Major Hill
North Caicos
Major Hill is a settlement on the northeast side of North Caicos. It’s bordered by Whitby Village to the west, and Bottle Creek to the south.
The main point of interest in this area is the North Caicos Airport (NCA), an airstrip used by domestic charter flights and private flights. A small grocery store and a couple of restaurants are located here as well.
The namesake and uninhabited island of Major Hill Cay can be found fronting the settlement in the shallow Bottle Creek Lagoon.
It’s not quite apparent when on the streets and roads of Major Hill (due to the overwhelming plant life), yet the Major Hill and Bottle Creek peninsula of land on North Caicos isn’t particularly wide as it’s bordered by the lagoon on one side and the extensive wetlands of Flamingo Pond on the other.
Real Estate
Major Hill doesn’t have much development, and there is quite a bit of real estate available for sale in the area. Many of the higher-elevation lots here feature fantastic views over the East Bay Islands National Park and Bottle Creek Lagoon.
Nearby Beaches
There is no beach on the waterfront Major Hill and Bottle Creek, only low limestone ironshore coastline. The nearest beaches are Whitby Beach and Horsestable Beach to the north.
The Plantations of Major Hill
North Caicos has been considered the garden island of the Turks and Caicos, and consequently once supported many of the island’s Loyalist-era plantations that centuries ago produced cotton, sugar cane, and sisal.
The area’s name was derived from Major Hill Estate, which stood where Major Hill Road is now, and there are still stone field walls and ruins from the site hidden in the thick dry forest.
Greenwich Hill and Israel Fields were two additional plantation sites. Although the estates have almost been lost to history and the surrounding dense vegetation, Greenwich Creek, the scenic western mouth of the channel between North Caicos and Bay Cay, still bears the name of the old plantation. The coast on the ocean side of this inlet is Horsestable Beach, and is one of the finest landscapes in the Turks and Caicos.
Situated between the Major Hill and Bottle Creek regions was another site: Belleview Estate, built by Scotsman John McIntosh.