|
|
Estate Mt. Pleasant and Retreat
|
 1800 Oxholm Map |
Early on this Saturday morning, members of the St. John Historical Society gathered on the shoreline of Princess Bay for the hike to Estate Mount Pleasant and Retreat. Interpreting and leading the hikers were David Knight and Eleanor Gibney.
Our destination was Estate Retreat located on the ridge just east of the summit of Mount Pleasant. We began at the eastern end of Princess Bay ascending the hillside of Mount Pleasant on the northern side of East End Road. Although there was once a road, probably better described bridal path, that led to the Estate, we pretty much just made our way straight up the hill.
The natural native dry forest terrain made for relatively easy walking, with a minimum of those nasty invasive plant species like catch and keep and wild tamarind. Common trees in the area included amarat and torchwood. We also passed by an old lignum vitae tree and a lignum vitae stump that remained in good condition notwithstanding the passage of possibly hundreds of years.
 Tamarind Tree |
 Lignum Vitae |
Approaching the top of the hillside we came upon some large tamarind tree, which indicated that we were on a once cleared portion of the estate. Here we found old English port bottles and conch shells.
(Hikers finding artifacts such as these are asked to enjoy them, but to leave them in place for others to see and for archeologists and historians to study.)
 View from the Ridge |
 Magazine Ruins |
On the relatively flat ridge line, about 100 yards further up the hill, we came to the ruins of Estate Retreat. From there looking to the north you could see the Sir Francis Drake Channel and Tortola through the foliage.
The first ruins we came to were those of the magazine or storage building
 Kitchen |
 Estate House Ruins |
Just to the west of the magazine, were the remains of the small estate house and the detached kitchen.
An Estate Retreat Story
David shared with us an interesting story partly concerning Estate Retreat in the early 19th century, which came from a published account of a conversation between a Methodist Minister from Tortola and John D. Moore, the owner of Estate Hermitage
Background to the Story
During the early 19th century, life on St. John's East End was greatly influenced by its proximity to the British island of Tortola that lay just a mile or two off the northern coast of the East End peninsula.
East Enders, more often than not, carried on (a sometimes illegal) trade, did their shopping, went to the doctor or dentist, and visited friends and family on Tortola, rather than than traveling all the way to St. Thomas. So prevalent were these visits that Saturdays on Tortola were often referred to as "St. John Saturdays."
British politics also greatly effected residents of East End, in particular, Britain's firm opposition to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Even before slavery was abolished on British colonies, escaped slaves who reached British territory or those found at sea by British warships were granted freedom.
 Sir Francis Drake Channel Between St. John & Tortola |
This proved a great temptation for slaves on St. John to attempt an escape across the narrow Sir Francis Drake Channel to freedom on Tortola. Between the inception of this British law and the abolition of slavery in the Danish West Indies in 1848, there were numerous escape attempts by enslaved workers on St. John, particularly from estates on the north shore and east end. Because of this, the Danish government passed strict rules concerning the security of boats, which could potentially be stolen by slaves and used as a means of transportation to Tortola. Thus, it was mandated that boats must be hauled past the high water mark, chained and locked to a sturdy post and scuttled, meaning that a hole would be made in the boat's hull which would be sealed by inserting a wooden bung. The bung was to be taken home and placed under lock and key.
The Story
A Methodist minister from Tortola was visiting members of the faith who lived on East End estates, one of whom was John D. Moore, the owner of Estate Hermitage, the estate located just to the west of Mount Pleasant and Retreat.
The minister had heard that Mr. Moore had almost lost $1,000 and asked Mr. Moore to elaborate on the story.
It seemed that Mr. Moore had spend a day on Tortola. Unfavorable winds and currents that afternoon made for a particularly difficult "pull" (row) back to East End. Upon arrival he and his crew were so tired that they neglected to thoroughly secure the boat feeling that the hour was late and that they would return early the next morning and take care of it. They did, however, remove the wooden bung, leaving a rather large hole in the hull.
Upon returning to the bay the next morning Mr. Moore discovered that his boat was missing. Borrowing a neighbor's boat he set out after the thieves. Just off the coast of Tortola, he caught up with two fellows, slaves on the neighboring Estate Retreat, who were trying to get to Tortola. He was able to catch up with them because they had just roughly stuffed the hole in the hull with wadding and cotton, which did not make a proper seal. As a result one of the fellows had to bale while the other rowed. The rower was also at a disadvantage as he was using only one oar and thus, the pair of fugitives made very slow headway.
The escaped slaves surrendered quietly and apologized to Mr. Moore for taking his boat, but told him to tell the mean Mr. Joe Coakley, the owner of Estate Retreat, that next time they would not be caught.
Apparently Mr. Moore was not as mean as Mr. Coakley because Mr. Moore routinely allowed his enslaved laborers to use the estate boat to travel to Tortola unsupervised, never fearing that they would fail to return to St. John.
History of the Estate
The windy and dry East End was one of the least desirable places on St. John for establishing plantations. Many of the first residents of the area were French Huguenots, late comers to the island, who generally lacked great financial resources. They were so prevalent that the area was once known as "The French Quarter."
The land was totally unsuited for sugar production. Some cotton was grown, but in general, the estates relied on marine resources, provision farming and grazing of sheep and cattle. Having little experience with such unfavorable conditions, many of these initial estates failed and matter only got worse after the Slave Revolt of 1733.
These marginal properties began to be bought up people coming from nearby British islands such as Anguilla, Peter Island and Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. These new owners, many of whom were free colored were more used to these conditions and they fared better than their French predecessors. The owners also depended primarily on grazing, provision farming and support for maritime activities.
Estate Mount Pleasant came about during the early 18th century as a result of the merging of early land grants and was consolidated in 1755 by Lewin Marche for whom the bay just east of Brown Bay is named.
Between 1786 and 1800 Mount Pleasant was merged with Estate Hermitage the owner of which was Dr. Edmond Borck, for whom Borck's Creek, the bay just west of Princess Bay is named.
In the early 1800s, Joseph Coakley, the then owner of Mt. Pleasant acquired Estate Retreat and the property became known as Mount Pleasant and Retreat.
In the 1880s James W. Moore, who had inherited the Hermitage Estate acquired the Mount Pleasant and Retreat Estates and later the Turners Point and Haulover Bay Estates were added to his list of holdings.
In 1910 Moore sold all his lands to A. H. Lockhart of St. Thomas, whose family later turned most of the property over to the National Park.
