Annaberg Sugar Plantation near Leinster Bay in St. John, Virgin Islands — The Caribbean (The West Indies)
Producing Sugar
Photographed by Michael Fischer, January 9, 2026
1. Producing Sugar Marker
The sugar boom created an economy built on the brutal enslavement of human beings. The strength, experience, and intelligence of enslaved people guided every aspect of sugar production from cultivation to refinement. Beginning with piles of sugar cane stacked next to the mill, sugar production at Annaberg took roughly six hours from cane to crystal. It was a hot, sticky, sweet-smelling process.
[Birds-eye plantation illustration shows the process]
① Enslaved people did the dangerous, back-breaking work of terracing the hillsides that surrounded the factory to make way for sugar cultivation.
② Harvested cane was crushed by the windmill on windy days and by animals on calm days. At the windmill, enslaved laborers passed stalks through rollers, a task which included great risk of being maimed or killed. Mules powered similar rollers in the animal mill.
③ Juice from the crushed cane flowed in gutters from the mill to the sugar factory at the rate of 300-500 gallons per hour.
④ The crushed cane was stored in the bagasse shed and used as fuel to heat the furnace in the factory.
⑤ The extracted
this page online
⑥ The refined "syrup" cooled and crystalized in shallow wooden trays.
⑦ Once the sugar crystallized, laborers loaded it into barrels which were stored upside down on the second story of the curing house for up to a month. Manufactured holes in the barrels allowed excess liquid, called molasses, to drain into a trough on the ground floor.
⑧ The crystalline brown sugar was loaded into large barrels, called hogsheads, that could hold up to 1,600 pounds. The molasses was put in kegs for sale or used in rum production.
Annaberg Plantation's unique water system and 20,000-gallon water cistern, fed by rainwater from the factory roof, were critical equipment. On an island where potable water is scarce, many residents of St. John still use cisterns as water supply.
Erected by National Park Service.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans
Photographed by Michael Fischer, January 9, 2026
2. Producing Sugar Marker
Location. 18° 21.772′ N, 64° 43.781′ 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: The Sugar Factory (here, next to this marker); Life After Emancipation (here, next to this marker); Bake Oven (a few steps from this marker); Crushing Cane with Wind (a few steps from this marker); History of Annaberg (a few steps from this marker); Windmill (a few steps from this marker); Freedom Across the Narrows (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 62 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 17, 2026, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
