Tucker Museum on Water Street, St. George's.

Whereas once this National Trust-owned property was a sort of dead-and-alive collection of rooms with furniture, today it feels so much like a real home that one instinctively expects to meet the occupants.

Built of native limestone around 1711, the building became the home of Henry Tucker from 1775 to 1800 -- a descendant of the first Tucker who came to Bermuda as Governor in 1616.

The Tuckers were prominent families in the western parishes, occupying The Grove (later demolished to make way for the Port Royal Golf Course) and Bridge House (now the Somerset rectory) at Somerset Bridge. As one would expect of such families, they acquired an interesting collection of fine furniture and artifacts in their lifetimes.

"The Tuckers were very much a Somerset and Southampton family,'' Mr. Hugh Davidson, chairman of the Trust's Museums Committee, related. "However, young Henry Tucker was sent to St. George's to look after his father's shipping business in approximately 1775, and he lived for about 25 years at what is now called the President Henry Tucker House Museum.'' The decision to turn the former home into a museum was precipitated by a bequest made by the late Mr. Robert Tucker of Baltimore, Maryland who died in 1950 at age 102.

"The furniture that was in Baltimore came from The Grove and Bridge House, and was sent there with the parents of Robert Tucker, who left it to the Bermuda National Trust on the understanding that it would be displayed, and that is how the museum started,'' Mr. Davidson related. "As a result of this bequest, the house was renovated and opened as a museum on May 5, 1953 under the aegis of the Bermuda Monuments Trust, forerunner of the Bermuda National Trust, and as a result of the collective efforts of Mr. William E.S. Zuill, Mr. Will Onions, Dr. Henry Wilkinson and Mr. Hereward Watlington.'' While the furniture installed at that time remains, Mr. Davidson doubts that the rest was actually there at the time Henry Tucker occupied it.

"We know that, on December 30, 1807 an auction took place of `sundry articles of household furniture', so it is unlikely that anything that is there now was formerly in the Tucker house,'' he said.

Three years ago, the Trust decided to form a Museums Committee "mainly because its museums had been somewhat overlooked in the overall picture of things'', Mr. Davidson explained.

This year, in focussing on the Tucker House Museum, the Committee (John Adams, Frances Aeschliman, John Cox, Jade Lovell and Mr. Davidson) discovered "a wonderful collection of artifacts displayed throughout the building'' but decided that a more judicious arrangement of them "would better demonstrate what these items were originally intended to be used for.'' In addition, it elected to conserve, repair and restore the furniture, and expand the artifact collection.

The result is that today's visitor steps into a beautiful setting where family life appears to be actually going on.

All rooms radiate off the airy entrance hall, where a 200-year-old clock loudly chimes the hours. Pristine white walls and ceilings throughout make a perfect foil for the rich browns of the cedar, walnut and mahogany fine furniture.

The drawing room, which is filled with mostly locally-made cedar furniture, is arranged as if ready for an afternoon tea party, and has about it a cool, colonial feel.

A cane Sheraton-style settee and four Queen Anne-style side chairs face an elegant tray-topped tea table, while a large cedar armchair fills one corner by the fireplace, a tallcase mahogany clock another, and a Sheraton-style work table still another.

Blue damask drapes pick up one of the muted colours in the large rug, and portraits of Tuckers, some by Joseph Blackburn, grace the walls.

Across the hall, a French lead glass chandelier hovers above the large mahogany dining table and ladderback Chippendale-style chairs. Complementing them are mahogany gaming tables, a Bermuda cedar blanket chest, walnut bureau bookcase, and an interesting collection of china trade porcelain -- remains of services used by the Tuckers.

The bedchamber, directly off the drawing room, includes a carved mahogany four poster bed covered with an antique quilt, 18th century Bermudian chairs, a bureau bookcase and secretaire chest.

Whereas once it incorporated baby furniture, there is now an official nursery in the room adjoining. Here one finds not only a Bermuda cedar four poster bed but a three-sided cedar cradle, which fits against it, and a small cedar chest. A mahogany linen press with fine brass fittings, and a charming doll's bed complete the charming scene.

The back hall, leading down to the kitchen, is the repository of various Tucker memorabilia, including family jewellery and small silverware, and a bust of Dr. Samuel Johnson, carved from Bermuda cedarwood by Daniel Tucker.

Through the windows can be glimpsed an authentic herb garden and old brick pathway.

The library, also off the front hall, provides the setting for two magnificent pieces of furniture: an unusually large round pedestal supper table with a dished top carved from a single piece of mahogany, and a Bermuda Cedar highboy. Glass doors on an English mahogany breakfront bookcase protect a collection of silver items used by generations of Tuckers.

Portraits of Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert, signed by the sovereign and presented to Henry St. George Tucker in recognition of his services to India, look down from the walls.

The kitchen area, though not yet complete, boasts a fascinating collection of furniture and artifacts. There is, for example, a mahogany bread riser -- a coffin-like box on legs -- and also a wooden chair with an elongated seat which tour guide Miss Maude Carlington says is reputed to be a "drunk man's chair''.

Tucker House Museum is also the place where Mr. Joseph Hayne Rainey rented space to run a barbershop. Mr. Rainey, a free black man who escaped from South Carolina, later became a US Congressman.

"It is thought that Mr. Rainey operated a barber shop in or near the kitchen, and a tribute to him will be found there,'' Mr. Davidson noted.

New drapes, upholstery and cushions throughout the house have been carefully chosen to enhance the ambiance of the rooms rather than reflect an authentic reproduction of the times.

"(The refurbishment) is not intended to be a faithful reproduction of the Tucker home as it was when Henry lived there, but rather an interpretation of the period -- circa 1800. And we are referring to it as a merchant's town house,'' Mr. Davidson noted.

With the exception of a few area rugs, the highly polished natural wood floors are allowed to gleam.

Indeed, gleam is perhaps what one notices most about the face-lift. Everything in Tucker House gleams -- furniture, silver, brass, china, floors -- thanks to a regular cleaner and the extra efforts of Miss Carlington, who takes such price in her workplace that she not only polishes every day but also adds freshly picked flowers to the various rooms.

Like Mr. Davidson, who describes his committee as "over the moon'' about the results of the spruce-up, Miss Carlington is ecstatic about the transformation.

"I think it's just beautiful,'' she said. "Mr. Davidson is a wonderful man.'' Now that Tucker House has become such a gem, the Committee's thoughts are are turning towards ways to encourage more Bermudians, in particular, to visit this national treasure.

"The Trust is custodian of a very valuable piece of Bermudian heritage. We would like to see Bermudians make the effort to visit all our museums on a regular basis because the Trust has an outstanding collection of Bermuda-made artifacts,'' Mr. Davidson said.

Admission is a modest $3, and Tucker House is open from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Monday to Saturday.

ANYONE FOR TEA? -- The gracious drawing room of the President Henry Tucker Museum on Water Street, St. George's appears ready for afternoon tea.

Beautiful, 18th century Bermuda cedar furniture, locally made, is attractively grouped beneath the elegant chandelier.