Cinnamon Bay History
The first inhabitants of Cinnamon Bay were the Taino
who lived there from about 1000 AD until the end of the 15th Century.
European settlement began in 1718 when the Danish governor of St. Thomas gave permission for planters to claim land on St. John. They only had to meet the following conditions: One white man was to be on the plantation within three months, and sugar mills were to be built within five years. The plantations would be exempt from taxes for seven years.
Cinnamon Bay was originally named Store Caneel Bay, or in English, Big Cinnamon. What we now know as Caneel Bay used to be Klein Caneel, or Little Cinnamon. These bays were named for the many cinnamon trees (bay rum) found there. Later on, the name of the bay was translated into English and became known as Cinnamon Bay. Klein Caneel Bay became simply, Caneel Bay.
Three tracts of land were claimed in Cinnamon Bay. Peter Buyck, a Dutchman, claimed the section of Cinnamon Bay now called Peter Bay. William Gandi, an Englishman, claimed the area which is now between Route 20 and the Cinnamon Bay Campground beach. Daniel Jansen, a Dane, became the owner of the property inland from the road.
By 1733, the year of the St. John slave revolt, the widow of Daniel Jansen had acquired all of Cinnamon Bay. She lived in St. Thomas, and the plantation was managed by her sons, Lieven and Johannes.
That year, Africans from the Akwamu Nation, who had been brought to St. John as slaves, revolted against the owners and managers of the St. John plantations.
The rebellious Akwamu slaves captured the fort in Coral Bay and the nearby plantations. They then descended upon Cinnamon Bay. John and Lieven Jansen and a small group of their slaves resisted the rebel onslaught. Although the rebel forces were overwhelming, Jansen's slaves fought a rear guard action and held off the Akwamus with gunfire. This tactic allowed the Jansens to retreat to their waiting boat and escape to Durloe's Plantation at Klein Caneel Bay (Caneel Bay). Miraculously, the slaves were also able to escape. The rebels proceeded to loot and burn the plantation's two great houses, sugar mill and rum distillery.
The slaves on the Jansen Estate had most certainly come from nations with a long history of bitter conflict with the Akwamu people. They did not want to, nor were they welcome to, join forces with their former enemies.
The buildings and other structures on the Jansen Estate were almost completely destroyed. The ruins of the sugar works and bay rum still, which presently exist at Cinnamon Bay, are not from that time and only date back to the mid nineteenth century.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Cinnamon Bay was devoted to sugar cane production. Factors such as the depletion of the soil, the emancipation of the slaves and increased competition led to the decline of the sugar industry. The estate substituted other crops, and at the turn of the 20th century the plantation began to produce bay rum oil from the leaves of the bay rum tree. This was the principle ingredient in the well known cologne, St. Johns Bay Rum.
In 1913, Cinnamon Bay was owned by a Danish company. The land was dedicated
to the breeding and raising of cattle. Danish and English cattle were
mixed with the native breed producing a strong strain which became well
known throughout the West Indies.
In the 1930s, Cinnamon Bay was owned by a Puerto Rican who
continued using the land for cattle production. He set up a grocery in
the storehouse, which is now the museum and beach shop. It was stocked
with goods which he brought in from Puerto Rico on his schooner. He would
then take cattle, charcoal, baskets and provision crops back to Puerto
Rico for sale.
In 1955, Cinnamon Bay was sold to Jackson Hole Preserve Inc. and later
donated to the National Park.