News

Modern cave man!

FRANCINE BLACK, Staff Reporter

Mr. Charles Brown stands at the entrance of his cave home in Bull Bay St. Thomas where he has been living for the past three years. - IAN ALLEN

THE BIBLE SAYS the wise man built his house upon a rock, and one man appears to have made his home inside a rock.

For the past two years Charles Brown, 50, has forsaken all his worldly belongings and expenses and has been living rent-free in a cave in the hills of Bull Bay, St. Thomas.

Brown said he moved into his natural apartment in May 2003 after he started having difficulty paying his $2,000 per year rent for a room in Cambridge Farm, 11 Miles Bull Bay. He passed the caves frequently while on his way to his farm in Windsor Castle and decided that this would be home.

"I use to stay under a piece a rock up a Windsor where mi use to sleep, suh mi seh if me caan stay up dere with little cover, mi caan stay up here which have better shade," he said.

Self sufficient

So, Brown moved out of the house and into the caves. He said the first night there he knew he was home. "The first night I slept here, I had a dream where a man gave me a bunch of keys and I seh yes mi get mi keys fi here so," Brown said.

Since moving into the hills, Brown has become a self-sufficient cave man. Inside his cave are essential items for his survival including clothes which he stores in a suitcase in a corner of the one room apartment, several water containers, a single bed, a kerosene lamp and pots.

At the entrance of the cave is a fireplace where he prepares his meals. The only modern piece of equipment Brown owns is a battery operated radio. To another side of the cave is a bathroom where he bathes.