Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District

Infobox nrhp |name =Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District
nrhp_type = hd


caption = Reef Bay Sugar Factory
location=
lat degrees = 18
lat minutes = 19
lat seconds = 30
lat direction = N
long degrees = 64
long minutes = 44
long seconds = 42
long direction = W
locmapin =
area =
built =1800
architect=
architecture= No Style Listed
added = July 23, 1981
governing body = National Park Service
mpsub=Virgin Islands National Park MRA
refnum=81000084cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District is an historic section of Saint John, United States Virgin Islands located on the south central coast adjacent to Reef Bay. The land is the site of a sugar factory. The property was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on July 23, 1981. cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The historic district is part of Virgin Islands National Park. The park maintains an exhibit of a well preserved sugar factory. cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/prvi/pr35.htm|title=The Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District|accessdate=2008-07-23|work=National Park Service|publisher=National Park Service|date= ]

History

Early inhabitants

Archaeological research shows that the first inhabitants of the Virgin Islands were Ortoiroid people. The Arawaks migrated over a period of many centuries to the Virgin Islands and engaged in the first agriculture on the land. ] [http://www.friendsvinp.org/Programs/archeol/temple_3-03.pdf Investigations at Cinnamon Bay] ] Local archaeological excavations confirm a Classic Taino culture on Saint John. [ [http://www.friendsvinp.org/Programs/archeol/Petro0204.pdf Understanding The Petroglyphs] ] . ]

Plantation era

Intermittently starting in the 1670's, the land along the shorelines of Saint John was occupied by settlers with diverse nationalities. The property was used for maritime activities and cotton production. [ [http://www.friendsvinp.org/Programs/archeol/Armstrong.pdf "The Shoreline Settlement at Cinnamon Bay, St. John, U.S.V.I.: A Small Estate Established Before formal Colonization and Burned During the Slave Rebellion of 1733" (a paper presented by Dr. Doug Armstrong at the 2003 Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology.] ] The Danish claimed Saint John on March 25, 1718 The Danish established large plantations worked by slaves brought from African. ] The present Reef Bay Estate was formed in the the mid-1800's from two neighboring plantations near Reef Bay. cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/prvi/pr35.htm|title=The Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District|accessdate=2008-07-23|work=National Park Service|publisher=National Park Service|date= ]

Par Force Estate

Par Force Estate was located on the east side of Reef Bay Valley and early documents indicate that the land was in use at the time of the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John with Anthony Zytstems the original owner. A 1780 maps shows Zystems continuing to own the land and a sugar factory and animal mill on the property. cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/prvi/pr35.htm|title=The Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District|accessdate=2008-07-23|work=National Park Service|publisher=National Park Service|date= ]

Reef Bay

An unnamed parcel of land located on the north east end of Reef Bay was identified on a 1780 map as being owned by C. Wyle and as a cattle and cotton plantation. cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/prvi/pr35.htm|title=The Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District|accessdate=2008-07-23|work=National Park Service|publisher=National Park Service|date= ]

ugar factory

on Par Force land. cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?pp/hh:@field(NUMBER+@band(vi0008))|title=Estate Reef Bay, St. John County, VI Data Pages |accessdate=2008-07-22 |work=Estate Reef Bay, St. John County, VI|publisher=Historic American Buildings Survey|date= ]

After Reef Bay Estate was formed by joining the neighboring properties, a new sugar factory was built. The factory was used for processing sugarcane into sugar and distilling rum. The factory buildings include a boiling room, an animal powered mill, and a still with a cooling cistern for distilling rum.

O.I. Burguest and Company purchased the property in 1855. With W. H. March managing the estate, the sugar factory was modernized and converted to steam in the 1862. An "engine room" measuring approximately 25 feet by 27 feet was added to house the cast iron steam engine and sugar cane crushing machinery. In 1864 March purchased the property at auction and he continued to operate a sugar factory on the land until 1908. Bay Oil was produced at the factory during the St. John bay oil boom in the early 1900's.

Virgin Islands National Park

In the 1960's the sugar factory ruins were restored by Virgin Island National Park and the ruins are one of the best surviving examples of a West Indies sugar operation.

References