Our open air museum has some interesting authentic replications showing examples of the building techniques used by Bonaire’s early inhabitants.
(Click on the images to view larger photo)
 Kas di Bara
(Stick house)
The stick house (wattle and daub) is a type of house that the slaves brought from Africa. This system of making houses, using sticks, mud and straw roofs, is still known in that continent. The building of these houses was done in the form of a cooperative. The neighbors, friends and family would help a person build his house. First, they would cut a two-pronged branch or crotch of a tree and the sticks when there was a full moon. After they had finished building the sides, they added the roof. To finish the job, they would fill in the sides of the house with a type of white clay. In order for the clay to cling to the walls, they would mix grass with the clay. In the end, they would plaster the wall with whitewash (limestone or ‘kalki’).
 Kas di Piedra
(Stone house)
The people who had more money built stone houses. They used stones from the countryside for the ‘blocks’. They used limestone to cement the stones together. In the second half of the 1920’s, they started to use cement blocks. That was the beginning of the end for the stone houses.
 Kas di Tabla
(Wooden house)
Another type of house in the past was the wooden or ‘clapboard’ house. Sometimes, for protection, they would cover the walls of the wood houses with flattened tin cans. These wood houses were used mainly by people who did not have much money.
 Fornu di Karbon
(Charcoal pit)
Charcoal was a very popular export product for Bonaire in the past. It represented a very important income for plantations. Most of the charcoal was sent to Curacao during the period of time before kerosin and gas stoves were imported. After these modern stoves were introduced, the production of charcoal decreased.
 Fornu di Kalki
(Limestone furnace)
Limestone was another very important export product for Bonaire. Even the West Indies Company and the Government of Holland had a supervisor for the limestone furnaces of Bonaire. The ingredients for making limestone were wood, rocks from the sea and coral. It took a whole night for the furnace to burn completely. Then they would break the limestone apart in order to use it.
 Fornu di Sentebibu
(Aloe oven)
Aloe, a plant that was introduced to these islands around 1840, was another export product of Bonaire. They planted the aloe on all the large farms and plantations. The collected juice was cooked in a large kettle and exported in wooden boxes. Many people found employment on the farms and plantations of Bonaire.
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