OP
OP
Found this in an academic paper:
Thank you, Castro!
Thank you, Castro!
Sint / St. Maarten Isle Hotel: History & Set (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Taghkanic
- Start date
buffalojim
Royal Flush
Very cool, nice job!
Rakrul
Straight
Yup. In general, the french side has the best restaurants and dutch side has the best nightlife. I don't eat on the french side too much but there were still a lot of places recommended.
I tend to hang out in Simpson Bay and visit Maho and/or Pburg to buy some cigars. I did consider to stay in Grand Case for my next trip but think it's a bit too small and the french loves closing up early.
OP
OP
A bit of trivia I picked up about St. Maarten... It was named by Christopher Columbus on an early journey, though he did not actually set foot on the island. Problem was, he intended to give that name to the island of Nevis, but some map-maker screwed up and wrongly assigned it to what then became St. Maarten.
Various accounts indicate that the island was populated as long as 3,500 years ago, by Arawaks from what is now roughly Venezuela. There were other waves of immigrants, and more than two centuries of slavery which ended in the mid-19th century (slightly earlier on the French side than the Dutch side).
By coincidence, the area where I live (New York’s Hudson Valley) was also colonized by the Dutch. Just another small personal connection to the chips along with their 1968 origins.
My general sense is that the Dutch side is partytown, still hosting more than a dozen casinos and lots of nightclubs. There also evidently are many brothels there, and by some accounts it is a haven for money-launderers (including through the casinos, which seem to be very lightly regulated if at all). The French side has no live casinos, and seems to be more sedate. The current government seems to have some concerns about the unusually high percentage of permanent residents who patronize the casinos, as opposed to just tourists.
I’ve only passed through once, very briefly in the 1990s, landing by plane and taking a ferry to another island.
Various accounts indicate that the island was populated as long as 3,500 years ago, by Arawaks from what is now roughly Venezuela. There were other waves of immigrants, and more than two centuries of slavery which ended in the mid-19th century (slightly earlier on the French side than the Dutch side).
By coincidence, the area where I live (New York’s Hudson Valley) was also colonized by the Dutch. Just another small personal connection to the chips along with their 1968 origins.
My general sense is that the Dutch side is partytown, still hosting more than a dozen casinos and lots of nightclubs. There also evidently are many brothels there, and by some accounts it is a haven for money-launderers (including through the casinos, which seem to be very lightly regulated if at all). The French side has no live casinos, and seems to be more sedate. The current government seems to have some concerns about the unusually high percentage of permanent residents who patronize the casinos, as opposed to just tourists.
I’ve only passed through once, very briefly in the 1990s, landing by plane and taking a ferry to another island.
A Hollywood special effects artist retired there and has a small museum and shop. Tons of original Star Wars props and production design art.
In Grand Case, yes -- and two old favorites left on the marina waterfront. Just a shell of what was there before, though.
Rakrul
Straight
Also a bit brief history of the split of the island, popularly called SXM now, the airport code. The source is a cab-driver we hired as a chauffeur and guide so take it for it is. 
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
Marigot:
Anguilla in the background:
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
Courthouse
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
Marigot:
Anguilla in the background:
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
Courthouse
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
Attachments
OP
OP
Also a bit brief history of the split of the island, popularly called SXM now, the airport code. The source is a cab-driver we hired as a chauffeur and guide so take it for it is.
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
View attachment 1326957
Marigot:
View attachment 1326956
View attachment 1326958
Anguilla in the background:
View attachment 1326960
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
View attachment 1326967
View attachment 1326966
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
View attachment 1326968
Courthouse
View attachment 1326969
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
View attachment 1326972
View attachment 1326975
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
Not at all, great additions!
You may have already seen this, but I was looking through the Burgel auctions and recognized one of these (undrilled) $100s:
Here's the link, hope it finds it's way to your collection: https://estateauctions411.hibid.com...foreign-and-domestic-casino-chips?ref=catalog
Here's the link, hope it finds it's way to your collection: https://estateauctions411.hibid.com...foreign-and-domestic-casino-chips?ref=catalog
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