50 Fun Facts About Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park covers about 60 percent of which island?

The park covers roughly 60% of St. John, plus more than 5,500 acres of surrounding sea; it also holds nearly all of a small island in Charlotte Amalie harbour, off St. Thomas.

Which port town is the gateway to the park and home to its visitor centre?

Cruz Bay, on St. John's west end, has the park visitor centre a short walk from the ferry dock; passenger ferries arrive hourly from Red Hook on St. Thomas.

Which member of a famous American family donated the land that created the park in 1956?

Laurance Rockefeller, through his Jackson Hole Preserve, gave about 5,000 acres to create the park in 1956, on condition the land never be developed; he kept the land under his own resort.

Which resort did Laurance Rockefeller open in 1956 on St. John's north shore?

Caneel Bay opened in 1956 as the flagship of Rockefeller's Rockresorts, on north-shore land he kept out of his park gift; the land passed to the park in 1983 under a retained-use estate that ran to 2023.

Which park beach, often voted among the world's best, has an underwater snorkelling trail?

Trunk Bay's underwater snorkel trail has plaques along the reef identifying the corals and fish; with a snack bar, showers and lifeguards it is the busiest beach in the park.

Trunk Bay is named after which animal, locally called a 'trunk'?

Leatherback turtles are called 'trunks' in the Virgin Islands, after their ridged, leathery shells; the beach and the islet Trunk Cay just offshore share the name.

Which beach in the park hosts its only campground?

Cinnamon Bay, on the north shore, holds the park's only campground; across the road a short boardwalk loop passes the ruins of a sugar factory.

Which beach with sand and seagrass bottom is the park's best spot to see sea turtles and stingrays?

Maho Bay's shallow, calm water over seagrass beds draws green sea turtles and southern stingrays; the Trust for Public Land bought the 415-acre Estate Maho Bay and later transferred it to the park.

Which one-mile path leads from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon Beach?

The Lind Point Trail starts behind the Cruz Bay visitor centre, climbs to a lookout over the harbour, then drops to palm-shaded Honeymoon Beach about a mile away.

What is the highest point on St. John, reached by a steep trail from Little Lameshur Bay?

Bordeaux Mountain, at 1,277 feet, is St. John's highest point; the Bordeaux Mountain Trail climbs steeply from Little Lameshur Bay, and the densely forested summit offers no view.

Which strenuous hike passes sugar-mill ruins and ancient petroglyphs on its way down to the sea?

The Reef Bay Trail drops about 2.2 miles from Centerline Road past the Reef Bay sugar factory ruins to the shore, with a spur to the petroglyphs beside a freshwater pool; the climb back up is the strenuous part.

The park's rock carvings near a waterfall in the south-shore valley were made by which people?

Artefacts on the north shore show a Taino presence on the island from about AD 700 until the late 15th century.

Which historic district protects a partially restored sugar factory and windmill east of Mary's Point?

Annaberg, east of Mary's Point on the north shore, was one of St. John's largest sugar producers; its partially restored windmill, factory and slave quarters date from the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Which European power colonised St. John, sending planters over from St. Thomas in the 1710s?

Denmark's West India Company sent about 20 planters from St. Thomas to found a settlement at Coral Bay; Britain dropped its rival claim in 1762, and Danish rule lasted until the islands were sold to the United States.

In what year did the United States buy the Virgin Islands from their European owner?

The transfer took place on 31 March 1917 under a treaty signed in 1916; Washington wanted a naval base to keep Germany out of the Caribbean, and in return recognised Denmark's claim to all of Greenland.

How much did the U.S. pay for the Virgin Islands in 1917?

The United States paid Denmark $25 million in gold for St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix under the 1916 treaty; residents became U.S. citizens in 1927 but cannot vote for president.

Which enslaved woman from Ghana led the 1733 uprising on St. John?

Breffu, a woman enslaved on St. John, was one of the principal leaders of the 1733 revolt; rather than be recaptured, she and more than a dozen others shot themselves before French troops reached them in 1734.

The 1733 rebels on St. John came mainly from which African kingdom in present-day Ghana?

Most rebels were Akwamu, whose Gold Coast kingdom had just fallen, leaving many of its elite sold into slavery; they seized the Coral Bay fort and held most of St. John for months before French troops crushed them.

Troops from which French colony were brought in to end the 1733 rebellion?

French troops from Martinique landed in 1734 and ended the revolt after Danish efforts had failed; it had begun in November 1733 when rebels smuggled cane bills into the Coral Bay fort inside bundles of wood.

In what year were the enslaved people of the Danish West Indies emancipated?

Governor-General Peter von Scholten proclaimed emancipation on 3 July 1848 after enslaved people on St. Croix rose up; St. John's last sugar factory, at Reef Bay, closed in 1908.

Which two Category 5 hurricanes hit the park in September 2017?

Irma struck on 6 September 2017 and Maria followed on 19–20 September, both at Category 5 strength; visitor numbers collapsed to 112,287 in 2018, though parts of the park had reopened in December 2017.

Which president created the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument off St. John in January 2001?

Bill Clinton proclaimed the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument on 17 January 2001, days before leaving office; it covers 12,708 acres of submerged federal land around St. John, including Hurricane Hole.

After 2005 bleaching, USGS scientists found Hurricane Hole corals growing in what unexpected place?

USGS biologist Caroline Rogers found more than 30 coral species growing on submerged red mangrove prop roots in Hurricane Hole, where shade and cooler water helped them survive the 2005 bleaching that devastated reefs nearby.

Roughly how much coral cover did the U.S. Virgin Islands lose after the 2005 bleaching event?

Bleaching in 2005, followed by white-plague disease, killed about 60% of the coral cover in the U.S. Virgin Islands within two years.

What is the only native land mammal in the park?

Bats, including fruit bats, are the park's only native land mammals; donkeys, deer, mongooses, pigs and goats all arrived with people.

Which introduced animals wander the park's roads and beaches, descendants of plantation-era work stock?

Wild donkeys, descended from animals that hauled cane and goods in plantation days, roam St. John's roads and beaches; the park asks visitors not to feed or touch them.

Which small isle off Charlotte Amalie harbour is almost entirely within the park?

Hassel Island sits in Charlotte Amalie harbour off St. Thomas and was a peninsula until a channel was cut in the 1860s; most of it joined the park in 1978, with British-era fort ruins and the Creque Marine Railway.

Roughly how many acres of land and sea does the park encompass?

The park totals about 14,700 acres (14,689), of which roughly 5,600 are submerged; its authorised boundary encloses around three-quarters of St. John, but private in-holdings such as Peter Bay cut the park's land to about 60%.

Which path from Salt Pond Bay runs down a dry, rocky peninsula to the southernmost point of St. John?

The Ram Head Trail runs about a mile from Salt Pond Bay over a cactus-studded, rocky peninsula to Ram Head, St. John's southernmost point, where cliffs drop some 200 feet to the sea.

Which strait separates St. John's north-east shore from the British Virgin Islands?

The Narrows, a strait less than two miles wide, separates St. John's north-east shore from Great Thatch and the western British Virgin Islands; Pillsbury Sound lies on the other side, between St. John and St. Thomas.

Columbus's 1493 name for the Virgin Islands honoured the 11,000 legendary companions of which saint?

Columbus called the islands Las Once Mil Vírgenes after St. Ursula and her legendary 11,000 virgin companions, said to have been martyred at Cologne; he never came ashore on St. John.

What is St. John's nickname?

St. John is 'Love City', a nickname matched by St. Thomas's 'Rock City' and St. Croix's 'Twin City'; at about 19 square miles it is the smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands.

Which Manhattan Project physicist owned a home on St. John's Gibney Beach from 1957?

J. Robert Oppenheimer began spending months of each year on St. John in 1954 and bought land at Gibney Beach, on Hawksnest Bay, in 1957; his daughter Toni later left the beach house to the people of St. John.

Which religious group built St. John's first church, in the 1700s?

The Moravian Brethren, who had begun preaching to enslaved people on St. Thomas in 1732, founded St. John's first mission churches; their Emmaus church overlooks Coral Bay.

Which easily reached sugar-mill ruins in the park include a windmill tower and a horse mill?

Catherineberg's ruins, just off Centerline Road, include a restored stone windmill tower that once housed the cane-crushing rollers and a round horse mill beside it; the estate dates from the 1700s.

Roughly how many plantations were on St. John by 1733, when the uprising began?

A 1733 census counted 109 plantations on St. John, only 21 of them producing sugar; the island's enslaved population, about 1,000 in 1733, peaked at around 2,600 in the early 1800s.

Which poisonous beach tree, flagged by park signs, can blister skin when rain drips off it?

Manchineel, called the 'death apple', grows along Caribbean beaches; its milky sap burns skin, rain dripping from its leaves can blister, and its small green fruits are toxic, so the park marks the trees with warning signs.

Which small yellow-breasted bird, the U.S. Virgin Islands' official bird, is abundant in the park?

The bananaquit, a nectar feeder nicknamed the 'sugar bird', is the official bird of the U.S. Virgin Islands and is abundant in the park's dry forest, often raiding sugar bowls at picnic tables.

Which stronghold on Fortsberg Hill in Coral Bay did the 1733 rebels seize to start the uprising?

Fort Frederiksvaern, a small Danish post on Fortsberg hill above Coral Bay, fell to the rebels on 23 November 1733; they killed most of its handful of soldiers and fired its cannon as the signal for the revolt.

Which two islands lie about four miles from St. John — one holding the U.S. territory's capital, one British?

St. Thomas, home of the capital Charlotte Amalie, lies about four miles west across Pillsbury Sound, and British Tortola about the same distance east; Coral Bay residents historically found Tortola easier to reach than St. Thomas.

Which branching coral, listed as threatened in 2006, once formed thickets off the park's beaches?

Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, once built thickets in the shallows off St. John; in 2006 it became one of the first corals listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act after disease and bleaching devastated it across the Caribbean.

Which trail, starting near Annaberg, follows the shore to the snorkelling reef at Waterlemon Cay?

The Leinster Bay Trail follows the old Danish road along the shore from Annaberg for about 0.8 mile to Waterlemon Bay, where the reef around Waterlemon Cay is among the park's best snorkelling spots.

Which large lizard, up to five feet long, basks around Cruz Bay and the north-shore beaches?

Green iguanas grow to four or five feet and bask on rocks and sea-grape branches around Cruz Bay and the north-shore beaches; they swim well and drop into the water when startled.

What crop did most St. John plantations grow in the early 1700s, before sugar took over?

Cotton needed less capital, water and labour than sugar, so most early St. John estates grew it; sugar took over through the later 1700s as planters built the windmills whose ruins dot the park.

Which underwater habitat housed four aquanauts for nearly two months in Lameshur Bay in 1969?

Tektite I, a two-cylinder habitat on the floor of Great Lameshur Bay, housed four scientist-aquanauts for 58 days in early 1969; Tektite II in 1970 included the first all-female team, led by Sylvia Earle.

Which small north-shore bay takes its name from the Caribbean word for a ghost or spirit?

Jumbie Bay takes its name from 'jumbie', the Caribbean word for a ghost or spirit; its small beach, just west of Trunk Bay, is a short walk down from the North Shore Road.

Which north-shore bay, next to Maho Bay, has a salt pond popular with birdwatchers?

Francis Bay's salt pond, just behind the beach, draws herons, stilts, ducks and other water birds, making the Francis Bay Trail the park's best-known birdwatching walk; the bay is also one of the north shore's calmest anchorages.

What did the Danes call St. John on their maps of the Danish West Indies?

The Danes called the island Sankt Jan; with Sankt Thomas and Sankt Croix it made up Dansk Vestindien, the Danish West Indies, until the sale to the United States in 1917.

Which body has recognised the park as an Important Bird Area?

BirdLife International, which runs the Important Bird Area programme, lists the park for species such as bridled quail-doves, Antillean crested hummingbirds and pearly-eyed thrashers.

What is the park's average year-round temperature?

The park averages about 79 °F year-round; its tropical savanna climate varies only a few degrees between summer and winter, and December to April are the driest months.