Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
North Shore Rd (Rte 20) and Centerline Rd (Rte 10), but taxis also will drop you at the
beaches.
Sights
Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins
HISTORICAL SITE
(
www.nps.gov/viis
;
North Shore Rd; 9am-4pm)
Part of the national park, these ruins
near Leinster Bay at the far end of North Shore Rd are the most intact sugar plantation ruins
in the Virgin Islands. A 30-minute, self-directed walking tour leads you through the slave
quarters, village, windmill, horse mill, rum still and dungeon.
MONGOOSES, DONKEYS & GOATS - OH
MY!
Whether you are camping, hiking or driving on St John, it won't be long before you
have a close encounter with the island's odd menagerie of feral animals. According
to National Park Service estimates, 500 goats, 400 donkeys, 200 pigs and hundreds
of cats roam the island, descendants of domestic animals abandoned to the jungle
eons ago. White-tailed deer and mongooses are two other introduced species that
multiplied in unexpected numbers.
Park rangers are most concerned with the goats and pigs, whose foraging wipes
out underbrush and leaves hillsides prone to erosion. Many of the animals have
grown adept at raiding garbage cans and food supplies in the camping areas, and the
donkeys meandering on island roads pose a serious hazard to drivers.
Do not tempt these animals by offering them food or leaving food or garbage
where they can get at it. And do not approach them for petting or taking a snapshot.
While most have a live-and-let-live attitude and don't mind you stepping around
them on the trails, they are all capable of aggression if provoked.
The schooner drawings on the dungeon wall may date back more than 100 years.
Park experts offer
demonstrations ( 10am-2pm Tue-Fri)
in traditional island baking,
gardening, weaving and crafting.
