Montserrat, West Indies
Known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, lush and mountainous Montserrat may be one of the Caribbean's best kept secrets. Up until the beginning of its Soufriere volcano's eruption in 1995, Montserrat developed as a residential tourism island--its foreign visitors buying or renting private homes in an extensive area on the Caribbean side of the island. In a very unusual and thoughtful development, there were 400 homes on spacious grounds owned, visited and rented by people from the United States, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and England.

Montserrat made international news when its centuries long dormant volcano became active again. That event and a more destructive eruption in 1997 initiated evacuations and interventions by international aid agencies. Many local people left and made homes elsewhere in the world and many of the foreign home owners looked to other Caribbean islands for their holidays. A population once over 10,000 now is about 4,000. The Soufriere volcano is still active and is monitored. The island's population and commercial enterprises have relocated in the northern third of the island while the southern part of Montserrat is now home only to Soufriere.

Though Montserrat is no longer making international news, it remains a calm and secure place of fabulous beauty. And it now has a most unique attraction--Soufriere volcano. For years Montserrat was a refuge where stars like Elton John and Paul McCartney could relax and mingle comfortably in the larger community. John spent a lot of his time greeting and saying farewell to a string of lovers at the ferry dock, finally meeting the woman he married at Air Studios. Air Studios, owned by Beatle Musical Director, Sir George Martin, provided state of the art recording equipment in this relaxed Caribbean setting. Not only favored by Elton John, Air Studios drew Paul McCartney's Wings, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and other big name musicians to Montserrat. Air Studios was destroyed in a hurricane in 1989, but Sir George Martin stayed involved with this beautiful island. Martin together with his wife and other major donors raised funds for construction of a state of the art concert hall/conference center; it is their gift to the island of Montserrat. To see more commentary on Air Studios, please click here to go to our Sights and Sites information.

AND.....If you know something that should be included on the site, please let us know. If you have a correction to give us, please write. If you have more current information than is on the site, write to us and let us know. Aside from creating an informational website, we hoped to stimulate communication across the island and to help everyone in Montserrat to live better lives.