Old Princess Margaret Drive before Marina Towers. Long ago... Also its inauguration in 1958 with the Princess in attendance
British Honduras went from left hand drive to right hand on 30 September 1961 at midnight. Then God punished us for altering the good Queen's sacred way of running things and we got Hattie one month later.
This was also a horse race track called Circular Road. Some of the best thoroughbred horses used to run here and ended in front of the New Town Club. Great occasions.
At this turn today, many houses are there such as the Hindu building, Riverol home, Billy Musa home, Eyles Home, Zaida Lopez home. Gallatti home, Meliton Auil Home, Johny Searle, Mrs Sylvester Home, looks like the curve just before the entrance to West Landivar. hen you take the stretch to St John's College, a little further up, where the starting point was. The first houses in Hone Park Corcular Drive were Jack Lind's and Frankson's followed by Abner Westby, Lester Young and others.
Penny Keating: Princess Margaret Drive used to flood very quickly when it first opened. A group of us was riding in a car that had very little 'bottom' to it. All of a sudden 2 fish were swimming in the car on the front passenger side. It was so below sea level... a lot of land filling was done.
Nick Pollard: I stood on the side in March 1958 with my British Flag and watched Princess Margaret wave to us.
Fred Reid: I remember surveying the race track (now Marion Jones stadium). One of the ministers came out to check on the work and I told him I was waiting for one of the crew to get back from the toilet near the airstrip. He went and got him out of there and told him to get back to work.
Frederick Vernon:
I know that i will take some Heat for this but it doesn't matter, i lives in the kitchen. So what really was the fuss about? This was typically British Colonialism in its full glory. The road was not properly filled, it was not paved. And there was not any drainage. There was not any commitment to provide any of these upgrades in the future.
Alan Usher:
The Mayflower tree she planted blew over in a hurricane a few years ago. The stump is still inside Princess Hotel gate...by the guard hut.
More photos of her visit are here.
Photograph courtesy Noel Escalante
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