Along with many artists who found inspiration in Bermuda in the 1900s, writers, politicians, scientists, sports stars, socialites and Hollywood celebrities have also fallen for the island's charms over the years.

Literary stars such as humourist Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and dramatist Eugene O'Neill were intrigued by Bermuda's balmy climate, quaint beauty and privacy, making Bermuda a favourite retreat. O'Neill wrote part of 'Strange Interlude' here and combined work with vigorous swimming and canoeing. His daughter Oona - who married Charlie Chaplin - was born in Bermuda.

Fellow writers who became Bermuda devotees included E. B. White, Stephen Leacock and Langston Hughes.

One turn-of-the-century Bermudaphile was Woodrow Wilson, a frequent visitor before he became the 28th U.S. president in 1912. He and Twain signed a petition against allowing cars here.

Many others visitors, among them, actor Harpo Marx, composer Irving Berlin, baseball legend Babe Ruth and child star Shirley Temple, came to play golf or enjoy a subtropical escape from America's chilly winters.

In the 1950s, America's first astronauts were frequently seen on the island, where NASA ran a sophisticated orbital tracking station on Cooper's Island from 1961 to 2001. Astronauts Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard rode mopeds and paid visits to the station. As tourism increased in the 1970s and '80s, famous names among the visiting throngs included politicians Richard Nixon and Jesse Jackson, and 'Roots' author Alex Haley, among many others.

In the 1990s, when the Chicago Bulls ruled basketball, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen enjoyed golfing sojourns here.

Some U.S. celebrities enjoy Bermuda so much, they buy homes here. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg travels between the Big Apple and his home in Tucker's Town, St. George's Parish. Academy Award-winning actor and producer, Michael Douglas, has deep family roots in both Bermuda and the U.S. His mother, Diana Dill, comes from one of Bermuda's oldest families, while his father, Kirk Douglas, is the famous American actor. Michael and his Oscar-winning Welsh wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, came to live in Warwick Parish with their two children in 2001 and until last year, when they moved their base to New York, considered Bermuda their primary home.

"Our work takes us around the world," Catherine Zeta-Jones once said, "but whenever we return to our home in Bermuda, we are overwhelmed by its beauty and the friendliness of its people.

"And for Michael, whose family has been on the island for close to 400 years, [there's] a sense of solace and security."

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This is an edited version of a story that appears in 'Four Centuries of Friendship' a National Museum of Bermuda (Bermuda Maritime Museum Press).

Rosemary Jones is the author of 'Bermuda: Five Centuries,' 'Bermuda: Five Centuries for Young People' and 'Moon Handbooks Bermuda.'