Celebrating One Hundred Years

Last week, the 25th of August, marked 100th birthday of the National Parks. I thought to celebrate I'd post some pictures of the Virgin Island National Park. Most of the *park* resides on the island of St. John which was established in 1956 when Laurence Rockefeller bought up about two thirds of the island and donated it to the National Park.

Annaberg, one of many sugar plantations on the island, was under cultivation by 1731. By the 1800 it was one of the largest sugar producers on the island. This picture was take some time after 1933.

(Source)

The windmill was added sometime between 1820-1830. 

Up to that point the horse mill was used to grind the cane. 

You can see a part of it in the above picture to the far left, what looks like a curved wall.

 The factory building where the cane juice was boiled down to make sugar, molasses, and eventually rum. The wall to the right is part of the horse mill.

Boiling vats inside the factory building. Just one of the large iron pots remains in place, in the center of this picture.

 Looking through a window of the factory building at the windmill. 

 Catherineberg. During the slave revolt of 1733, the slaves used Catherineberg as their headquarters.

 It is the only windmill on the island you can walk under. 

Reef Bay. The last operating sugar factory ended production in 1908.

It was one of two factories that used a steam engine for grinding cane.

Above Reef Bay on a gut (a water course that runs after it rains) there is a waterfall with pools. The pools have water in them most of the year. Carved into the rocks above one of the pools are these petrogylphs believed to have been put there by the Taino (Arawak) Indians, the first inhabitants of the St. John. There is evidence people lived on the island as early as 1st century AD. They were gone long before Columbus arrived in 1493.

Maho Bay, which includes left to right, Francis Bay, Lillie Maho in the middle, and Big Maho.

Cinnamon Bay, taken from the sea, and home of the National Park campground. 

The building on the beach is an old Danish warehouse

Trunk Bay, is one of the most photographed beaches in the world. I've posted about it many times. This is the beach my grandparents bought in 1928, and where my grandmother had her first guesthouse. It's where I learned to swim. Now part of the National Park, it's a favorite place for visitors to come. There's even an underwater snorkeling trail that follows part of the shoreline of Trunk Cay. (The island to the far left is Jost Van Dyke, a British island. Dead center is Whistling Cay. Behind it is Thatch Cay. Thatch Cay is also British. The point of land to the right of Whistling Cay is Mary Point, which forms part of Maho Bay.)

Hassel Island, St. Thomas.
In 1671 Denmark successfully colonized St. Thomas and by 1680 the port of Charlotte Amalie was a thriving free trade hub. During the American Revolution, powder, arms, and shot were sent to the Continental Army by way of St. Thomas.

To protect the harbor, Prince Frederik's Battery was built in 1788. It sits right at the entrance to the harbor. During the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark was friends with the "Little General." St. Thomas was such an important port that the British occupied Hassel Island, once between 1801-02 and again between 1806-15. Both times they expanded or build new batteries and forts. During the British occupation, Prince Frederik's Battery, acquired its present name, Fort Willoughby.




The British built the Garrison House which was also used for storing munitions. It's construction is unique, and as far as I know, the only one like it in the world.













It's the only building in the islands that has wooden windows  covered in copper.














Fort Christianvaern, St. Croix. Christiansted, where this fort is, was established in 1735 and became the capital of the Danish Virgin Islands in 1755.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of the Virgin Islands National Park. If you can't visit this one, do take  take the time to visit a park near you. We are blessed to have these lands set aside for us in perpetuity.

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for, what else? National Parks.

Here are some Parks and Monuments I've visited (not including the Virgin Islands. :)

Yellowstone

Grand Titons
Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Petrified Forest
Saguaro National Park
Death Valley National Park
Golden Gate National Recreational Area
Muir Woods National Monument
Redwood National Park
Mesa Verde National Park
Everglades National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Fort Larned National Historic Site
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
White Sands National Monument
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park
Lincoln Memorial
National Mall
Jefferson Memorial
Washington Monument

There may be others...

***

What are you thankful for today? Have you been to any parks or monuments? Do tell!

Reef Bay, St. John

St. John has the distinction of having had two steam-powered sugar factories. One was located in the center of the island at Estate Adrian. The other was at Reef Bay.

Reef Bay is a large shallow V-shaped bay that is protected by a lot of reef, hence its name. This is a poor composite of three photos of mine. Yet still it gives a vague impression of what it looks and feels like.

Here's a better picture of it taken by Galen S. Swint.

There are three ways into Reef Bay: by boat, by hiking over the hill from Lamashur, which is on the other side of those white cliffs, or by picking up the trail-head on Center Line Road and walking down a three mile trail. It's a fabulous walk that takes you from lush tropic forest down to tropical desert. However the hike out is a brutal, long, never ending climb.

The first ruins along the trail are the remains of Josie Gut Plantation, built in the early 18th century. Farther down is Estate Par Force. Between 1721-24 it was parceled out into four separate estates, but by 1765 they had been combine into one estate called Par Force. Besides sugarcane, the rich valley was cultivated with coconut palms, bananas, fruit and citrus trees. Cattle and sheep grazed the hillsides.

In 1830, a new sugar factory was built near the beach and Par Force was abandoned. This is a picture of the ruins taken sometime after 1933. It's what my mother saw in1934 when she, her mother and one of her brothers hiked in. (As recorded in my grandmother's journal.)


This picture of mine was taken about ten years ago.

After the end of slavery in 1848 sugar production rapidly declined and in 1855 the Reef Bay factory was converted to steam power.

The steam engine was built in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1908 a 15 year old boy was crushed in the machinery. After that it was hard to find people who would work there because they thought the factory was haunted.

In 1916 the Reef Bay factory shut down. It was the last sugar factory to closed, and brought to a final end the 200 year sugar plantation era on St. John.


For a more detailed account of the history of Reef Bay check out this excerpt from Off the Beaten Track by Gerald Singer. In it there are more pictures of the machinery used for crushing the cane and boiling the juice.