St Vincent & Grenadines: Bequia – Moonhole Community

Moonhole is a private community in an inaccessible part of the Bequia island in the Grenadines. In 1960s, a couple of advertising execs from NYC, Thomas and Gladys Johnston, retired and moved to Bequia, built a unique open-layout house on the tip of the island underneath a natural arch (the moon rising in the natural window of the arch gave the location the name “Moonhole”). The house was built from local stones and whale bone fragments. There was no electricity, rainwater was collected and used for drinking and washing, wind was used for cooling the house, and trees were left growing in the middle of the living room and bedrooms. Eventually this “tree-loving” craze grew and more eco-obsessed retirees arrived to Moonhole and built a whole community of such bizarre stone house. You can see then dot all the clifftop, as well as standing at the beach level. Access here is only by sea, and COVID seriously dented the appeal. There are about 25 houses in the community now.