Fiddler’s Green…The Sailors Heaven

Fiddler’s Green…The Sailors Heaven

Fiddler’s Green was where seamen would say they wanted to go when they had to give up their life at sea.  Each seaman had his own idea of what his Fiddler’s Green would be like. It was the Sailor’s heavenly place. 

Fiddlers Green for the old seaman was where the grass was green, fiddlers played, wine and rum flowed and mates you did not like were “not permitted”. Fiddler’s Green was the safe harbor that still had a flavor of the sea for the old salts and jack tars. I could see a Florida retirement home called Fiddler’s Green and the ads they could place on TV. They probably look like the ones we see right now on TV, but with sailing ship anchored off a beach and old sailors sitting under a Tiki hut with rum drinks and beer. It actually sounds good.

I have a sign at our dock with Fiddler’s Green and an arrow pointing up toward our house. Before the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie few people had any idea what Fiddler’s Green was, now they think of the bar in the movie. The wife and I correct them when we go up to the house.

Our house, in many ways, is our Fiddler’s Green. When we came north from the Florida Keys we could not find a live-aboard marina. When we found the house and could have our boats at our back doorstep also, it was heavenly. 

May all the old salts and sailors find their Fiddlers Green and enjoy green grass and fiddles playing.