Sightseeing in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John sights and attractions

Sightseeing in St. John

Sightseeing in St. John

Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins

The Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins can be easily explored using the detailed guide available at the parking lot. All the buildings of the partially restored plantation are numbered to correspond to your guide. Leave yourself at least 30 minutes to complete the quarter- mile circular route.

On early maps of St. John, Annaberg appears as one of the first sugar factories. Molasses and rum were also produced. Freedom for West Indian slaves in 1848 made these industries economically unfeasible and the plantations were divided into subsistence farms which gave St. John its pastoral way of life.

The slave village lies at the foot of the hill, not far from the parking lot. It consisted of 16 cabins, a small oven and gardens where slaves grew fruit and vegetables.

As you walk up the hill you’ll have to imagine the area as it was then – covered by tall canes of sugar, resembling bamboo. The slaves had to cut the cane, remove the leaves and, after tying it in bundles, load the cane onto a mule, which carted it to the mill. Most of the mill, whose walls are made of stone and brine coral, still stands, although the upper wooden portion that carried the sails is gone. From this point, look out across Leinster Bay to Tortola, only four miles away. The promenade to your left is Mary Point, where several hundred slaves jumped to their deaths during the slave revolt. Local lore has it that the water here turns red each May.

Below the mill, you’ll see a circle of stone. It’s the outline of the horse mill where mules, oxen or horses harnessed to poles moved iron rollers which crushed the cane. The horse mill was used when there wasn’t sufficient wind. Each night, slaves boiled water to wash these rollers since the juice adhering to them would sour and spoil the next day’s batch. The Boiling Bench, where the cane juice was boiled, still has a copper kettle. Nothing was wasted. They used the drippings from the sugar juice to produce rum.

The Annaberg grounds are quite lovely, with frangipani, sugar apples and lime trees. Well worth a visit.

Last updated November 18, 2010

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Sightseeing in St. John

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