The Cat Cays are two islands in the
Bahamas, North Cat Cay and South Cat Cay, approximately 10 miles south of Bimini. North Cat Cay is a privately owned island and is run as a private members club by the Cat Cay Yacht Club. South Cat Cay is currently under development.
North Cat Cay is a small private island in the Bimini chain of The Bahamas. It is named after the "cat line" of a sailing vessel which it resembles, and was once used by the infamous pirates Charles Vane and Edward Teach known as Blackbeard. Queen Victoria , granted in 1873,[when] the original deed for Cat Cay to Captain William Henry Stuart, as a reward for his services as keeper of the Lighthouse on neighbouring Gun Cay.
Later, Captain Arthur Samuel Haigh, an Englishman, became the owner of Cat Cay. Captain Haigh established the island custom of dressing formally for dinner. While his original home burned, the cookhouse remained intact and its huge oven fireplace is part of the rebuilt cottage named Haigh House in his honour. Haigh is buried in the historic Anglican graveyard on North Bimini.
Milo Strong and his wife bought the island in 1915 and they built and lived in the Manor House, which still exists today. They spent nine months out of the year on Cat Cay. The 1929 hurricane blew the roof off of their home and this was repaired but Strong died two years later and another storm damaged the Manor House after which Mrs. Strong decided to sell.
