The community is invited to celebrate one of the Island's cultural treasures on Saturday when Verdmont Museum marks its 50th Anniversary.

The Bermuda National Trust is inviting everyone to 'Celebrating Verdmont' — a day of cultural events and attractions followed by an open air concert at the Museum grounds in Smith's.

Laura Lyons, Curator and Museum Collections Manager, said: "This Saturday, Verdmont will become the setting for an afternoon folklife festival, filled with tradition bearers demonstrating arts and skills inherent in Bermuda's history and culture. In the evening, there will be live music, fusing traditional Bermuda calypso, folk, funk, blues and reggae.

"Folklife is about honouring current traditions and passing on their history to the next generation, and the Bermuda National Trust is grateful to all of the participants. I would like to encourage everyone to come out on Saturday to experience Bermudian heritage and the magic of Verdmont — it will not disappoint!

"Verdmont, as a witness to nearly 300 years of Bermuda's history, is an important heritage site and we feel that there would be no better way to commemorate its anniversary than holding an event which, in essence, is aimed at honouring Bermuda and our unique culture.

"The Bermuda National Trust is looking ahead to Verdmont's next 50 years and we hope the public will continue to show support for the preservation of such an historic building and its cultural landscape as we continue to interpret and present the Bermuda story within its walls and through its collections."

Verdmont was built around 1710 for newlyweds John and Elizabeth Dickinson and is a unique example of early Georgian architecture, remaining virtually unchanged for 300 years.

Looking at the graceful building, it is hard to imagine it was funded with the booty of pirates, but Verdmont is said to have been built with the proceeds of an expedition to the high seas of Arabia.

Henry Fyfield, first husband of Elizabeth Dickinson, and her father Colonel Anthony White, were among the shareholders in the Bermudian sloop Amity, captained by Rhode Islander Thomas Tew. In 'Bermuda in the Old Empire', Dr. Henry Campbell Wilkinson says Captain Tew sailed around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean, and then around the Horn of Africa to the Straits of Bab el Mandeb near the Red Sea, where the sloop lay in wait for six Arabian ships.

The Amity, with eight guns and a crew of 45, ran alongside and boarded the tallest ship in the convoy. According to Dr. Wilkinson: "The (Arabian) ship was carried without loss to the pirates. The booty was so immense that, notwithstanding waste, it yielded 3,000 pounds sterling a man."

The shareholders received "some Spanish bullion... together with broken gold and gold dust and... a substantial sum in Lyon dollars and Arabian gold".

Dr. Wilkinson says: "Arabian gold showed its face on the Island for a while, notwithstanding the efforts of its first recipients to be discreet... Indeed, every effort was made to hush up the whole matter as far as it could be in so small, intimate, and inquisitive a community."

Verdmont descended through the heirs of merchant John Dickinson for 166 years, until it was sold in 1860 to farmer Rupert Hugh Spencer.

It was then passed down through the generations until it was acquired in 1951 by the Bermuda Historical Monuments Trust, for 8,000 pounds sterling.

The last person to live at Verdmont was Lillian Joell (1875-1953), who shunned modern amenities, cooking on a kerosene stove, pumping water by hand and using oil lamps and candles.

Verdmont Museum is open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Wednesdays to Saturdays, admission $5 for adults, $2 for children aged six-18.

For more information telephone 236 7369. For the details of this Saturday's 'Celebrating Verdmont' festival, contact 236 6483, or see Lifestyle on Page 33.