Catherineberg Ruins

Today we stumbled across the Catherineberg Ruins.  They are the ruins of the Catherineberg sugar plantation and mill, built around 1718.  This plantation had the only windmill on the island and became the headquarters for some of the leaders of the 1733 slave rebellion on St. John. (Incidentally, we had just been at the library and I found a book by Scott O'Dell called My Name Is Not Angelica, which is about the 1733 slave rebellion.  The kids and I are going to read it together.)  We've never seen these ruins before, and they are in fantastic condition, so it was a great find!  The kids loved scampering all over the old buildings, and it's incredible to imagine the lives that centered on this little plot of land over the centuries.

The remains of the windmill

The windmill

A storage bin

Underneath the windmill.  I'm having trouble finding good information about these ruins, so I'm not exactly sure what happened here.  I assume it was the mill -- the windmill above turned some apparatus to crush the sugar cane (maybe?).

Z underneath the windmill

Eden inside the body of the windmill

Stairs going up into the body of the windmill

Looking up out of the windmill

Inside the body of the windmill.  I don't know what those grooves are about.

Our first family picture of the vacation!

Brain coral used in the construction of the walls.

A panoramic of the windmill and the structure underneath it.

These ruins are just down the hill from the windmill.  They look like the plantation house, although there were no signs, so I'm just guessing.

It was hot!