With only one day left of our epic USVI tour, Scott and I hired a taxi to tour the island and explore the ruins of St. John. This is a great way to see the sites, without having to join a tour . What we weren’t expecting was an open air safari bus for this tour!
Our tour guide was very friendly and knew just about everyone on the island. He wanted to make sure we stopped and saw everything and he almost literally did. We scheduled him for four hours @$75/hour and he was worth it. Since the truck is open air, you want to make sure you hang on tight!
First stop the Bethany Moravian Mission Church
Tony took us to the Bethany Moravian Church and his parents are actually laid to rest in the cemetery there. The first Moravians came to St. John in 1741. This building was erected in 1919 and the sanctuary was restored after the storms of 2017. It is still an active church today and it has a beautiful view.
Neptune’s Lookout
Our next stop was the Susannaberg sugar mill at Neptune’s Lookout which was built in the 1700’s. The windmill tower of Estate Susannaberg was erected between 1780 and 1800 and is the second oldest windmill on the island of St. John. The estate is owned by the Neptune Richards family since they purchased it in the 1950s and they still live in the house which is on the grounds. The estate is now used for weddings, special events and camping.
The views are amazing from every vantage point, which look down at Caneel Bay (where we were the day before). At the top of the hill, there is The Windmill Bar, which was currently closed due to covid.
We also got a peak a view site of country singer Kenney Chesney‘s home at the top of the hill. Sadly, his home was nearly destroyed by hurricane Irma and he’s now rebuilding.
Catherineberg Sugar Mill Ruins
Heading northeast, we entered the Virgin Islands National Park to check out the Catherineberg Sugar Mill Ruins. The ruins are an example of an 18th-century sugar and rumfactory. The “most impressive” ruin is that of an unusual windmill tower and the very large cistern. It was amazing to see how intact the ruins still are.
One very interesting thing we discovered was the sugar mills were constructed using coral! Could you imagine?! We can’t even step on coral, let alone dig it up for building materials.
Along the way, we saw wild donkeys and all kinds of fruit trees.
We came upon tons of soursop trees too. With an aroma similar to pineapple, the flavor of the fruit has been described as a combination of strawberries and apple with sour citrus flavor notes, contrasting with an underlying thick creamy texture reminiscent of banana.
As we drove down the windy narrow highway, Tony took time to pull over and share the views with us.
At this viewpoint is was awesome to see how close Tortola & Jost Van Dyke of the BVI were to us.
Francis Bay
Our next stop was the Francis Bay walking trail and home of George Francis.
In 1863, the Annaberg Plantation was purchased by Thomas Letsom Lloyd of Tortola from the James Murphy heirs (one of the original owners). For a time, Lloyd struggled to keep the estate in operation, but in 1867 a violent hurricane, followed by a series of devastating earthquakes, finally put an end to sugar production at Annaberg.
With his factory in ruin, in the spring of 1871 Thomas Lloyd sold Annaberg to his property overseer, George Francis, and returned to Tortola. George Francis was born enslaved on the Annaberg plantation. His name first appears in the earliest existing census for the property compiled in 1835, in which he was recorded as a thirteen-year-old field laborer.
Over the course of his life, George Francis encountered opportunities that in his youth must have seemed wholly unimaginable. By 1860, he had gained the position of estate overseer, and two years later he received outright title to a 2-acre parcel of land on the Annaberg property from the will of his former owner, Hans H. Berg.
In 1871, George Francis acquirred the entire Annaberg estate from Thomas Lloyd and immediately set out to renew sugar production on the property. At the time of his death in 1875, Francis had recently completed the construction of a new sugar-boiling house and horse mill on the isthmus between Mary’s Creek and Francis Bay. It was the last facility ever to produce sugar on the Annaberg property. [credit US Parks Online].
Once again, you’ll notice all of the coral used to construct the buildings!
From Francis Bay, we headed to the Annaberg Ruins passing by Mary Creek. The water was amazing, but the sewer smell was horrid!
Annaberg Plantation Ruins
As with looking at churches in Europe, this was now our third sugar mill ruin we visited in two hours. Had it been our first one of the day, we might have spent more time exploring the ruins. Annaberg Plantation, as of 1780, was one of 25 active sugar producing factories on St. John. Other products produced at Annaberg were molasses and rum. Annaberg was named after William Gottschalk’s daughter and translates to Anna’s Hill. Gottschalk was the plantation owner.
The windmill at the Annaberg ruins, one of focal points of the site, was built possibly between 1810 and 1830, and was one of the largest in the islands.
When the windmill wouldn’t churn due to lack of winds, they then used horses and mules instead.
Today the plantation ruins are protected by the Virgin Islands National Park and are open to the public. Trees have reclaimed the hillsides around Annaberg.
In the 17th to 19th centuries, boiling rooms were used to convert sugarcane juice into raw sugar.
What was super cool to see from the plantation was how close we were to Tortola and the BVI. I’m literally pointing at Road Town, where we will pick up our bare boat charter next February!
Heading back to Cruz Bay
After three hours, it was time to head back to Cruz Bay. It was interesting to pass by Maho Beach, Caneel Beach and Honeymoon Beach by car this time. Both Maho and Honeymoon were packed and cars were parked everywhere along the street.
Tony was fantastic and we’re so glad that the concierge at Gallows Point Resort booked him for us!
Since Tony dropped us off at the market, we decided to do a little shopping and support the locals.
After a full day of walking and exploring, we were hungry and thirsty! We stopped at The Taproom for a quick snack and cocktail.
Right across the street is the dinghy dock! How convenient.
On our walk back, we noticed another boat rental company at Cruz Bay called Ocean Runner and you can rent Boston Whalers!
We finished our amazing day, enjoying the sunset and a beautiful dinner at Ocean 3-6-2 at our hotel. This was a highly recommended restaurant and we were very happy we spent our last night there.
Goodbye St John – Until we meet again
Scott and I had a wonderful time in St. John and we can’t wait to return and explore more. Out of the three US Virgin Islands, St. John was our favorite. As we were enjoying our last morning, we had a new visitor who tried to come into the condo. He (she?) was a very friendly and curious peacock.
Of course our neighborly iguana had to come say goodbye too.
We headed to the ferry terminal around 1pm and enjoyed another quick boat ride across the bay.
As soon as the plane started down the runway, it began to rain again. We timed it perfectly. Until we meet again US Virgin Islands – see you next February, when we fly in for our bareboat charter in the BVI.
As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube Channel. You can follow us on social @BoatingJourney on FB, IG, TW and TikTok!
Cheers, Scott and Ally
