Hope Estate

One of the original nine plantations on Bequia, Hope Estate became the property of Sir William Young, Baronet, after the English took over the island from the French in 1763.  Later the property belonged to the Mitchells, and then the Ollivieres. In the early 1960s, the Ollivieres sold the property to the late Gustav H. Koven and Jane Crowley Koven, of Green Village, New Jersey.

Mr. Koven, the retired principal of L.O. Koven and Brother, of Jersey City, NJ, a one-time leading industrial manufacturer of steel tanks, hired noted architect James Suydam Jones, also of New Jersey, to design their family home. The Kovens discovered Bequia while sailing their boat, the Eleuthera II, around St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The avid sailors built the "Whelk House" on Hope Bay beach and lived in it while building the main house overlooking Hope Bay.

The Kovens also built the road to Hope Bay beach and farmed the property--raising sheep, peas, and lettuce for the Plantation House, Frangipani, and other local hotels.  In those days, kerosene lamps lit the main house and a windmill charged a set of batteries taken from the Eleuthera II, which provided a limited supply of electricity.

Mindful of its historic past, the property is still farmed today. Hope House, built of indigenous rock and South American hardwood, is sensitively located to catch Western breezes. Both the main house and guest cottage sit high above Hope Bay and enjoy private views of Mustique and Balliceaux Islands.  Hope Bay beach is accessible by both the road built by the Kovens, long ago, and a private trail that meanders through the close to 90 scenic acres which form the Hope Estate.