Reef Bay Sugar Factory Historic District!

What Is Reef Bay Great House Historic District?

This is the best preserved Danish sugar factory in the Virgin Islands!

What Makes It Historical?

Sugar was the main reason Denmark took control of the Virgin Islands in the 1700s, hauling over enslaved Africans to cultivate large plantations of sugarcane! For about a century, Danish sugar production boomed on St. John at estates like Annaberg, Par Force, and Reef Bay. Built in 1840, this sugar factory was the last built on St. John, only 8 years before emancipation on the islands, and it was modernized in 1862 under supervision of W. H. Marsh!

Mr. Marsh had an engine room installed to replace the original horse-powered mill with steam power! Once the sugarcane was crushed by the mill, the cane juice would be tempered with lime powder, skimmed, and poured into the largest of a series of steadily shrinking copper bowls. Boiled, tempered, skimmed, and passed on, the sugar would gradually thicken until it reached the smallest bowl, the “teache,” and could be taken away for further processing. Harvest season lasted all the way from December until May! After a workman died in the factory in 1908, the estate turned from sugar production to cattle ranching; after all, European beet sugar was killing the Caribbean cane industry, and emancipation had taken away all the free labor. Amazingly, this factory has survived hurricanes and the regrowth of the forest to still be tourable today!

How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?

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Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!