CaribbeanUS Virgin Islands

There is more to Waterlemon than just Annaberg

By April 29, 2012 No Comments

Ronnie & Monica’s daughter came into town and we took her to St John for several days.  The beach at Cinnamon Bay was a hit as was Waterlemon Cay.  Waterlemon Cay is a gorgeous anchorage, as you can see in the 1st photo, and the highlight is the snorkeling and Annaberg Sugar Ruins, which I wrote about in the past.  The snorkeling around Waterlemon is fantastic for soft coral and fish, but I wanted to check out some other stuff this time around, so after taking them to the two highlights I ventured out and explored the ruins starting at the beach.  This must have been quite a plantation at one time, because the ruins go back for some ways and it had some very unique features.  Built into one of the retaining walls is a storage room (see 2nd photo).  My question would be why just this one and not several along the wall!  The furnace room, where they boiled the sugar juice, was nice and had a huge open honeycomb with bees all over it.  The feature I really went exploring for is the water tower (see 3rd photo).  It is a well within a 10-12 foot tall tower with a wall coming out of the back side.  Did they use to have an aqueduct at the top and the water ran to other parts of the ruins?  I do not know, but a person could spend half an hour or more poking around the brush exploring this little gem of a find.

The other things I wanted to check out were the two different ruins on the small hill.  One is half way up and the other is at the top of the hill.  I would say it is less than a 5 and 10 minute hike to the two ruins.  The one halfway up is a garrison housing Dutch soldiers to capture slaves trying to escape to the BVI, because Britain was one of the first to abolish slavery.  The building seems to be 2-3 levels and the archway in the 3rd photo is the most intact portion of the building.  At the top of the hill is the great house for the Annaberg plantation.  The ruins appear to be a two story house with two different outdoor patio areas.  All that is left of the house is the foundation, but the view the owners had is still spectacular!  Check out the first photo again and let me know what you think.

PS – Come back on Wednesday to be one of the first to catch the second part of the New York City video.

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