass on with their stories unrecorded.

This dark future is already upon us in many ways. Cultural institutions have already collapsed. Children already grow up without learning about their island in school. Destruction has already claimed heritage sites. But this isn’t the only future.

You could change this. You and your family and friends and co-workers. Spend an hour or a day doing something to preserve and share culture. There are groups doing this on the island, and they need your help. Getting involved is inspiring and rejuvenating. It could be the thing that brings meaning and joy to your 2019.

At some point, government needs to be involved. But governments—all of them, not just here—are followers. They aren’t leaders, they aren’t visionaries, they aren’t brave. But if something is working, they will eventually join in. People need to step up first, and on this small island that means everyone. Is 2019 the year people come together to save the culture of St. Martin? That’s up to you.

Do you need help saving or sharing a part of St. Martin culture? Tell us what you’re doing and how we can help by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

The culture of St. Martin comes from its people. Every life and every experience is part of culture. Every memory tells us something about a moment, a person and an island.

In an interview in 2018, 99-year-old Cynric Griffith told a story of the first time he met the Queen of the Netherlands. Griffith was born in St. Kitts, and was recruited to work on St. Martin in 1956. In his words, “from then on, many other things has been happening.” Griffith’s “many other things” includes the entire modern era of life on St. Martin. It includes the rise of tourism in the region and immense changes to the island and its people.

When he was working at the Pasanggrahan Hotel, his boss told him “The Queen is coming!” Although she was staying in the newly-built Little Bay Hotel, Griffith’s help was still needed. His boss said, “I need you to serve her, and you have to have a white coat, and a black tie and a black pants.”

At the same time, Commissioner Claude Wathey was enlisting Griffith’s skill as a painter. He told Griffith, “You’re going up in the hills and you’re going to paint a picture of the area where the Queen is going to cut the ribbon for the new airport.”

Griffiths made the painting, and he recounted “When the Queen came, I was asked to serve her coffee…Mr. Wathey came by and gave me the picture to deliver to the Queen. I think that was a couple hours after I gave her coffee. She looked up at me and said, ‘What? Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?’ and I said, ‘Yes. I served you coffee!’”

It’s a story that tells a lot about St. Martin at the time. It was an island looking to the future, with a new hotel and a bigger airport. But it was also a small place where anyone might be called upon to fill a role. A place where one might become a friend of the Queen: “From that day on, they always, when she’s comin’, invite me to receptions and so on.”

That St. Martin is long gone. Somewhere along the line, receptions with the Queen ended, too: “At this time here, they don’t bother to honor the sick people around here, so they haven’t bothered to invite me or anything like that.” He said it with a laugh and politely pivoted to mention that he still has his Prins Bernhard medal of honor.

Griffith went on to tell of his time as an art teacher at St. Maarten Academy, where he brought students up Sentry Hill to draw landscapes. Perhaps this work brought the greatest rewards: “Today, I get some surprises. When I am sometimes sitting outside on the porch, I hear a voice. ‘Is that Mr. Griffith?’ So I look up and say, ‘Yes! Who are you?’ ‘Don’t you remember? You used to teach us and take us all up in the hills to draw.’” Remembering these simple encounters brings a smile, “it makes you feel good, you know? I have achieved something. I have given something.”

Do you know someone who can tell us about St. Martin with a story from their life? Tell us who by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a time to be with family and friends. Christmas commerce has reached around the globe to people of all religions. There are unique traditions everywhere it is celebrated, including St. Martin.

Of course, not every tradition is strictly local. A big meal with family is a Christmas tradition in all over, and Christmas ham is a popular choice in many places. Christmas lights and decorations brighten homes and towns. The commercial side of Christmas—shopping and presents—is big here as it is everywhere, for better or for worse.

But no one on St. Martin dreams of a snowy winter wonderland. The closest we get are Christmas winds and ground seas, more subtle reminders of the change in season. The Caribbean climate is a big part of why Christmas is unique here.

On St. Martin, fall rains give the island its best growing season. Arriving at the end of the wet season, Christmas is a harvest time for many local crops. This bounty is well-timed for Christmas feasting.

Tropical plants also play starring roles at Christmas. Sorrel juice is made from hibiscus flowers that came from Africa. The local guavaberry fruit is the star of St. Martin’s traditional Christmas drink, guavaberry punch. It is also a popular kind of Christmas tart. Other popular tarts, like coconut and guava, also feature tropical flavors.

All sorts of Christmas traditions come together at Christmas House in Cripple Gate. This magical world started decades ago as a neighborhood place where kids could enjoy small treats and the spirit of Christmas. Mama Noël—Bernadine Arnell Joe—and her family kept the tradition and it grew over the years.

Today, Christmas house is an astounding experience. The decorations are intricate and seem endless. It is also a place where anyone can participate in local traditions, enjoying food and drinks in a place where everyone is a friend. It celebrates an extended holiday season from Thanksgiving until the middle of January. This local tradition has managed to touch the lives of people around the world without losing an ounce of its original character.

Despite the huge cost and effort of preparing the house each year, it’s still free and visitors are still treated like family. It is there to bring joy above all else. The spirit of giving and sharing is perhaps St. Martin’s most important Christmas tradition, and it is alive and well at Christmas house.

Do you have a favorite holiday tradition? Tell it to us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

A half-century of very rapid growth and modernization has changed many things on St. Martin. Farmlands have been developed and the economy has tilted toward tourism. But goats remain.

Goats make sense on St. Martin. They are one of the best animals for places that are dry, or seasonally dry. They require less space than a cow and they are less picky about what they eat. There are plenty of breeds that are well-adapted to the tropical heat.

Goats have a long history in the Caribbean. Goats were brought by the Spanish in the 1500s. Over the years, these so-called Spanish goats became what we call Native or Creole goats.

What makes a great Caribbean goat? The Creole goat is hardy. It can survive dry conditions and find food on barren hillsides. These traits make them easier to care for. They are also able to breed during the dry season. Creole goats can give birth three times every two years, rather thang just once a year. That’s good if you want more goats. Creole goats are also known for having great-tasting meat.

Caribbean Creole goats are the result of natural selection and selective breeding. Goats left on their own adapted to local conditions over hundreds of years. Breeders also crossbred the original Spanish goats with other breeds. In more recent times, breeds like Nubian and Boer became popular in the Caribbean because they are larger and grow faster. Crossbreeding Creoles with these newer breeds is common today.

By comparing DNA, we are able to learn more about Creole goats. We can see that they are different from other breeds and even have differences from island to island. At the same time, Creole goats are at risk. On many islands, only a small percentage of goats are pure Creole.

Creole goats deserve saving. They are part of local culture. Their survival abilities may also become more valuable as climate change transforms many parts of the world. If raising goats dies out on St. Martin, the island will be changed for the worse.

At the same time, the Caribbean needs spaces without goats. Goats are not native and they can damage delicate habitat. Removing them from wild spaces, like offshore islands, allows nature to flourish. When goats were removed from the island of Redonda, the barren landscape burst into bloom. After hundreds of years suffering at the edge of survival, the goats were brought to Antigua. There they can live in relative luxury, while their drought-defying talents can be studied. Perhaps other goats from wild areas can be brought back into captivity to boost Creole goat populations.

What are your thoughts on goats? Share them by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

In recent years, huge masses of floating sargassum seaweed have invaded Caribbean waters and beaches like a plague. Shorelines have been covered in rotting seaweed and marine life has suffocated beneath it. Islands have been searching for ways to keep beaches clean. Scientists have been researching how and why it is happening.

The sudden arrival of tons of sargassum has been a shock. It has been one of the largest and most visible changes to the environment in living memory. But it’s not the only one. In fact, it’s not even the only seaweed.

Recently, another astounding change has taken place in some waters around the island. Beneath the surface, huge mats of green seaweed stretch as far as the eye can see. It is a type of filamentous, or stringy, algae that looks like tangled clumps of green fishing line or string. It covers reefs and seagrass. It is a meter thick in some spots and has transformed the sea floor.

It is washing up in some places when it is pulled up by a rough swell, but the size of this bloom is only really visible underwater. It has transformed some of our most important marine habitats, but it has done so largely unseen.

This green seaweed is part of the local ecosystem, but its sudden growth is unnatural. Huge blooms of this algae have been seen in other parts of the Caribbean in the past. They have also been studied, but we don’t have a single, clear explanation for why they happen.

Algae blooms often happen when there are extra nutrients in the water. For a small island, St. Martin has a large population, and nutrient rich water often drains from neighborhoods to ponds to the sea. Hurricane Irma’s storm swell may have released nutrients trapped under the sand. Decomposing sargassum could also provide nutrients to feed this algae. Seaweed can also get out of control when seas lose the animals that normally eat it, like fish and sea urchins.

Hopefully we can learn why this bloom is happening, how it impacts our marine life and what we can do to help return things to normal. This seaweed could impact diving and snorkeling, beaches and the local fishing industry. In the last few years we have seen droughts, superstorms and sargassum transform the island and the region. We don’t need another ecological problem.

Have you seen this green seaweed? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

People have farmed in the Caribbean for thousands of years. Some crops and methods used by Amerindian people in prehistoric times are still part of this tradition. Over the last 500 years, plants and techniques from Africa, Asia and Europe have also become part of Caribbean farming traditions.

Local farming is adapted to the hot climate, spring dry season and threat of hurricanes. Other conditions vary from island to island. Some are tall and wet, with rich volcanic soil. St. Martin is relatively flat and dry. Despite these differences, similar crops and techniques are used throughout the region.

Cassava and sweet potato have been key crops from prehistoric times until today. They can survive drought, provide a lot of food and need little maintenance. Grain can rot in the humid tropics and many crops are destroyed by hurricanes. Root crops can be left underground until they are needed. Other root crops, including arrowroot, yams, taro and tannia are also common in traditional Caribbean farms.

Many historic Caribbean crops came from Africa during the time of slavery. Guinea corn, also called sorghum, was popular because it grows in hot and dry weather. Pigeon peas and yams were also brought from Africa. The pigeon pea is one of several Asian plants grown in Africa before being brought to the West Indies.

Farming methods used in Caribbean gardens come from several sources. In some places, cassava and sweet potato are still grown in mounds as the Amerindians did. Planting in ridges may have origins in both African and European traditions. The short-handled hoe was brought from Africa. Mixing crops is very common in the Caribbean, and may come from both African and Amerindian farmers.

Some common practices may have spread by travel and sharing know-how within the Caribbean. Planting pigeon peas as a border, using sugarcane or thick grass as a windbreak, and planting pumpkins near rocky areas to keep the fruit off the ground are all done on many islands.

Today, most food is imported to St. Martin. But for most of the island’s history, farming was an important part of island life. People depended on the right crops and the right techniques. Their success was based on rich traditions from around the world and hard-won local knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

Do you have a story to share about local farming? What were the most important local crops during your childhood? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

How much do you know about St. Martin? Sometimes I feel like I know a lot about the island. Perhaps that’s because there are so many tourists. It is easy to feel like an expert when the person you are talking to doesn’t know the subject at all.

More often, I feel like I don’t know much about St. Martin. I don’t think I’m alone. Working with students or reading comments on Facebook, I find people excited to learn about St. Martin and eager to know more.

It is not unusual to see misinformation about the island. Here there is a local holiday called St. Martin Day. Although it was created in 1959, it is still confused with a saint’s birthday—St. Martin’s Day. This confusion happens everywhere from social media to official government communication. Sadly, this is not just a confusion of facts. The origin, history and meaning of St. Martin Day tell us a lot about local culture, politics and identity.

As useful as it is, the internet is not the solution. At least, it isn’t yet. In Wikipedia, information about St. Martin varies from cursory to questionable to laughably wrong. The information about St. Martin Day is completely false. Many other sites repeat incorrect and outdated information. There is valuable information about the island online, but it takes effort to find it and it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Luckily, we don’t need to wait for the internet to get better. Much of what we want to know about the island is already available. It’s in books. There are books by St. Martiners and books about St. Martin. There are books about local history, politics, language and nature. There are books of fiction and poetry that capture the culture and voice of the island.

There are books that should be in every classroom. There are books that are long out of print and difficult to find. There are books that are outdated but still have something unique to tell us about the island. They may not tell us everything we want to know, but they surely go a long way.

Why not make a list of 100 books about St. Martin? Include literature and nonfiction, essential volumes and ones that simply fill in a few gaps. Together, these books would show us the island and its people from many perspectives. At a book a week, it would only take two years for anyone to develop a deep and nuanced understanding of St. Martin.

What books would you add to this list? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

There is a hearty herb you can find in many St. Martin gardens. It has big, fuzzy leaves with serrated edges. During the wet season, it thrives. During the dry season it is surprisingly resilient. You can even find it growing on some stone walls and other inhospitable places.

On St. Martin, the most common local name seems to be Stingy Thyme. It’s not a name that shows up much in Google searches. In fact, it only comes up on a couple of pages, both from Anguilla. On St. Kitts and Nevis, the same plant is known as Sticky Thyme or Jumbie Sticky Thyme. In other parts of the Caribbean, it is called Stinging Thyme. These names seem connected. Did the name travel with the plant itself, gradually shifting as it moved from island to island?

There are plenty of other names for this plant. Some call it Spanish Thyme, Big Thyme or Broad Leaf Thyme. In the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, it is Oregano Poleo. In French, Gros Thym. In Trinidad it is Podina, and in Guyana, Fat Leaf Thyme.

There are as many uses for this plant as there are names for it. Many on St. Martin use it as a seasoning, particularly for meat and fish. It is also used to tenderize meat, to thicken soups and in pakoras. It is cited as fantastic when combined with hot pepper.

The leaves of this plant are also used as a tea. St. Martiners use it for the flu, coughs, asthma and nausea. It is also said to reduce swelling and high blood pressure. Many uses related to pregnancy were suggested: to help with morning sickness, to help overdue mothers go into labor and after childbirth to stimulate milk production. It is also used on the skin for insect bites.

This plant is native to Africa. Many plants that were brought by enslaved people directly from Africa. This one was introduced to Europe first and then brought to the Caribbean, perhaps one reason why Spanish Thyme is a common name for it. Within the Caribbean, the plant has its own cultural significance, with a variety of names and uses.

Local names and uses for plants vary from island to island, even if the plant itself is originally from far away. Over time, they become part of the local culture that makes each island unique. On a multicultural island like St. Martin, we also get to see how information spreads across cultures. Stingy Thyme tells a story, as do all the plants we use.

Do you have another name or use for Stingy Thyme? Tell it to us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].

On St. Martin, nature and culture are like two vines endlessly twisted around each other. Following them back down all the way to the ground, we would find them springing from the same root. These vines are ancient. They twisted their way through centuries and back farther still. But today they are often overlooked and under threat.

What is the future of local nature and culture on St. Martin? How do they survive and add meaning to the lives of future generations? How do we make them part of the island’s prosperity?

To start, we can celebrate the connections between all parts of the island’s heritage. Painting, dance, food and writing on St. Martin all have roots in nature. They bring us to nature and help us find our place in nature. Fishing and farming are collaborations with nature, as are bush tea and bush medicine. 

Salt production was hard work, but it was also made possible by an almost magical transformation powered by the sun. The stone walls—called slave walls after the enslaved people that built them—that still stand after hundreds of years are one of the most natural constructions ever made by people. Held together by just the weight of the stones and the knowledge of their builders, they allow water and wind to pass and have become home to many native plants and animals. Nature and culture can’t truly be separated on St. Martin. Each makes the other stronger.

In a world of competing interests, heritage must fight for attention. Today’s youth pass their time looking at a small rectangle of glass. Today’s adults do that, too. But culture and nature together can still cut through. Children are naturally fascinated by nature, and this should be fostered. As they grow and consider their place in the world, it is important for them to learn about about their heritage. It should be part of school, but it also needs to be on their phone screens and in their ear buds. 

Culture and nature are the foundation of the entire economy of the island. “The Friendly Island” is welcoming and open. It is the culture of a place where sharing was just a part of living. It is the spirit of a place where people left to find work and returned with a broader view of the world. Combined with amazing beauty of beach, sea and hillside, it is a culture that turned a quiet island into a major tourism destination.

There is no time to lament the destruction of nature or vanishing traditions. It is time to work. We need to document what is here, what is still alive and still remembered. We need to protect what is crumbling or threatened. We need to share what is special about St. Martin—with each other, with the next generation of children and with the visitors who come here. 

This age of many distractions has also given us many tools to document and share. We should use them. We should encourage government, schools and businesses to help in this mission. We should also take part directly: as citizens, residents or parents. Each person on the island knows something about St. Martin. Something that could be shared, or lost.

A St. Martin with beautiful nature and a vibrant culture is a place of prosperity. It is a place that tourists fall in love with and return to year after year. It is a place with money and jobs. But of course it is more than that. It is a healthier place. It is a stronger community. It is an island that tells its own story. 

We are all people who would live richer lives knowing more about this special island, and it is up to all of us. We are the people who can enrich others by sharing. We are the caretakers of those long-growing vines of nature and culture. We are the ones who can ensure they survive and prosper.

What part of St. Martin culture or nature are you most worried about losing? What story of St. Martin can you share? Take a few moments to tell it to a friend, child or grandchild. Post it on Facebook, or tell it to us by writing in to The Daily Herald or to [email protected].