Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
St Croix Highlights
Sip microbrews and explore the cannon-covered fort in the historic district of
Christiansted
(
Click here
)
Dive the wall and peer into the deep at
Cane Bay
(
Click here
)
Sail to
Buck Island
for a day of snorkeling, hiking and barbecuing (
Click here
)
Relive the sugarcane days at the
Estate Whim Plantation Museum
(
Click here
)
Hike to the wild East End beaches from
Point Udall
, the easternmost point in the
USA (
Click here
)
See where Columbus landed, then kayak the bioluminescent water at
Salt River
Bay
(
Click here
)
Drink the Virgin Islands' favorite attitude adjuster at its source at the
Cruzan
Rum Distillery
(
Click here
)
Cycle or horseback ride on the lush rainforest trails around
Frederiksted
(
Click
here
)
History
When Christopher Columbus arrived at Salt River Bay in November 1493 and named the
island 'Santa Cruz,' the indigenous community he encountered was a mix of warrior Caribs
and Taíno. The Spanish, English, French and Dutch took turns battling over the island in
the ensuing years. The Danes took control in 1734 and remained so for the next two cen-
turies.
By 1792 the island had 197 plantations and 22,000 slaves; 18,000 worked in the fields.
The white population still numbered fewer that 3000. Describing this epoch in island his-
tory, the poet Philip Freneau wrote, 'If you have tears prepare to shed them now…no class
of mankind in the known world undergo so complete servitude…' Meanwhile, sugarcane
production soared to more than 40 million pounds of sugar per year. Windmills and oxen
mills dotted the landscape.
