Marsh Harbour is a town in

Abaco Islands Abaco is a variant Italian form of the Biblical name "Habakkuk" (but normally Abacùc or Abacucco). Abaco may refer to: People *Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (1675–1742), Italian composer and violinist *Joseph Abaco (1710–1805), Belgian compose ...

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

, with a population of 6,283 as of 2012. The settlement lies on a peninsula just off the Great Abaco Highway, which runs south through Great Abaco to Cherokee Point and Little Harbour. North of town, the road becomes S.C. Bootle Highway, another smooth stretch that runs north and west toward

Treasure Cay Treasure Cay, is a parcel of land connected to Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. It has a population of 1,187 as of the 2010 Bahaman census. There are two resortBahama Beach Clubdeveloped by Businessman Craig H. Roberts and Treasure Cay Beach Ho ...

and Little Abaco. Marsh Harbour has the majority of services available in all of the Abacos, including a post office, bookstore, grocery stores, specialty shops, travel agencies, and laundries. Visitors come to boat, swim or snorkel, and stay at one of the lodges located near Bay Street on the waterfront, though some adventurers reserve a day or two to

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

in the Marls on trips conducted by naturalist guides. The Marls are an extensive region of pristine

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

habitat and open shallows called "flats" that harbour a rich variety of wildlife and offer an important fisheries, for local sustenance and for sport. In 2019, Marsh Harbour was directly impacted by category 5

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and tied for strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also reg ...

, severely damaging most structures and infrastructure in the city.

Notable events in Marsh Harbour history

* On 25 August 2001, American R&B singer

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...

was among nine people killed in a

plane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

after departing

Marsh Harbour Airport Leonard M. Thompson International Airport, formerly known as The Marsh Harbour International Airport , is an airport serving Marsh Harbour, a town in the Abaco Islands, The Bahamas. Leonard M. Thompson International Airport is the second busi ...

after filming the music video for her single " Rock the Boat". * Rhonda Lea Cornea Hull, Miss Commonwealth Bahamas 1985 is from Marsh Harbour, and she represented the Bahamas at the 1985 Miss World Pageant in London. * Lolita Armbrister Monpetit, Miss Bahamas 1978 was born in Dundas Town, a settlement next to Marsh Harbour. She represented the Bahamas at the Miss Universe Pageant in 1979 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia. * On 1 September 2019,

, a

category 5 hurricane Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses * Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) * ...

on the

Saffir–Simpson scale The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) classifies hurricanes—which in the Western Hemisphere are tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms—into five categories distinguished by ...

, made

landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

in Marsh Harbour, tying the record with the

1935 Labor Day hurricane The Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record by pressure, with winds of up to 185 mph (297 km/h). The fourth tropical cyclone, third tropical storm, second hurricane, and se ...

for the highest sustained winds at landfall for an Atlantic hurricane.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Populated places in the Bahamas Former districts of the Bahamas Abaco Islands

Notable events in Marsh Harbour history

See also

References

External links