Residents and visitors who wandered around Cruz Bay during the opening of Carnival Village on June 28 were treated to another delightful opening: Mooie’s, the iconic bar that was first opened by Sen. Theovald E. “Mooie” Moorehead in 1956, is back in business.
Perhaps more amazing is that the bar is still in the hands of the Moorehead family. His daughter, Theodora Moorehead, took it over in 1995 but closed it more than a decade ago to spend more time with her mother, Genevieve Moorehead, as she aged.

Theovald “Mooie” Moorehead is a legend on St. John.  He started out as a customs officer on St. John, became a career Army man, and served in the V.I. Legislature for 16 years. He took great pride in being a contractor, civic leader, and businessman who helped out his neighbors, but he made his national reputation as a passionate defender of the rights of native property owners. The film “Our Island, Our Home” tells the story of his fight to keep the federal government from displacing ancestral St. Johnians while attempting to take over most of the island to create the Virgin Islands National Park.
Mooie opened the bar nearly 70 years ago as a way of supporting the family when he became a senator from St. John. Since there was no regular ferry service, he had to stay over on St. Thomas during the week. (For six months of work as a legislator – two weeks in session and two weeks off – senators then earned about $600.)
In those years, St. John’s population hovered around 800, and the bar operated on the honor system: customers – generally men – would pour a shot of rum and leave the money on a shelf.
In 1960, when Mooie and partners Victor Sewer and Ron Morrisette Sr. started a ferry service to St. Thomas, more people arrived on the island, and Genevieve Moorehead stepped in until they could afford a bartender.
When Mooie died in 1995, Theodora Moorehead, who had been living in New York since she moved there to attend high school, came back to St. John. She took over the bar when Sturge, the long-time bartender, died nearly 20 years ago.

Theodora Moorehead, known to friends as “Tuts,” decided to make some changes. For one thing, she hired Ezio Marsh to paint murals depicting scenes of old-time St. John culture – children playing with homemade toys, a man tending a coal pit, and the old Customs House in what’s now Frank Powell Park. These murals remain as a charming feature of the décor.
She also sought to make the place welcoming to everyone. “I converted it from a rum shop to a bar to get a cross-section of the population,” she said. “A rum shop attracts mostly men. There’s a lot of arguing about sports and cursing, and shouting. It’s not necessarily adversarial, but tourists wouldn’t necessarily know that. And I don’t serve people who are inebriated.”
As she spoke, as if on cue, several long-time St. John residents stopped by to congratulate Theodora Moorehead on the reopening.  One of them, Bruce Twyon, confirmed her responsible drinking policy without any prompting. He recounted how he arrived in 1996, mourning the loss of his father. Mooie’s had been his favorite place, he said. “Theodora made a spectacular rum punch, but she wouldn’t serve me a second one,” he said, until he proved he could handle it. “I had to look her in the eye and tell her that I had eaten some food.”

For the reopening of the bar, Theodora Moorehead has taken on as a partner Aubrey “A.C.” Burgess, who has worked in the restaurant industry and also as a purveyor of art.

Burgess met Theodora Moorehead when he discovered her artwork and asked to include it in his pop-up shows. Over the years that she had worked as a legal services administrator in New York, she developed a habit of doodling. One day, a friend saw her doodles, proclaimed them as “art,” and brought her some artist’s pads. She started taking her artwork seriously and now creates “abstract, surreal, and intuitive” paintings on canvas in color and in black and white.

Realizing her popularity, Burgess has now put her designs on cards and on canvas bags, which are being sold at Mooie’s. He’s also producing a line of shirts, one with a drawing of the bar and another with a stunning image by photographer Imran Stephen of a young woman standing in front of Mooie’s. Hand-crafted mugs, hats, and other merchandise are now on sale.
Burgess has more plans in the works, including hosting jazz concerts and events in the “enchanting” garden in the back of the property.

Meanwhile, Theodora Moorehead looks forward to welcoming back old friends and greeting new ones as “she holds court,” in the words of Kristen Moorehead, a family member who has joined the management team.
Mooie’s will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. till late into the evening.