Soon after the American Revolution lots of Loyalists (Tories) left the then new nation and went either to Canada (those from the northern states) or to the Bahamas (those from the Carolinas primarily). Those coming to the Bahamas thought they would be able to bring their economy, their slaves, their way of life to the islands. Unfortunately for them, the Bahamas are very different from the Carolinas. They were not able to replicate the lives they had led before the Revolution. Large tracts of fertile land were not to be had, and the idea of large cotton plantations was eventually abandoned--as were large citrus plantations, sweet potato plantations--large farms of any kind. But every once in a while you can see a cotton plant--not very healthy and overgrown with very little cotton. We've seen these on several islands---symbols of a dream that was not to be.