“And so we are going  
to establish a school for  
the service of the Lord.”  
Rule of St. Benedict

Saint Augustine’s College was opened in 1945. In 1947, the school moved from it’s original location on West Street to the expansive campus in Fox Hill. A new Benedictine monastery and school building had been constructed at the top of the hill. As the monks settled into their new home, some of them began farming the land at the bottom of the hill. The top photo shows the monastery on the top-right, the school on the top-left, and the farm below.

As time went on, the need for a larger campus could not be ignored. While a small portion of the farm was saved, the new Saint Augustine’s College campus was built at the bottom of the hill to the south of the monastery. More about that tomorrow.

By the time Dan and I arrived in Nassau in 1974, the new campus was well-established. Some of the rooms of the original campus had been converted into guest rooms. One of those rooms was my home for the 1974-75 academic year. It was small. One might even describe it as monastic. What a surprise, right? My meals were with the monks in the monastery dining room, though, for the most part, I joined them only for dinner.

The second image above shows the original school building adjacent to the monastery. The white VW bug was the car provided for Dan and me for the duration of the school year. It’s parked in front of our rooms. It needed to be push-started most mornings, but it served us well, for the most part. Great memories.