The islands of the Caribbean have long held dark secrets and legends of lore. The history of Virgin Islands National Park is unique among our parks, and is home to a few dark tales of its own.
Guide to Virgin Islands
Early People
The islands in this part of the world were originally inhabited by native peoples from South America, who first came to the islands some 2,500 years ago. Eventually, tribal groups formed, such as the Arawaks, Carib (for whom the Caribbean is named) and finally, the later Taino culture, whose people greeted Christopher Columbus in warlike fashion, immediately attacking his ships upon his arrival in 1493.
Arrival of Columbus
Despite an obvious lack of native hospitality, Columbus was nevertheless impressed by these unspoiled Caribbean waters and their surrounding landscape. The Portuguese/Spanish explorer named the islands Las Once Mil Virgines, for the slain Romano-British Christian princess, St. Ursula and her 11,000 martyred virgin followers, and claimed the islands for Spain.
Over the following centuries, the islands would be held by several European countries, although none were able to maintain a meaningful presence before the Danish West Indian Company began to establish settlements on St. Thomas in the 1670s. By the time the Danish purchased the islands from France in 1733, agricultural aristocrats had developed a massive agricultural production center built on the backs of imported African slaves on the islands.
Do You Remember the Days of Slavery?
At this point, the small island of St. John was home to more than 100 large plantations that grew cotton, tobacco and sugarcane. Large estates included factories, windmills, warehouses, and mansions, along with meager dwellings that housed the enslaved laborers. Many of these structures, in addition to numerous slave graveyards, exist within the park today.
Most plantation owners lived in nearby St. Thomas and hired managers to oversee the daily operations on their plantations. Working and living conditions were nothing less than abhorrent and punishments for disobedient slaves were considered to be particularly cruel, even for that time.
Insect infestation in slave quarters was common, and often workers were forced to go without water, because freshwater could be scarce in times of drought and was often diverted for irrigation efforts rather than for the domestic needs of workers.
Rebellion
Such atrocities led to a major slave rebellion in November of 1733, during which Akwamu slaves wrested control of the island of St. John from their European masters, many of whom were brutally killed during the overthrow. At this point, there were nearly 1,100 slaves on the island, as opposed to little more than 200 Europeans.
These numbers enabled the Akwama to gain control of the entire island and hold it in their control for nearly 6 months before more than 200 well-armed French and Swiss troops were dispatched from a French Colony at Martinique to quell the insurrection. It would be another 125 years before slavery was finally eradicated in the islands following a subsequent slave rebellion in July of 1848.
US Territory
As the global reach of the United States increased during the early 20th century, the country became more concerned with the expansion of other European powers. The U.S. government primarily wanted to prevent the expansion of German power in the western hemisphere.
In an effort to gain a foothold in the Atlantic, and to establish a naval military base that could expand her own power, the U.S. negotiated the purchase of what would become the U.S. Virgin Islands from the Danish. In addition to recognizing Denmark’s claim to Greenland, the U.S. paid $25 million for the islands.
Of course, Germany’s global reach was curtailed in WWI, and again in WWII. Following the second world war, the U.S. enjoyed not only a newfound global power, but also an economic explosion that led many to begin seeking exotic destinations for their luxurious vacations.
Park History
Efforts to create a national park here were began in the 1950s by a gentleman with the name of Rockefeller. Park Junkies may recall, these Rockefeller folk have had their hand in the creation of a few other parks.
Laurence Rockefeller
Laurence Spelman Rockefeller, a third generation descendant of the famed industrialist John D. Rockefeller, developed an affinity for the island of St. John and its surrounding waters while sailing through the area with his wife Mary French, in 1952. He was particularly fond of an area on the northwest corner of the island known as Caneel Bay.
Rockefeller, as it happened, was an early actor in what would become the modern environmental preservation movement and was once referred to by Lady Bird Johnson as “America’s leading conservationist”.
It was not long before the wealthy financier was making power moves. In 1956, Rockefeller purchased more than 5,000 acres on the island of St John and gave all but 170 acres on the northwest shore to the federal government in order to create Virgin Islands National Park.
The land that he withheld would become the Caneel Bay Resort, which was donated to the national park 27 years later in 1983, although private management of this elite resort remains in effect through September 2023.
A New National Park
Virgin Islands National Park and the Caneel Bay Resort opened simultaneously on August 2nd, 1956. The park was expanded in 2001 with the creation of the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument and the park continues to grow with small additions being added in 2012 and 2013 at the Estate Maho Bay, near Cinnamon Bay on the island’s north shore.
Hurricanes of 2017
Virgin Islands National Park, its surrounding communities and the Caneel Bay Resort suffered substantial damage from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September of 2017. It was more than three months after the hurricanes that the park announced that it had reopened all roads beaches and trails, although many areas of the park have yet to reopen, including the campground and the Cinnamon Bay Resort.
The Caneel Bay Resort is not slated to reopen any time soon, and it is doubtful that many previously operating service providers will return to business as normal any time soon.
If you visited the islands prior to the 2017 hurricanes, and if you had favorite museums, ruins, beaches or resorts, your return trip may be touched with sadness. Cultural relics such as the “Little White House” at Cinnamon Bay, which was the island’s oldest structure, dating to the 1600s, and housed the Cinnamon Bay Archeology Museum, was destroyed by the massive storms.
The current state of the park and its scattered communities is one of rebuilding and efforts continue toward restoring the charming communities to what they were before these disasters.
Love City could use some love right about now. Local businesses could use your patronage, and the park, as well as local communities could still use volunteers in the cleanup effort. Now may be a good time to set your watch to “island time” and head out to experience your Virgin Islands.
Guide to Virgin Islands
Relevant Links
National Park Guides
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