Annaberg Sugar Plantation near Leinster Bay in St. John, Virgin Islands — The Caribbean (The West Indies)
History of Annaberg
Photographed by Michael Fischer, January 9, 2026
1. History of Annaberg Marker
Throughout its history, Annaberg's enslaved residents engaged in a struggle for power and dignity. The planter class fought to dehumanize and control them in pursuit of profit.
Annaberg's legacies call us to reflect on the conditions that shape human choices and define our shared history.
1718 Danes formally occupied St. John. The Danish West India Company brought more than 110,000 Africans via The Middle Passage over the course of Danish occupation.
1721 Isaac Constantin, a French Huguenot refugee, was the first person to receive this parcel of land. Danish records indicate that in 1728, Constantin held 24 enslaved people on his estate.
1733 On September 5th, Governor Pierre Gardelin published the 1733 Slave Code, which enacted harsh punishments for enslaved people who resisted Danish authority. On November 23rd, a group of Akwama men and women who had occupied positions of high social status in Africa, initiated the 1733 Slave Insurrection. For the first time, enslaved people took an island from a colonial power and held it for over six months.
1758 Constantin's heirs sold the estate to Salomon Zeeger,
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1796 James Murphy, an Irish-born merchant and slave trader on St. Thomas purchased Annaberg, expanded the estate, and began to build a "state of the art sugar works." An 1808 inventory taken after Murphy's death listed 591 enslaved persons.
1818 Hans H. Berg married Murphy's widowed daughter-in-law, taking control of the property.
1840 On May 24th, in the largest single escape on record, 11 enslaved people took a boat to freedom on Tortola in the BVI, which had outlawed slavery in 1834.
1848 Governor Peter von Scholten declared all "unfree in the Danish West Indies are from today emancipated."
1863 Thomas Letsom Lloyd of Tortola purchased Annaberg as the sugar industry collapsed.
1867 An earthquake and then a hurricane hit St. John, prompting Lloyd to sell Annaberg and putting an end to large-scale sugar production on the island.
1871 Lloyd sold Annaberg to George Francis. Francis was born enslaved on Annaberg and had served as Lloyd's property manager.
Photographed by Michael Fischer, January 9, 2026
2. History of Annaberg Marker
1935 George Francis' heir, Carl Francis, sold the Annaberg estate to Herman Creque.
1954 Laurance Rockefeller's Jackson Hole Preserve purchased the property from the Creque Family.
1956 The preserve donated Annaberg to the National Park Service.
[Bottom background photo caption reads]
A view of Annaberg Plantation from the west in November 1959.
[Bottom right black inset box reads]
Humans had flourished in the Caribbean for thousands of years before Columbus 1493 arrival at Salt River on St. Croix. The Indigenous people, who called Columbus Ay Ay, included the Ciboney, Taino, Arawak, and Kalinago. Each of these groups had developed political systems, trading networks, and distinct religious and spiritual beliefs. Despite the decimation of Indigenous populations by European conquest, some of today's Virgin Islanders are descendants of the Caribbean's original people.
Erected by National Park Service.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Colonial Era • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Industry & Commerce. A significant historical date for this entry is May 24, 1718.
Location. 18° 21.783′ N, 64° 43.78′ W. Marker is near Leinster Bay in St. John, Virgin Islands. It is in Annaberg Sugar Plantation. It can be reached from Leinster Bay Trail. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: St John VI 00830, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, it is one of the Lesser Antilles on the Caribbean Sea, on in the Atlantic Ocean, in North America, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Crushing Cane with Wind (a few steps from this marker); Life After Emancipation (a few steps from this marker); Windmill (a few steps from this marker); Bake Oven (a few steps from this marker); Producing Sugar (a few steps from this marker); Freedom Across the Narrows (a few steps from this marker); The Sugar Factory (within shouting distance of this marker); Confronting a Turbulent Past (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Leinster Bay.
More about this marker. Annaberg Sugar Plantation is a unit of Virgin Islands National Park.
Also see . . . Annaberg Sugar Plantation. (Submitted on January 17, 2026, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
Credits. This page was last revised on January 17, 2026. It was originally submitted on January 17, 2026, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 49 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 17, 2026, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
