Maria Hope Road

The Maria Hope Trail follows an old Danish road that runs between the Josie Gut Estate on the Reef Bay Trail and Maho Bay on the north shore.

History
Until early in the nineteenth century, people couldn’t travel all the way from east to west on what was then called Konge Vey (King’s Road) and which is now known as Centerline Rd or Route 10. The road was divided in two by a gorge located at the saddle of the Maho Bay Valley on the north and the Reef Bay Valley on the south. This gorge was known as the defile and was impassable by donkey cart or horseback.

When travelers on horseback or wagon going between the Coral Bay side of St. John and the Cruz Bay side came to the defile, they had three options:

Option 1: There were corrals for horses on both sides of the defile. They could leave their horses in the corral on one side, cross the defile on foot and arrange to take another horse to continue east.

Option 2: They could take the road that today corresponds to the Reef Bay Trail down the valley to the south coast and continue east on the south shore.

Option 3: They could take the Maria Hope Road down the Maho Bay Valley to the north and continue east on the north shore.

Around the year 1800, the defile was filled in, and the two sides of the island were connected by one road for the first time.

When Centerline Road was constructed along the mountain ridge, hundreds of tons of fill were brought in to make the road passable by motor vehicle. In the process, the Old Works Estate and the uppermost section of the Maria Hope Road were completely covered over.

In 2005, the Maria Hope Road was cleared and made passable through the efforts of the Trail Bandit and a local hiking society.

From Centerline North to Maho Bay
This section of trail is 0.8 mile long and begins across from the Reef Bay trailhead on Centerline Road and descends the western side of the Maho Bay Valley, following a gut, and emerging on the North Shore Road just above the steep hairpin turn west of the beach at Maho Bay.

Difficulty
The northern half of the Maria Hope Trail is not an official Park trail, nor does it go through Park property. The trail is not regularly maintained. Access to both ends of the trail involve steep (but short) scrambles. The change in elevation is almost 900 feet, so pace yourself if ascending the trail.

Most of the valley is currently owned by a complicated association of National Park and private interests. There has been talk about the possibility of development, but for the near term the valley is a beautiful example of natural St. John forest. Enjoy it while you can.

Trail Details
The construction of Centerline Road created an embankment across the old Maria Hope Road, which you’ll need to scramble down to get to the trail. This access has been cleared, but it is still steep going for about ten yards. Go slow and watch your footing. Once you reach the remains of the old road, which was leveled out and retained on the lower side by an old dry stacked rock wall, the going is relatively easy.

At the top of the old road you can see the old stone walls of a horse corral and the retaining wall for the old Konge Vey. The trail descends through a shady and lush moist forest. Tall trees such as West Indian locust and hog plums tower above as you pass trough magnificent stands of bay rum and guavaberry trees.

In the fall of 2005, the guavaberry trees were rich with both purple and orange varieties of guavaberries, prized for their use in guavaberry wine and guavaberry pastries. Also noteworthy are the beautiful rock formations, teyer palm and heart leaf and scrub brush anthuriums.

About half way down the trail, there are beautiful views of Maho Bay to the north and out to West End, Tortola to the northeast.

Hikers can make a loop by walking west along the North Shore Road to Cinnamon Bay, taking the Cinnamon Bay Trail back up to Centerline Road, and then walk east back about a mile to the Maria Hope trailhead.

The Maria Hope trail also offers an option for those serious hikers staying at either Cinnamon Bay or Maho Bay Campgrounds to access the Reef Bay Trail without having to arrange vehicle transportation.

Serious hikers can walk west along the North Shore Road to Cinnamon Bay, take the Cinnamon Bay Trail back up to Centerline Road, and then walk east back about a mile to the Reef Bay Trail entrance.

From Centerline Road South to the Reef Bay Trail
From Centerline Road, the Maria Hope Trail follows the old Danish road through dry forest and leads back to the Reef Bay Trail just below the Josie Gut Estate. Spur trails lead to the ruins of the Paquerau and Hope Estates.

Because of the enormous amount of fill used to create Centerline Road, access to the southern half of the Maria Hope Trail is extremely difficult at this original juncture. However, a spur trail, cut by a local hiking society, found at the entrance to the Bordeaux Mountain Road just east of the mailboxes provides a difficult, although passable, access to the Maria Hope Trail. This is not an official Park trail and is not regularly maintained. Be extremely careful. The trail is very steep and slippery.

The Maria Hope Trail lies at the end of the spur. To the right ,the improved trail ends just below Centerline Road. If you turn left the trail leads to the Reef Bay Trail passing two spur trails that lead to the ruins of the Paquerau and Hope Estates. The ruins at Estate Hope include the remains of the greathouse, the horsemill, a cistern and an animal watering trough.