About us

When David Payne first created the vision for an eco-lodge, Paradise was the actual name given to a beautiful, bountiful 300 acres of tropical vegetation, nestled right in the heart of Montserrat. For centuries, Paradise had been a sugar plantation, and in 1980 when David purchased it, it had been unused and unlived in for decades, and the Tropical Mother Nature had taken her land back; lush, rich, green now covered every square inch of Paradise including the buildings. Plants, shrubs, vines, and trees, had grown up the walls, through the floors, and upon the rooftops.  Leaves and flowers entered and exited through windows and doorways, ivy and berries clambered up staircases and down steps.

Above all, David had wanted to preserve this beauty, and share his island’s bounty with the rest of the world. Paradise was perfect. It needed no improvement, and very little enhancement.

He researched solar energy systems to provide sustainable energy that hurt nothing. He investigated waste recycling systems that allowed Nature and humans to re-use and recover and not dispose of and discard. He was a builder of homes who created living spaces that blended with and fit into the natural environment; his developments always successfully enhanced their natural environments, never substantially changed their surroundings.

David Payne’s Paradise was not to be. In 1995, the volcano that lived just above Paradise awoke from its long sleep and won the fight for that land.

Missing only a beat or two, David moved Paradise to Mount Pleasant. The energy that drives Mount Pleasant is safe, smart, and sustainable. The beauty that defines Mount Pleasant is timeless, perfect, and now, available to discerning travelers. David’s Dream that was deferred, is reborn now, at Mount Pleasant.

Come! David invites you, and Montserrat welcomes you.