l<' ::rn98 . . 57 1950 - I~ NATIC)NAL PARK • PREPARED BY ON ~1. ~~CF l ~n UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR The American Virgin Islands consist of a group of three principal Islands - St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John - and a number of sur- rounding smaller islands, rocks, and cays in the Caribbean chain. St. John is the smallest of the three, with an area of a little more than 12,000 acres - approximately the size of Bermuda. It lies some 1,440 miles southeast of New York City, 900 miles southeast of Miami, Florida, and about 50 miles east of Puerto Rico. The more populous islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas have been greatly changed over the years. Recently, they have become popular locations for commercial enterprises catering to tourists and for privately owned tropical homes and retreats. The Island of St. John, on the other hand, remains relatively undisturbed and possessed of unique qualities for a national park. The Virgin Islands are readily accessible from the eastern seaboard by air and water and have become popular with tourists in recent years. Cover photo - View of Eastern end of St. John from Bordeaux Mountain with Fortberg Hill in the foreground and Tortola Island (British Virgin Islands) in the background. 2 I I " IRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK PROJECT The Island of St. John is centrally located among the American and British Virgin Islands. F 2098 • V57 1956 Virgin Islands National Par k The Virgin Islands National Park, recommended by the Secretary of the Interior to the Congress, was authorized by the Act of August 2, 1956. It is limited to an area not to exceed 9,500 acres, including approximately 9,485 acres on the Island of St. John and ad- jacent rocks and cays and a small area for administrative and operational pur- poses on nearby St. Thomas. Tentative boundaries for the park in- clude the portions most suitable for park purposes and exclude about one-third of the island's acreage. The areas not in- cluded contain the principal settlements and the limited amounts of agricultural lands, lying close to the bays on the southwestern and eastern sides of the island, required by the resident popula- tion. (See map, pages 8 and 9.) St. John, set in the protected and colorful channels of the archipelago, is different from any area set apart in the United States or its Territories for na- tional park purposes. It does not re- quire elaborate development, since re- tention of its unspoiled charm is a prin- cipal objective. The national park on St. John was made possible by the contribution of some 5 ,000 acres of land on the island, acquired for the purpose by Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., with funds made available by Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller and members of the Rockefeller family. 3 dcENIC FEATURES AND SETTING St. John contains only 19.2 square miles of land. It is nine miles long, near- ly five miles wide, and rises abruptly from the sea to an elevation of 1,277 feet at the top of Bordeaux Mountain. The tropical vegetation covering 8 5 per- cent of the island contrasts pleasantly with the white sand of its beaches and the colorful hues of the surrounding waters. Centerline Road, extending from Cruz Bay on the west to Coral Bay on the east, meanders generally along the high central backbone of the island and gives access to many of its points of in- terest. From these, ever-changing views may be had of waters dotted with islands and cays, some belonging to the United States and others to Great Britain. To the west, across the two-mile width of Pillsbury Sound, lie St. Thomas and the two St. James Islands. Nearby are Lov- ango Cay and Congo Cay. Northerly and easterly beyond the International Boundary lie the British Virgin Islands, dominated by Tortola Island, and stretching eastward to Virgin Gorda. Drake's Passage, a channel three miles wide between St. John and Tortola, takes its name from Sir Francis Drake, who in 15 80 became the first European to sail through it. Eight-tenths of a mile across "The Narrows" from Mary Point 4 on the north shore of St. John lies the closest British possession, Great Thatch Island. To the south stretches the Carib- bean, with the island of St. Croix forty miles away. Page 5 Petro glyphs or rock inscriptions carved by the Carib Indians before the Virgin Islands were discovered by Columbus. Gleaming white sand and the crystal clear waters make swimming the most popular recreational activity. -Photo by Fritz Henle ISTORY AND Columbus was probably the first Eu- ropean to see St. John, in the group of islands he named "Las Virgenes," in honor of St. Ursula and the eleven thou- sand virgins. At that time, the Carib Indians had already been occupying these islands, as has been determined by the stone picture writings they left be- hind. Archeological research by Theodore DeBooy in 1916-17 led to the conclu- sion that the petroglyphs, or stone writ- ings, were made in pre-Columbian days and that many of the inscriptions had already been obliterated by weathering. ARCHEOLOGY Even so, distinct figures remain on the rocks at Reef Bay, near the waterfall, and also on Congo Cay and Carval Rock off St. John to the northwest. On the north side of the island, at Old Oven Hill near Leinster Bay, pot- sherds of Carib origin have been found. DeBooy states that the period of Carib occupancy must have been of short duration. Ethnologists believe that these Caribs came originally from South America, traveling up the chain of the Lesser An- tilles in search of suitable places to live. Some of the tribes located on small is- lands not suited to agriculture, and these tribes became warlike, going off in boats to plunder the tribal settlements on the larger islands. It is thought that the Caribs of St. John belonged to one of these warrior tribes. The pages of history for the period directly following the discovery of St. John and the other Virgin Islands by Columbus are blank. But a German his- torian named Oldendorp records that about 15 5 5 the Caribs were driven from the Virgin Islands by Charles V of Spain and his "Conquistadores." At least there were no Indians on St. John when the first European settlers arrived in the 17th century. The first mention of settlers on the Virgin Islands was made in 162 5 but St. John was not successfully settled until 1684. All earlier attempts at coloniza- tion failed because the English from Tortola drove off the would-be settlers. In 1687, the Danish West India and Guinea Company laid claim to St. John, but it was not until March 25, 1717 that the first permanent colony was estab- lished on the island. Twenty planters and five soldiers landed at Coral Harbor on the east end of St. John and defied the British to drive them away. Immediately upon their arrival, they built Fort Berg on the summit of a small peninsula now known as Fortberg Hill, separating Coral Harbor from Hurri- cane Hole. This was a most strategic location because no one could approach from any direction without being visi- ble to the watchers in the fort. A bat- 6 tery was built in conjunction with the fort but both are ruins today. By 1726, all available land on St. John was taken by new settlers for sugar plantations, and the island flourished. Life was apparently serene and prosper- ous until November 13, 1733, when the Historic Reef Bay Estate House, the center of a ftourshing sugar plantation of a century ago. ll slaves revolted. Some of the planters fled to Peter Durlieu's estate, now known as Caneel Bay Plantation. They stayed there six months, while the revolt held sway. Finally French soldiers from the Island of Martinique arrived, quelled the riot and carried off many of the Negroes to a period of French slavery.'~ * Discrepancies in historical accounts of d ie rebellion of the slaves and the results of that rebellion make further research on this subject desirable. Wooo.s With the abolition of slavery in the Danish West Indies in the mid-1800's, it was felt to be impossible to keep up the old estates; the planters departed, and the island began to go back to bush. Thus ended the agricultural era. The Virgin Islands were purchased by the United States from Denmark in 1917. It is noteworthy that as early as 1867 the United States was interested in them. Low WALL Fi.oo.R P LAN MAtN Hou3£ - .JcAu r,·.;:.o- REEF BAY ESTATE ZO .JO 1/.0 SO FT fib./f55 7 8 64° 50' ATLANTIC 0 C E A N / ~ ~" VAR 1• 3?°W (111411) 22' r-----------r------------------,===c--f?'"i~~-~----- ANNUAL I NC REASE 5• '"'"""""· ... Q----+-_:_:_----1-------- 64°50' 48' A 51. MAP - U . S. COAST ANO GEODETIC SUCl.V~V CHART NO. 32:41 ST. JOHN