A signpost in the history of the Algarve has died at the age of 93.
John Benedict Stilwell is being remembered in the Portuguese press as “the creator of Hotel Penina – the 1st 5-star hotel in the region – as well the south coast’s very first golf course.
But he was also a deeply religious man who built the Catholic Church of Santo António, on land next to Penina – offering “all the liturgical implements and vestments” – before going on to help the parish of Alvor create other “structures of support”.
Say reports, his work for the Catholic Church won him a special decoration from Pope John Paul II in the 90s.
Stilwell was born in Lisbon in 1925, the son of an English father and Portuguese mother.
It was in the early 60s when he was on holiday in Praia da Rocha that he become inspired by the comment by a friend that there was “never anything to do in the Algarve in winter”.
The challenge lit the touchpaper that went on to create an industry. Stilwell bought the 146-hectare Tapada de Penina with eight partners and invited golf champion Henry Cotton to design the Algarve’s first course.
It wasn’t an easy task, writes Elizabete Rodrigues of Sulinformação. There were huge areas of swamp around Ria do Alvor – but the planting of 300,000 trees transformed the landscape, and in 1966 the “Campo de Golfe da Penina, and the luxury hotel of the same name” opened for business.
Hotel do Golfe Penina, as it was known, was decorated with a number of ‘pieces of history’, “including a piano given to the Stilwell family by Queen Dona Amélia, and a 16th century cupboard which stood in the reception”.
Henry Cotton was “always one of the most faithful players on the course” where he used a donkey named “Pacífico” (Peaceful) as his caddy”.
As the years rolled by Hotel do Golfe Penina welcomed all manner of illustrious guests: showbusiness personalities, writers, sports stars, aristocrats. In December 1968 Paul McCartney rolled in – as the story goes to change a £5 note. He apparently stayed in the bar until the early hours, accepting an invitation by the resident band Jota Hêrre “to play with them”. McCartney went a step further – he composed a song, called Penina, which the band went on to record.
This is just one of what must be many stories of the hotel that continues to be a landmark in Algarve tourism thanks to the pioneering spirit of one man.
Interviewed by SIC television news in 2009, Stilwell outlined the hotel’s history, describing how other hotels, developments and golf courses went on to follow, and saying: “In my opinion there are now too many golf courses”.
John Stilwell’s funeral will be held at the church he built next to Penina on Monday at 3pm.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
