History
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Centuries of Legacy, Reimagined Luxury
Peter Island’s history dates back to the early 1600s when Dutchman Pieter Andriensen established a fort and settlement on the island. It transitioned from cotton cultivation in the 1700s to becoming the home of local families following the 1834 Emancipation, with a population of around 150 people.
A hurricane in 1916 led to a shift towards tobacco farming. In the 1930s, British diplomat John Charles Brudenell-Bruce started a tobacco plantation and a cigar and cigarette export business. In the mid-1900s, insurance tycoon Percy Chubb purchased the estate and introduced local families to work on the estate and farm the land. In 1968, Norwegian millionaire Peter Smedwig acquired the island and began developing a resort.
Later in the late 1970s, it was bought by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos, who operated it as a private island resort. In 2017, the island closed due to hurricane damage and embarked on a six-year project to transform it into a luxurious resort, with the new Peter Island Resort unveiled in 2024.
