On Virgin Islands Route 20. Reported permanently removed.
As you wander the ruins, picture the thriving 18th-19th century sugar factory: big rollers crushing the cane, juice pouring down to the boiling room, and everywhere the thick scent of rum and molasses. This was the Danish plantation era, when . . . — — Map (db m60776) HM
This bread oven trapped heat from charcoal in the chamber to bake bread slowly in the oven. Enslaved
people and their emancipated descendants burned hard wood in a pit elsewhere to create charcoal as a
more even heat source for this oven and . . . — — Map (db m291780) HM
On Virgin Islands Route 20. Reported permanently removed.
Intense heat. Steam rising from huge cauldrons. A foreman shouting to watch the last copper. This empty ruin was once the heart of Annaberg’s sugar operation.
Workers ladled the cane juice from kettle to kettle, gradually concentrating and . . . — — Map (db m60781) HM
In 1935, Herman Creque bought the Annaberg Plantation from Carl Francis, the son of
George Francis. Creque's heirs sold the property to Laurance Rockefeller's Jackson Hole
Preserve in 1954. Two years later, the preserve transferred the iconic . . . — — Map (db m291804) HM
Peter Oxholm designed the plans for the Annaberg sugar factory and windmill in 1797. Enslaved African craftsmen constructed the buildings while the plantation was under the ownership of "slave trader, merchant, and shipbuilder" James Murphy. The . . . — — Map (db m291782) HM
The Virgin Islands government had proposed a territorial park for the Reef Bay region of St. John as early as 1937. This led to feasibility studies by the U.S. Department of the Interior to determine if the resources of St. John warranted the . . . — — Map (db m60712) HM
You are looking north towards the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a beacon of freedom for enslaved people on St. John during the mid-1800s.
On August 1, 1834, a massive uprising of enslaved people forced King William IV of Great Britain to . . . — — Map (db m291789) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m291781) HM
On Virgin Islands Route 20. Reported permanently removed.
When the breeze died, mules, horses or oxen plodded an endless circle in the sun while slaves fed cane to the rollers. A box at the base caught and held the juice until the factory called for more.
In the early 1900’s, after the sugar . . . — — Map (db m60780) HM
In 1956 Laurance S. Rockefeller, financier and conservationist, donated over 5,000 acres through the Jackson Hole Preserve for the establishment of Virgin Islands National Park. While sailing the Caribbean in 1952, he became enchanted with the . . . — — Map (db m60713) HM
George Francis was born into slavery on Annaberg Plantation during the first decade of the 1800s. When he was enslaved, Francis gained influence that gave him opportunities beyond the reach of the other enslaved people. After inheriting two acres . . . — — Map (db m291778) HM
Private philanthropy has a long history and important role in the development of America’s National Park system.
Charitable donations by the Rockefeller family, notably by Laurance S. Rockefeller, helped to establish, enlarge or improve . . . — — Map (db m60716) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m291786) HM
On Virgin Islands Route 20. Reported permanently removed.
Primarily used for sleeping and household storage, typical “wattle and daub”’ huts with woven stick walls (wattle), dirt floors, and tyre palm roofs comprised Annaberg’s slave quarters on the slope below. The exteriors were plastered (daubed) . . . — — Map (db m60777) HM
The building you are standing in once housed a complete sugar factory. The extracted cane juice flowed from the windmill or animal mill, through gutters, and into this boiling room.
Each sugar factory operation required an artisan "sugar . . . — — Map (db m291784) HM
If there was a steady breeze, cane was brought to the windmill. Revolving sails turned a central shaft, rotating the rollers and crushing the stalks. Juice ran down the rollers into the gutter and flowed downhill to the factory.
The windmill, as . . . — — Map (db m60779) HM
