Trail Description
The Johnny Horn Trail connects the Leinster Bay Trail at the eastern end of the beach at Waterlemon Bay with the historic Emmaus Moravian Church in Coral Bay. The trail is 1.8 miles long and follows the mountain ridge through a dry upland forest environment. There are some steep hills reaching an approximate elevation of 400 feet.

There are four spur trails off the main trail. The first (starting from Waterlemon Bay) provides access to the best place to cross the channel if you would like to snorkel around Waterlemon Cay. The second spur leads to the remains of an old Danish guardhouse. The third trail takes you to the ruins at Windy Hill, and the fourth is the Brown Bay Trail to Brown Bay and East End.

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Hiker taking a break at the Windy Hill ruins

The Name
According to John Anderson in his historical novel Night of the Silent Drums, the Johnny Horn Trail was named after Johan Horn who was second in command to Governor Gardelin in St. Thomas and Commandant of St. John around the time of the slave rebellion in 1733. He was the Chief Bookkeeper and Chief Merchant of the Danish West India and Guinea Company on St. Thomas. Englishman John Charles, a former actor who became a small planter on St. John, said the following of Horn:

He had a grimace for a face, lies for eyes, noes for a nose, arse cheeks for face cheeks, fears for ears, whips for lips, dung for a tongue, and to all who knew him it seems strange that he has but one horn for a name.

Historian, David Knight is of a different opinion. He says that the Johnny Horn Trail is a corruption of the original name, the Jimmy Horn Trail, named after estate owner, James Murphy.

Snorkeling access spur trail
Right near the beginning of the Johnny Horn Trail there is a short spur trail that follows the shoreline of Waterlemon Bay. By walking along this trail you can get to a point on the shore that is half the distance to Waterlemon Cay than it would be starting from the beach. This way you can save your energy for the really good snorkeling around the cay.

Genip Tree
There is a Genip Tree about fifty yards up the trail, just before the turn off to the guardhouse. Some of these trees produce sweeter fruit than others. This is a good one! Keep an eye out for ripe genips in the summer.

Aloe
A patch of aloes can be found a little further up the trail between a big rock and the remains of the old Guardhouse. People often planted these medicinal plants, used for the treatment of sunburn, burns and other ailments, close to homes and public buildings.

View From Johnny Horn Trail

The Guardhouse
The spur trail on the left, just beyond the aloes, takes you to the ruins of a Danish guardhouse. This small fortification was built on this strategic location, called Leinster Point, because it overlooked two critical passages, the Fungi Passage, between Whistling Cay and Mary Point, and the Narrows, which separate Great Thatch and St. John. The guardhouse was equipped with cannons and manned by sixteen soldiers, whose mission was to prevent salves from escaping to Tortola. (See Great Escapes)

Leinster Bay Estate House (Windy Hill)
As you proceed up the hill you will come to several areas that provide excellent views to the north. Near the top, the trail forks. The spur trail to the left leads to the ruins of the Leinster Bay Estate House also known as Windy Hill or more recently, "the Bad Boys Home." The trail to the right is the continuation of the main Johnny Horn Trail.

Entrance to the Estate House

The Leinster Bay Estate House ruins are about 200 yards down the left spur trail. The structure was originally built in the late 1700s as the estate house for James Murphy. Murphy owned a vast estate and from the hilltop where his estate house was located all that the eye could see on the island of St. John was part of the Murphy Estate, including Annaberg, Mary Point, Water Bay, Leinster Bay and Brown Bay plantations.

Gun Port in estate house wall overlooking the Sir Francis Drake Channel

James Murphy was a prominent Mason and the estate house was used as the St. John headquarters for the Masonic Lodge.

De Booy and Faris in, Our New Possessions, wrote:

Near by are the remains of a building occupied by the only Masonic Lodge on St. John. One can almost picture the banquets held by the Masons when they assembled here in the olden days, when feasts were of the first importance in the life of the West Indian planter.

In 1843, the estate house became the property of Judge H. Berg, the vice-governor of the Danish West Indies. Berg, who lived in St. Thomas, was also the owner of the Annaberg Plantation at that time.

When he visited St. John, he would reside at the residence he called, Windy Hill. Otherwise, the house was occupied and managed by a Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. Preserved letters from early travelers to St. John make reference to the presence of an extensive library at Windy Hill.

Before selling the remainder of his estates on St. John, Judge Berg bequeathed small plots of land east of the estate house to some of his employees. These employees and their descendants established the village of Johnny Horn. Remains of the old houses can be seen in several places just off the Johnny Horn Trail.

View to the West from Windy Hill

Luther K. Zabriskie, in his book, The United States Virgin Islands, gives this description of Windy Hill when it was a boarding house:

Leinster Bay, was where an excellent boarding house, for use by occasional visitors, was once kept. The storm of 1916 blew this house down. The wonderful old mahogany furniture that was the envy of all who came to stay here, was scattered in all directions.

From The Langford Mail:

Windy Hill was the private boardhouse of a Mrs. Clin (commonly spelled “Clen”). It was owned by lawyer Jorgenson and entirely destroyed in hurricane of 1916.

In 1917 when the United States bought the Virgin Islands, a reform school was established here. Mrs. Clen was in charge of the facility. Most of what you see now is from that period.

Hikers at Windy Hill with Tortola on the other side of the Sir francis Drake Channel

Brown Bay Trail
Following the relatively flat ridge you will find scenic overlooks with views of Jost Van Dyke, West End, Tortola, and the Sir Francis Drake Channel. About a half mile from the Windy Hill spur, you will come to another trail intersection.

The Johnny Horn Trail continues straight ahead and the Brown Bay Trail is on the left. It is identified by a National Park information sign.

Brown Bay spur to the Moravian Church
Continuing straight along the Johnny Horn Trail the path descends gradually and crosses a gut. After crossing the gut, the trail ascends steeply before reaching a more improved section of dirt road near the summit of Base Hill (pronounced Boss Hill). At this point you will have reached an altitude of 400 feet above sea level, from which there are superb views down into Coral Harbor and Coral Bay. The road descends rapidly and leads to the Moravian Church in Coral Bay near the intersection of Centerline Road (Route 10) and Salt Pond Road (Route 107). The church, constructed in 1919, is listed in the National Registry of Historic Sites.

The Moravians came to St. John in 1741. They established the mission at Emmaus (Coral Bay) in 1782. They are the oldest of the Protestant religions and were the first to minister to blacks. This is the fourth Moravian church to be built on this site.

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