Understanding Bermuda
Continuing with the origin story of John Lennon’s song ‘Grow Old With Me,’ Lennon arrived in Bermuda on June 11, 1980 and remained there until July 28. His sailing trip to the archipelago and stay there had a profound impact on him, reigniting his creative spirit. To better understand that impact, it’s important to know a bit about Bermuda.
To say that Bermuda is physically beautiful is an understatement. Bermuda is known for its pink sand beaches and blue water. Many of the houses have white stepped roofs and pastel-colored, stucco walls. Bermuda has long been a popular tourist destination.
Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 650 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, which is the nearest landmass. The name Bermuda is believed to honor Juan de Bermúdez, an acquaintance of the Spanish navigator Fernández de Oviedo, who sailed past its shores in the 1500s. It was around this time that Bermuda first appeared on a map.
Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean, as many think. Rather, it lies far to the north and is geographically isolated. Bermuda has a tropical climate, with high relative humidity and moderate temperatures. The Atlantic Ocean moderates temperatures, making Bermuda more akin to the western coast of Europe than the eastern coast of the United States.
The archipelago has well over 100 islands, with the most significant of them connected by bridges. Bermuda has a population of approximately 64,000. In 1980, when Lennon visited, the population was approximately 53,000.
Bermuda is small. For perspective, the total land area is approximately 21 square miles. For comparison, the land area of Manhattan is approximately 22.7 square miles.
From an aerial view, Bermuda has a fishhook shape, with the bottom of the hook to the southwest and the top to the northeast. At the top of the northeast is St. George’s Island and the town of St. George. St. George’s Harbor is where Lennon arrived on the Megan Jaye on June 11, 1980.
South of St. George’s Harbor is Castle Harbor. To the southwest of that is Harrington Sound. Harrington Sound is a wide, shallow basin, approximately two miles long and a mile and a half across. The first place that Lennon stayed in Bermuda, Alexandra, was near the southern section of Harrington Sound, overlooking Devil’s Hole, in Smith’s Parish.
There are nine areas of Bermuda, called parishes. Hamilton, the capital, is in the middle-ish of the main set of islands.
After staying at Alexandra in Smith’s Parish, Lennon moved to a house in the Pembroke parish, as we’ll detail in subsequent articles. The area he stayed looks out onto the Great Sound, which is inside the hook of Bermuda’s fishhook shape.
Over 400,000 tourists came to Bermuda in 1980. For Lennon, his trip to Bermuda that year changed the course of his life.