Guana Cay History

After the Treaty of Paris (1783), New York and Florida were ordered to evacuate.  Most people decided to move to areas still governed by Britain, which included Canada, England, the British Caribbean and the Bahamas.  Those who decided to move to Abaco planned on settling by Little Harbour, but ended up building their community in Carleton (near the current Treasure Cay) and several months later, some refugees made the move to Marsh Harbour.  By 1785, there were approximately 1000 refugees in Abaco distributed in 5 or 6 towns.  After 3 years of trying to succeed with farming and ship building, there was little activity on Abaco, and more than half of the refugees decided to leave.  By 1790, more and more migrants from Harbour Island, Spanish Wells and Eleuthera were moving to Abaco.  With over 100 years of experience of living in the Bahamas, the new migrants helped Abaco re-establish boat building, fishing and wrecking.  By this time, towns on Green Turtle Cay and Elbow Cay became the principle settlements.  It was during the 1820's that settlements were established on Man-O-War Cay and Great Guana Cay. 

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