Jeffrey’s Cave at Spittal Pond Nature Reserve

 

Here at Spittal Pond is a place known as Jeffrey’s Cave. Jeffrey, an absconder who remained hidden for over a month at Spittal Pond, resulted in a cave bearing his name to this day.

Jeffrey was an enslaved young man in his late teens or early twenties. One night when Jeffrey’s Enslaver was taking a count of the enslaved at the property, he could not account for Jeffrey and his whereabouts. The Enslaver, with others, went and searched for Jeffrey over several days which turned into weeks, and he even put a notice in the Royal Gazette about Jeffery missing. The search was abandoned, when it was believed Jeffrey had escaped from Bermuda on a sailing vessel.

Jeffrey’s Enslaver, began to notice mysterious behavior from an enslaved girl, as she would disappear at sunset daily, carrying a small package. One evening the Enslaver followed her, as she walked through the woods by the side of the pond to the Rocky Shoreline at Spittal Pond, unfortunately he lost track of her. The next evening the Enslaver got a friend to accompany him and to follow the young enslave girl, and this time it led them to the cave in which they found the well concealed Jeffrey, and the young enslave girl giving him food from the package.

Since that day, the spot has been named Jeffrey’s Cave. Nothing was noted of what happened to Jeffrey and the young girl afterwards, but we can only imagine the punishment they suffered after being captured, during the horrendous time of slavery in Bermuda.