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By Eugenia O’Neal
The islands first came to European attention when Christopher Columbus passed through in 1493, but by then most of the first settlers had disappeared. Columbus named them Las Vírgenes (the Virgins) in honour of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins, who are now represented on the national flag. However, it was more than a hundred years later that the islands were again settled, this time by a small group of determined Dutch settlers in 1649. They didn’t hold the islands for long, being driven out by the English in 1665. They came back, but in 1672, the English ousted them again; and the islands never changed hands again.
At first, the colonists grew indigo and ginger. By the mid-1700s, most of the land was devoted to sugar cultivation and much of the local vegetation had been cut down. Thousands of African men and women were brought in as slaves to work on the sugar estates, and the small Territory saw a brief period of prosperity. Remains of some of the sugar estates can still be seen at such places as Hannah’s.
The first of many religious sects to arrive were the Quakers — the Society of Friends — many of whom freed their enslaved Africans and gave them land. Prominent Quakers buried in Fat Hog’s Bay include John Estaugh and Thomas Chalkley. The Church of England began services in 1745. However, the Methodists, who arrived in 1789, went on to have the greatest influence amongst the black population. The Methodists set to work amongst the enslaved Africans and the free blacks and converted thousands who rose to become leaders in the various congregations of the islands.
Emancipation on 1 August 1834 saw more than 4,000 men, women and children attain their freedom. Today, the Emancipation is celebrated on the first Monday in August with a grand parade and an array of festivities.
After Emancipation, most of the formerly enslaved and their descendants took up farming and fishing, whilst some migrated to the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands) and further afield. In the 1920s, W.C. Fishlock, an enterprising agricultural officer sent out from Great Britain, encouraged the production of Sea Island cotton and established a cotton ginnery on the grounds of a former sugar estate. The building has now been restored as the Lower Estate Sugar Works and is open to visitors five days a week. Besides cotton, other exports included pimentos, aloe, turtle shells (now prohibited), lime juice, ginger and indigo.
Many residents remember the first half of the 1900s as a time when people both worked hard and played hard. “During the mango season, people would hold picnics, usually up in the hills or by the seaside at places like Baughers Bay,” says Linda O’Neal, who declines to give her age but hints she’s as old as the hills. “The people might butcher a young bull or a goat or two, and the white rum made in the local stills was plentiful.” She remembers that ice would be brought over on a boat from St. Thomas, though how much was left by the time it arrived depended on the weather. “You also had a number of young men who had small bands, and they would have impromptu dances and jam sessions, just pick up their instruments when they felt like it and start playing away,” O’Neal recalls.
In the 1960s, tourism took off with the advent of developers like Laurance Rockefeller, who bought Little Dix and built a resort that soon became a favourite amongst wealthy Americans. Two decades later, resorts and marinas dotted the coastlines, ensuring full employment for Virgin Islanders and attracting thousands of migrants from the other Caribbean islands.
With development many things changed, and the picnics and jam sessions were left behind, replaced with sound systems and cultural expressions from other islands and countries. Nevertheless, the past still echoes in the August Monday celebrations and in the various communities around the Territory.
Black and white photo courtesy of Penny Haycraft.
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The islands first came to European attention when Christopher Columbus passed through in 1493, but by then most of the first settlers had disappeared. Columbus named them Las Vírgenes (the Virgins) in honour of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins, who are now represented on the national flag. However, it was more than a hundred years later that the islands were again settled, this time by a small group of determined Dutch settlers in 1649. They didn’t hold the islands for long, being driven out by the English in 1665. They came back, but in 1672, the English ousted them again; and the islands never changed hands again.
The first of many religious sects to arrive were the Quakers — the Society of Friends — many of whom freed their enslaved Africans and gave them land. Prominent Quakers buried in Fat Hog’s Bay include John Estaugh and Thomas Chalkley. The Church of England began services in 1745. However, the Methodists, who arrived in 1789, went on to have the greatest influence amongst the black population. The Methodists set to work amongst the enslaved Africans and the free blacks and converted thousands who rose to become leaders in the various congregations of the islands.
Many residents remember the first half of the 1900s as a time when people both worked hard and played hard. “During the mango season, people would hold picnics, usually up in the hills or by the seaside at places like Baughers Bay,” says Linda O’Neal, who declines to give her age but hints she’s as old as the hills. “The people might butcher a young bull or a goat or two, and the white rum made in the local stills was plentiful.” She remembers that ice would be brought over on a boat from St. Thomas, though how much was left by the time it arrived depended on the weather. “You also had a number of young men who had small bands, and they would have impromptu dances and jam sessions, just pick up their instruments when they felt like it and start playing away,” O’Neal recalls.