Ethel and Catherine Tucker

Ethel Tucker and her sister Catherine (Kate) were two sisters belonging to a very well known Bermudian family. Ethel lived from 1874 to 1962 and Kate 1879-1970. They both studied art in New York before returning to Bermuda where they opened The Little Green Shop and this was where they sold the postcards of their water colours.
They also opened The Little Green Door, a tea shop which was visited by among others, Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling. Among the approximately 100 postcards they published, there are four of The Little Green Door.
I have included very useful links to a check list of their cards and more information about these fascinating ladies.
Should you ever visit Bermuda, I recommend the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. When I was there in June 2013, I found two Tucker prints and a selection of different (small) Tucker calendars for sale. At the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Bermuda Arts Centre, I found packs of Tucker notelets for sale.
These are little works of art recording a "lost" Bermuda from a different era.

Here is one of the Tucker postcards I have in my collection.

Flatts Village, Bermuda

This is No. 77 in the collection of postcards  and was published by Ethel and C.F.Tucker, Hamilton, Bermuda. It was printed in England by J. Salmond Ltd., Sevenoaks.  On the reverse there is a 3d stamp of Queen Elizabeth II .

I can't quite make out the date on the postmark but it looks like the card was posted sometime in the 1950s.

Flatts Village is situated in Hamilton Parish and is home to the Bermuda Aquarium, Zoo and Museum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatts_Village,_Bermuda

Flatts Village

Here are a couple of up-to-date photos of Flatts Village - a lovely place to visit.

 Every time I pass these beautiful homes (in one of the pink Bermuda buses) I always think - what a lovely place to live!

These photos give you an idea of some of the lovely homes and scenery you will see if you every manage to visit this British Overseas Territory which is not in the Caribbean as many people think!
It's actually in the Atlantic Ocean and the nearest land to it is Cape Hatteras (where the famous lighthouse is) in North Carolina.
Not knowing which street in Flatts Village was painted by Ethel, I have been unable to find a modern photo of it, but the ones I have posted will give you an idea of what Flatts Village looks like now.

Flatts Village (Again!)

Here is another postcard painted by the Tucker sisters - this time Kate.

This one is No. 37 in the series and again, as the other card, was published by Ethel & C.F. Tucker, Hamilton, Bermuda.
All I can say is, Flatts Village has changed a lot since this little work of art was painted!

Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo

Here's a 1988 postcard of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo situated in Flatts Village,

http://www.bamz.org/

I seem to remember a pool to the right of the entrance that you could view from the pavement. I thought there might have been seals in it, but looking at the interactive map on the website, it may now be green turtles.

Walsingham

Here's a card I got recently.

It's called Walsingham and it's No. 16 in the series. It was quite funny seeing this card listed on some auction sites under "England".
Walsingham House was built in 1652 for the Trott family. However it is most famous because of one person who lived there for a few months. He was called Tom Moore, known as the Irish Poet  who at the time (1804) came to Bermuda as Registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty. It seems he was very bored in Bermuda and didn't last long! There is a calabash tree that Moore referred to in his poems and songs and it is about 200 yards from the house.
The house became a tavern over a hundred years ago and is now called Tom Moore's Tavern. I'm guessing it didn't change it's name until some time later as this postcard still calls it by it's old name.
I visited the tavern when I was in Bermuda in June. Unfortunately it doesn't open for lunch (only dinner) so I didn't see it inside. It is a very popular restaurant and even Prince Charles ate there in 1970!

Here's a picture I took of the tavern in June. Unfortunately I forgot to look for the calabash tree!

I wasn't able to take a photo of Walsingham from over the water as in the original postcard, but this photo was taken from in front of Walsingham (or Tom Moore's Tavern) looking back to roughly where the original water colour would have been painted.

If you ever visit Tom Moore's Tavern, it's not too far from the Fantasy and Crystal Caves, as well as the famous Swizzle Inn and Ice Cream Parlor!

More Flatts Village!

As I have just come into a large number of Bermuda postcards, I have found a couple more relating to Flatts Village, so before I finish with it, I thought I would post them even though they aren't actually Tucker postcards.

They are both Yankee Store linen postcards. Neither have been used, so I don't have dates for them, but as I particularly love these linen cards, I thought I must include them!

This is No. 227 and is a view of the Government Aquarium and below is No. 281 - a view of Flatts.

Happy Christmas!

I'm afraid I don't have any "Christmassy" Tucker postcards, but I thought I would post one anyway!
So I decided I would post the only one in the set of postcards that wasn't painted by either Ethel or Kate.
It was painted by H Wood (who I have no information about), and is No. 21 in the set.

Once I have a chance to find some information about Spanish Point, I will post it here.
Unfortunately there is nothing on the reverse of the card, so I can't provide any dates for this one.
Anyway, thank you to anyone who has come across my little blog and taken the time to look at the lovely postcards!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

(This post is no longer dated December as I've had to change the dates to keep the posts in the right order)!