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DiscoverUSVIMagazine.com
Getting to Know St. Croix
The largest of the Virgin Islands is a gentle giant that beckons visitors to explore 18th-century Danish towns, swim on pristine white beaches, and kayak in the wake of Christopher Columbus. St. Croix’s people honor their role as guardians of highly significant historical, cultural and natural treasures, even as they revel in a calendar filled with rollicking festivals and fairs. Join the year-long celebration!
Laid-back St. Croix is considered by many to be the soul of the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was here that the era of slavery came to an end in 1848. Since much of the island is untouched by the rampant development that consumed some parts of the Caribbean, visitors can drive past vast fields still studded with plantation ruins, swim in the Salt River where Columbus arrived in 1493 and stroll through charming colonial towns that look much the same as they have for centuries.
Thanks to cooperation between far-sighted private organizations, generous donors and government officials, the amount of land designated for preservation has increased during the past decade and will remain available for all to enjoy long into the future.
The Twin Cities: Christiansted and Frederiksted
While other Virgin Islands have only one rambling town each, St. Croix boasts two that were meticulously laid out by Danish officials in the mid-18th century. Christiansted’s well-preserved architecture and graceful shaded archways provide a glimpse of island life that bustled with commerce when America’s first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, worked here as a boy.
Explore the town on foot starting at the lawn of the National Park Service Christiansted Historic Site on the waterfront. Fort Christiansvaern, a yellow-brick military garrison, was built by the first Danish settlers to ward off invaders. At the nearby Scale House and Customs House, officials weighed cargo and collected duties on exports and imports. Just across the road is the Steeple Building, one of the island’s original churches, built prior to 1740.
Away from the waterfront along Company Street is the Apothecary Hall courtyard with restaurants and a tiny archeological museum. Government House, once the administrative center of the Danish West Indies, is in the next block and is now used for offices and as a residence for the governor.
End a morning of sightseeing along the boardwalk where you’ll enjoy the sights of the picturesque harbor, watch seaplanes take off and recharge your batteries in charming, small restaurants.
Quiet Frederiksted on the island’s west end offers additional Danish colonial architecture facing a tree-shaded, waterfront park and a number of historic churches. Gingerbread trim identifies dozens of Victorian-era buildings that were constructed after 1878, when much of the town was burned during a workers’ revolt.
Red Fort Frederik stands guard at the north end, just as it has since 1752 when it was built by the Danish West India and Guinea Company to foil smugglers and Spanish raiders. On July 3, 1848, Danish Governor-General Peter von Scholten ascended to the top and proclaimed that Danish West Indies slaves would henceforth be free.
Points of Interest in Between
In the countryside, you’ll notice conical, stone towers on hilltops, reminders of plantation days when the island prospered by exporting sugar and rum. At the Cruzan Rum Distillery, near Frederiksted, award-winning spirits are still produced as they have been for more than 300 years. Take a tour, sip samples and check out the seven flags around the sugar mill — they’ve all flown over St. Croix.
Close by is the Estate Whim Plantation Museum with a meticulously restored 18th-century sugar mill, animal mill, cookhouse and Danish great house. A few miles east is the St. George Botanical Garden, where more than 1,500 species of flowers, plants and trees flourish among ruins of a centuries-old plantation.
Nestled in a valley just northeast of Frederiksted is the Lawaetz Family Museum, where you can picture the lives of a 19th-century Danish farm family whose descendants still live on the island. Not far away in the rain forest, pause for refreshment at the Mt. Pellier Domino Club and buy a can of non-alcoholic brew for a beer-drinking pig. Watch the pig knock it back, a wacky photo opportunity for kids of all ages.
Cruising the Coast
A coastal driving tour should include the island’s dry east end with its cacti-covered hillsides, a sharp contrast to the tropical forests of the lush west end. Pass the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope and Cramer’s Park, a favorite beach for local families. Continue to Point Udall, the easternmost point in the United States, crowned by its Millennium Monument built in 1999. Turn back and cross the island at Route 60 to the southeast shore for stunning pastoral and sea views.
On the north coast, west of Christiansted, you can turn up an aptly named road, the Scenic Drive, for a detour offering magnificent views of neighboring islands. Back on the main road, head west to the hilltop visitors center for the Salt River Bay National Historic Site where Christopher Columbus landed in 1493.
Farther along, you’ll come across the funky Cane Bay beach bars popular with divers, snorkelers and swimmers. Just beyond is a steep hill nicknamed “The Beast” by participants in St. Croix’s annual Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, who climb the grade on their bikes.
On the west end, a coastal drive from south to north will take you through the old town of Frederiksted and past several laid-back beachfront bars and restaurants. Near the north end are rock formation pools, known locally as the Monks Baths, and Ham’s Bay where the road ends near the island’s only lighthouse.
End a morning of sightseeing along the boardwalk where you’ll enjoy the sights of a picturesque harbor, watch seaplanes take off and recharge your batteries in charming, small restaurants.
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35 Estate Turner Hole, Christiansted
Resort: 877-773-9700, 340-773-9700 • www.divicarina.com
Casino: 340-773-PLAY (7529) • www.carinabay.com
Located on a quiet stretch of beach on St. Croix, Divi Carina Bay Beach Resort & Casino combines privacy and relaxation with modern style and amenities. Two hundred spacious beachfront guestrooms and deluxe hillside suites offer private balconies with stunning views. The resort features a PADI five star dive operation, an 18-hole miniature golf course & driving range, and a full-service spa. Divi Casino offers gaming excitement including table games, live and video poker, a simulcast betting area, slot machines, a café and a showbar.
Find a complete list of activities, island tours and day trips, tour operators, charter boats for dive, snorkeling, fishing and swimming, golf and water sports - right here in our Activities Directory.
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