What Is the History of Cherokee Sound in Abaco?

By Sail Abacos, Editorial Team

Reviewed by Captain Ronald Rolle

Colonel Thomas Brown led a group of Loyalists from the Carolinas via Florida to establish Cherokee Sound in the 1790s. The settlement's name has generated various theories, with one suggesting it derives from Colonel Brown's supposed connection to Cherokee Indians.

The natural harbor attracted settlers who quickly turned to the sea for survival. Fishing provided food while wrecking brought goods and income until lighthouses reduced shipwrecks in the late 1800s. This maritime focus shaped Cherokee Sound's character for generations.

Cherokee became famous for its smack fishing tradition, which flourished from the early nineteenth century until the 1960s. Smacks were specialized boats with live wells that kept fish alive during transport to market in Nassau. Cherokee fishermen supplied much of the capital's seafood for over a century.

In 1988, the community erected a monument honoring Cherokee fishermen and their smacks, commemorating this long tradition that defined the settlement's identity and economy. The dedication ceremony brought together families whose ancestors had worked these waters.

Before roads connected Cherokee Sound to the rest of Abaco, the settlement remained remarkably isolated. Residents traveled primarily by boat, maintaining a self-sufficient community that preserved traditions other settlements lost to modernization.

Today, fewer than 200 residents call Cherokee Sound home, most commuting elsewhere for work while maintaining their connection to this historic settlement. The 770-foot wooden dock, the longest in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, remains a proud symbol of the community's maritime heritage.

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