Peter Island
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Peter Island is a 720 hectare (1,779 acre) private island located in the
British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...
(BVI). It is about 5 miles (8 km) south-west (195 degrees true) from
Road Town Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. The population was about 15,000 in 2018. The name is derived from the na ...
,
Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...
. The island was named after Pieter Adriensen (nicknamed "The Commander") who was the brother of Abraham Adriensen, Patron of Tortola under the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
in the early 17th century. Pieter Adriensen and
Joost van Dyk Joost van Dyk (sometimes spelled Joost van Dyke) was a Dutch privateer (and, reportedly, sometime pirate) who was one of the earliest European settlers in the British Virgin Islands in the seventeenth century, and established the first permanent ...
built a
fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
and slave pens at
Great Harbour Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
on Peter Island to facilitate
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
ing and the nascent trade in
slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
s from
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
. In 1968,
Torolf Smedvig Torolf Smedvig (1917-1977) was a Norwegian businessman and the head of Smedvig ASA. Early life He was the eldest son of Peder Smedvig, the founder of Smedvig ASA. Career After his father Peder Smedvig died in 1959, his son Torolf Smedvig too ...
purchased most of the land on the island for $950,000. He prefabricated 20 luxury A-frame chalets in Norway. In 1969, two ships with thousands of tons of prefabricated buildings, house trailers, concrete, lumber, plumbing supplies, tractors, earthmovers, cranes, and more came over from Norway. Accompanying them was 20 Norwegian craftsmen and works, who would work with about 30 island workers. It took about ten days to assemble the A-frames on-site. Dredging Sprat Bay made it deeper and reclaimed land for the resort to sit on. All the A-frames, the pool, the lobby, bar, dining room, and hotel offices were all built on reclaimed land. The resort also included a harbor and a marina. Peter Island Yacht Club was marketed as one of the premier holiday locations in the West Indies. It incorporated a hotel in cottage colonial style and plots of land for sale. However, the development was costly and occupancy rates low, leading to significant economic losses. After Torolf's death, the resort was put up for sale in 1978. In 1978, the Devos family (Amway Corporation), purchased Peter Island after sailing past it several years before. There, they established the resort that exists today and lived on the island to maintain the resort. Peter Island is the largest private island in the BVI and the fifth largest of the 60 islands, quays, and exposed reefs that comprise the BVI. It was owned by the Amway Corporation from 1978 until 2001 when full ownership was transferred to the Van Andel family, co-owners of Amway. The island is predominantly undeveloped but contains hiking and biking trails on which to discover the tropical flora and fauna indigenous to Peter Island. The beaches face the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, and the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Two of the beaches (Honeymoon and White bay) are for use by guests only. The island's biggest beach is Deadman's Bay, a mile-long crescent beach shaded by palm trees with a beach, bar, and restaurant open to day boaters. Deadman's Bay is said to be named for pirates that were marooned on neighbouring Dead Chest island and subsequently drowned swimming to Peter Island, their bodies washed up on shore.Stephen Blakely, "Norman Island," TravelBeat, Jan. 5, 2009
/ref> The only hotel, the 52-room Peter Island Resort, ranked in Conde Nast Traveler's “Gold List,” and the Travel and Leisure “T+L 500” for 2007, is accessible by boat or helicopter. A 1984 review in the New York Times was critical of the food. It has since twice been named by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the "Best Places to Stay in the World".


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External links

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Peter Island Resort
Private islands of the British Virgin Islands {{BVI-geo-stub