The Island is rich in Historic and Architectural Treasures
Travelers looking to mix a little culture and history with time on the beach will find the island of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands a perfect vacation destination. Like its two sister islands - St. John and St. Thomas - St. Croix offers exciting underwater adventures, year-round warm weather and bountiful duty-free shopping. But St. Croix, rich with historic and architectural treasures, provides adventurous travelers and history lovers with an added opportunity to travel back in time to days when pirates looted its coastline, scavengers ventured onto its shores and sugar plantations supplied molasses for the rum trade.
With hillsides and foilage as lush and abundant as the day Christopher Columbus first arrived at Salt River more than 500 years ago, St. Croix has survived tests of Mother Nature and escaped significant modern development. Colorful shops and fine restaurants housed in old Danish-built structures line the island's wide streets, and historic churches still remain from the days when the island was a prosperous commercial port. Throughout Christiansted and Frederiksted, the island's two waterfront towns, distinctly European 18th-century architecture reflects a period in history when seven flags - Spanish, Dutch, British, French, Knights of Malta, Danish and American - flew at different times over the island.
Once the capital of the U.S.V.I., Christiansted is the perfect place for travelers to begin their journey into St. Croix's past. Standing sentry ofer Christiansted Harbor and the Caribbean Sea is Fort Christiansvaern, an imposing, yellow-brick marvel built by the Danes to ward off pirates and imprison those who were caught plundering the island's ports. Nearby, Christiansted's Steeple Building - the first church constructed by the Danes after their colonization of the island - is now a museum housing artifacts from St. Croix's Carib and Arawak Indian settlements and colonial sugar plantations. Other churches of historic note on St. Croix are Friedensthal Moravian Church and The Lutheran Church Lord God of Sabaoth, each of which is the oldest of its kind under the American flag.
Amidst these old churches resides another historic Christiansted landmark at Number 4 Company Street. The Christiansted Apothecary, founded by a young Danish pharmacist in 1828, operated at that address until its doors closed forever in 1970. For some 20 years after its closing, more than 600 of the original pharmaceutical wares and equipment from the site were on display at Estate Whim Plantation Museum. When the present owner of the Company Street property decided that these items would be more appropriately housed at the original site in Christiansted, St. Croix's newest cultural attraction - the historic Christiansted Apothecary Hall - opened its doors.
The journey continues on to Frederiksted on the west end of the island, where Fort Frederik, like Fort Christiansvaern, was constructed centuries ago to protect the town from buccaneers looking to disrupt its tranquility. A testament to the island's resilience, the fort still stands over beautiful Victorian homes and 19th-century churches that lay nestled throughout the town's shady streets.
St. Croix's only lighthouse overlooks several beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Built in the late 1800s, it once played a critical role in St. Croix's commercial navigation. From its vantage point on Hams Bluff cliff, the lighthouse still towers over Frederiksted port and remains a sole beacon of light over the Caribbean Sea.
Venturing into the countyside, visitors to St. Croix discover reminders of bygone days when sugar and rum shaped the island's life and land. Fifty-four sugar mills, each with imposing windmill towers and factory chimneys, rest in the shadows of stately 18th- and 19th-century greathouses. Located on the west end of the island, Estate Whim Plantation Museum - with its antique furnishings, windmill and sugar factory ruins - is St. Croix's most renowned restored 18th-century sugar plantation.
Visitors will also encounter St. Croix's rich cultural diversity in the form of arts, crafts and music. Dancing mocko jumbies, scratch bands, quelbe, reggae and calypso music, steel pan bands and pulsating salsa are among the fascinating sights and sounds that add to the island's cultural mix. The Caribbean Dance Company (CDC), a year-round performing ensemble which preserves and teaches the dance heritage of the Caribbean and West Indian culture, established itself on St. Croix in 1977. With its repertoire of traditional folk dances, many with African roots, the CDC continually shares its folk dance exuberance with visitors to St. Croix.
Whether looking for respite on its beautiful beaches and crystal-clear waters, or the chance to explore its historical magnificence, visitors will not be disappointed with the wealth of opportunity that awaits them on St. Croix. Blessed with natural beauty, extraordinary historic sites and lively cultural traditions, St. Croix offers vacation splendor that is not soon forgotten.
