Christiansted Things to Do

This is the island's best-preserved sugar plantation and a highlight along the St. Croix Heritage Trail. It flourished from 1780 to 1820 when St. Croix was the second largest producer of sugar in the West Indies. The on-site private residence is closed to the public, but you can go on a self-guided tour of the 13 acres at any time of the day you wish (there is no admission charge, although donations are appreciated). You'll see what is the best antiques store on St. Croix.

This restored Great House is unique among those of the many sugar plantations whose ruins dot the island of St. Croix. It's composed of only three rooms. With 3-foot-thick walls made of stone, coral, and molasses, the house resembles a luxurious European château. A division of Baker Furniture Company used the Whim Plantation's collection of models for one of its most successful reproductions, the "Whim Museum--West Indies Collection." A showroom in the museum sells these reproductions, plus others from the Caribbean, including pineapple-motif four-poster beds, cane-bottomed planters' chairs with built-in leg rests, and Caribbean adaptations of Empire-era chairs with cane-bottomed seats.

Also on the museum's premises is a woodworking shop (which features tools and exhibits on techniques from the 18th century), the estate's original kitchen (where you can get a fresh-made johnnycake for $1), a museum store, and a servant's quarters. The ruins of the plantation's sugar-processing plant, complete with a restored windmill, also remain.

This is a 16-acre Eden of tropical trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers. The garden is a feast for the eye and the camera, from the entrance drive bordered by royal palms and bougainvillea to the towering kapok and tamarind trees. It was built around the ruins of a 19th-century sugarcane workers' village. There are rest rooms and a gift shop. Self-guided walking-tour maps are available at the entrance to the garden's great hall.

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The St. George Botanical Gardens are included in the Sweeney Safari tour. The botanical collections, including over 1500 native and exotic species and varieties, are established in and around the restored buildings and stabilized ruins of a 19th century Danish sugar cane plantation.

Pictures are of some of the plants except for the last one which is a bridge near Estate St. George, St. Croix. The bridge has three round holes in it - the picture is of one of the holes. It isn't a reflection.

Areas of the garden include

Bromeliads
Cactus and Succulents
Conservation Garden
Dry Growing Palmetum
Exotic Rainforest
Heritage Gardens
Orchids
Ornamental Ferns
Native Arboretum
Naturalized Forest
Sansevieria

Otherwise, Admissions for self-guided tour
Adult $6.00
Children (under 12) $1.00

Hours Daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Smugglers and pirates necessitated the construction of Fort Frederik in 1752. The city was destroyed by fire in 1758, and rebuilt in the Victorian style of the era. The Fort has been restored in brick red and white, to the way it looked in 1840.

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I visited this building because it had a sign on it saying that it was a part of the Historic Sites and was listed on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks. Inside was a man who said he was a volunteer, and that the building was originally the Dane's Lutheran Church of Lord God and Saboath -built between 1750 and 1753. It was St Croix's first house of worship. The Georgian steeple (where the Steeple Building name came from) was added in the early 1800s. The building has been modified several times and has had various uses, first as a military bakery in 1831, and then as a hospital and school.

The National Park Service Museum which is inside has exhibits of the life in historic St Croix. There is a model of a working sugar plantation, Taíno artifacts and agricultural exhibits.

A chronology of the history of Africans in the Virgin Islands is also featured, as well as the history of the diverse architectural styles used on St Croix throughout the centuries.

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I didn't realize that this building was anything special until I got home because I didn't go over and look at the signs on it.

This is actually where merchants went to pay their taxes after they had goods weighed at the scale house. This building is a mix of European and island style. The graceful 16-step staircase was a typical Danish feature, but the green hurricane shutters are a Caribbean addition to protect the building from hurricane damage.

The Customs House dates back to 1734 when it was a single-story bookkeepers’ residence. The second story was added, along with other renovations, in 1830. Somewhere I read that this is now a library

St. Croix offers a variety of exciting and beautiful dives. There are wreck dives, wall dives, shallow dives, and a pier dive. The marine life is abundant, rays, turtles, eels, parrot fish and much more. The corals are colorful and you feel like you are gliding through an underwater garden in some areas. There are many dive shops that are PADI rated. We recommend Dive Experience in Christiansted and Anchor Dive in Salt River.