|
Excerpted from St. John Off The Beaten
Track ©
2006 Gerald Singer
The April 1996 Tenth Anniversary Collectors Edition of Caribbean
Travel & Life magazine chose St. John's Reef Bay Trail
as one of the Caribbean's ten best hikes.
The Reef Bay Trail begins at Centerline Road 4.9 miles east
of Cruz Bay. Parking for four or five vehicles is available
opposite the trail entrance. The trail runs between Centerline
Road and the ruins of the Reef Bay Sugar Factory near the beach
at Genti Bay. The well-maintained 2.4-mile trail descends 937
feet from the road to the floor of the Reef Bay Valley. The
average hiking time is two hours downhill from Centerline Road
to the beach.
The National Park Service offers guided hikes down the Reef
Bay Trail. Transportation is provided from the National Park
Visitors Center in Cruz Bay to the head of the trail. An experienced
Park Ranger will act as your guide. In addition to the Reef
Bay Trail, the walk will include the spur trail to the petroglyphs
and a visit to the Reef Bay Sugar Mill.
From the beach near the mill, you will be met by a boat, which
will take you back to Cruz Bay, allowing you to avoid the more
strenuous walk back up the trail. This popular activity is
offered for a modest fee and is available by reservation only.
Call the National Park at (340) 776-8811.
Those making their own arrangements for this hike need to
consider their transportation to the trailhead on Centerline
Road and the method of return from the bottom of the trail.
The simplest procedure is to leave your vehicle in the parking
area across from the trailhead on Centerline Road, walk down
the trail, and then walk back up the way you came. No formal
arrangements have to be made; you can go whenever you want,
with whomever you want.
However, the long, steep, uphill walk back is far more difficult
than the descent. This should not be a problem for those in
good physical condition who may even enjoy the challenge. Make
sure to pace yourself and bring plenty of water. It may also
be a good idea to plan a picnic either at the petroglyphs or
at the beach near the sugar factory. A cooling swim at Genti
or Little Reef Bay is another pleasant way to prepare for the
walk up the valley.
It is also possible to exit the Reef Bay Valley without having
to go back up the way you came. One good way to do this would
be to make a loop using the L’Esperance Road as a route
back to Centerline Road.
A second option would be to take the Lameshur Bay Trail to
Lameshur Bay and either arrange for transportation back to
Reef Bay, or walk to Salt Pond Bay and take the bus back .
The Reef Bay to Lameshur route involves backtracking about
a mile from the Reef Bay Sugar Factory to reach the trail,
then walking 1.5 miles with a rapid 467-foot altitude gain,
and subsequent descent in order to reach the road at Lameshur
Bay. This is no easier than returning uphill on the Reef Bay
Trail, and it is only recommended for those in good physical
condition. It will be necessary to pace yourself and to bring
plenty of water.
Another alternative is to walk along the coast to the western
end of the bay where there is access to a road in Estate Fish
Bay. Transportation should be arranged on both sides of this
hike, as it is a long way back to the trailhead, and hitchhiking
is difficult on the infrequently traveled roads of Fish Bay.
Webster's Dictionary defines a valley as “an elongated
depression between uplands, hills or mountains, especially
one following the course of a stream.” In this sense,
the Reef Bay Valley, located on the south side of St. John
is a classic example of this geographical formation.
reef bay valley
The steep and well-defined mountains that form the Reef Bay
Valley are among the highest in St. John and the valley follows
the course of two streambeds, locally called guts. The Reef
Bay Gut begins at Mamey Mountain and runs down the center of
the valley to Reef Bay. Parallel to the Reef Bay Gut on the
western side of the valley is the Living Gut, also called the
Rustenberg Gut, which begins near Centerline Road and meets
the Reef Bay Gut at the lower levels of the valley. A freshwater
pool formed by the Living Gut provides the location of the
ancient Taino rock carvings called the petroglyphs.
The first human inhabitants of Reef Bay were hunter-gatherers
who arrived in St. John almost 3,000 years ago. These primitive
peoples were conquered or replaced by a farming-oriented
society who were the biological ancestors of the Tainos,
the people who Columbus encountered on his voyage across
the Atlantic. The farmers, like the hunter-gatherers, migrated
from the South American mainland and up the island chain
of the Lesser Antilles arriving in St. John about 2,000 years
ago.
When Columbus sailed past St. John in 1493, he reported the
island to be uninhabited. The Tainos that lived on St. John
may have already fled the island in the wake of Carib raids
or they may have gone into hiding at the approach of Columbus'
fleet, later to fall victim to the depredations visited upon
them by the Spanish colonizers.
In the early sixteenth century, St. John was reported to be
re-inhabited by Amerindians fleeing Spanish persecution in
St. Croix and Puerto Rico. By 1550, the island appeared to
have been totally uninhabited, and it remained that way for
about 100 years.
Between 1671 and 1717, St. John was intermittently occupied
by small groups of woodcutters, sailors, fisherman and farmers.
St. John was officially colonized and settled by the Danes
in 1718. By 1726, all of the land in the Reef Bay Valley had
been parceled out to form 12 plantations. At first, these estates
were devoted to a variety of agricultural endeavors such as
cotton, cocoa, coffee, ground provisions (yams, yucca, sweet
potato taro, corn, etc.) and the raising of stock animals as
well as to the production of sugarcane.
By the later part of the eighteenth century, the 12 plantations
were consolidated into five, and sugar became the dominant
crop in the valley. Only Little Reef Bay never switched to
sugar growing some cotton but primarily concentrating on ground
provisions and animals that were sold to the neighboring plantations.
Although much of the land was cleared for agricultural purposes,
a large portion of the valley was left in its natural state.
The least disturbed areas of the valley are the western side
of the Reef Bay Gut and the mountain spur between White Point
and Bordeaux Peak.
By the end of the eighteenth century, when sugar production
was at its peak, and the population of the valley was at its
greatest (300), about half of Reef Bay Valley was classified
as woodland.
In the nineteenth century, agriculture in the Reef Bay Valley
began to decline. By 1915, only Par Force and Little Reef Bay
in the lower valley were still active, but with only ten acres
planted in sugar. Otherwise the plantations were devoted to
cattle and other livestock, coconuts, fruit trees, and ground
provisions.
Today, most of the Reef Bay Valley, with the exception of
some parcels of private property called “inholdings” is
the property of the National Park.
The Reef Bay Trail begins at the bottom of the stone stairway
on the southern side of Centerline Road.
reef bay trail entrance
Looking toward Centerline Road from the bottom of the stairs,
you can see an old stone wall. This was once the retaining
wall for the circular horsemill on the plantation known as
Old Works and is all that remains of the old estate, which
was demolished during the construction of Centerline Road.
The Reef Bay Trail roughly follows the course of the Reef
Bay Gut.
The top section of the trail descends steeply through the
moist sub-tropical forest of Reef Bay's upper valley shaded
by several varieties of large trees including West
Indian locust,
sandbox, kapok, mammee apple and mango. National Park Service
information signs provide valuable information about the natural
environment of the valley.
A beautiful old kapok tree grows just alongside the trail identified
by a National Park Service Information sign. The kapok is
known by different names in different parts of the Caribbean.
In the B.V.I. it is called the silk cotton tree. Some down
islanders call it the jumbie tree. In Mexico, Central and
South America it is called the ceiba. The scientific name,
Ceiba pentandra, comes from the Taino word for the tree pronounced
tsayee-baa.
Because of its great size, its tendency to grow straight,
and because the wood is soft and more easily worked using primitive
stone tools, the kapok was chosen to make the great canoes
used by the Taino to travel from island to island.
The kapok is often associated with the supernatural. In Africa
it was said that sleeping on pillows made of kapok cotton will
bring good luck, purify and empower your material and spiritual
energy and bring good dreams and saintly vibrations. Slaves
brought to the Caribbean often slept on mattresses and pillows
stuffed with the fluffy silk cotton fiber from the kapok seedpods.
Interestingly enough, this custom was often shunned by white
planters and plantation overseers who believed that sleeping
on kapok pillows brought about nightmares.
Another unusual tree found on the edge trail is the sandbox,
recognized by its many dark pointed spines and smooth, brown
bark. The sharp spines along the trunk have caused it to be
called monkey-no-climb. The white prickle, yellow prickle and
kapok have also been called monkey-no-climb for the same reason.
sandbox tree
Another name for this tree is monkey pistol. The sandbox produces
beautiful seed pods that look like wooden tangerines. When
the seeds are ripe, the individual segments, which are the
separate seeds, burst apart making a sharp cracking sound like
a pistol being fired.
The origin of the name sandbox tree comes from the use of
the seedpods as a desk accessory during the Victorian era.
The ripe pods were collected just before they burst apart and
were reinforced with glue to keep them together. People would
then place sand in them, which was used to blot ink with.
The ruins of the Josie Gut Sugar Estate can be found about
a half mile down the trail. The plantation began operation
in the early eighteenth century.
The circular horsemill, supported by an old stone retaining
wall, is still in good condition. A small storage room was
built into the lower portion of the retaining wall. The remains
of the boiling room lie right below the horsemill, just a few
yards off the trail.
The walls and foundations of the structures found at Josie
Gut were constructed using locally obtained stone, brain coral,
and imported red and yellow bricks. These bricks, made in England
and Germany, can be found in the ruins all over the island.
The story of how they ended up in the walls of a Caribbean
sugar plantation provides some insight into the culture and
morality of the time and place from which they came.
During the plantation days, the traditional trade route to
the West Indies was called the triangle trade. The first leg
of the triangle trade was from Europe to Africa. The ships
carried rum, weapons, and manufactured goods that were offloaded
in Africa and traded for slaves.
The second leg of the trade was from Africa to the West Indies
in which the holds of the ships were crowded with a human cargo,
slave labor for the plantations in the New World.
Sailing vessels need weight, called ballast, toward the lowest
sections of the ship to balance the force of the wind on the
sails. This is accomplished today by the use of heavy keels
or lead weights loaded near the bottom of the hull area.
The simple fact that dead or dying human beings could not
be sold motivated the slavers to make certain efforts to keep
their property in a sellable condition. In order to further
this goal, the Africans captives were moved on deck from time
to time to get fresh air and to enable the crew to wash down
the accumulated filth below. In short, the human cargo was
not suitable as ballast, and some other weighty material needed
to be in place in the lowest sections of the hull.
Preferably, the ballast would be easily removable when the
ship reached the West Indies in order to make room for the
hogsheads of sugar, barrels of rum, bales of cotton, and other
tropical products that would fetch a handsome price in Europe.
European bricks were often chosen to serve as this ballast
material. Not only were they compact and heavy, but they also
had value in the West Indies where they could be sold as construction
material.
Brain coral was another important construction material. It
was used primarily on arches and as corner stones. Brain coral
served this purpose well because when it is first brought from
the sea, it is soft and can be cut easily with a saw to the
size and shape needed. After the brain coral was shaped it
would be placed in the sun to dry where it would become hard
and rock-like.
Stone, already plentiful on the surface of the ground, was
also uncovered during excavations for terraces, buildings and
roads. Mortar was made from a mixture of lime, seashells, water
and molasses. The lime was fabricated locally by burning chunks
of coral and seashells.
The framework and roofs of the buildings were made of wood.
Many of the larger beams were made of the extremely hard and
durable Lignum vitae, a tree that was once plentiful on St.
John.
After leaving the Josie Gut area, the trail becomes less steep
and the environment gradually changes from moist to dry forest,
characterized by smaller trees and sparser shrubbery.
About one mile from Centerline Road, now well within the more
gently sloped lower valley, the Reef Bay Trail passes by the
remains of a small house, which was built around1930. This
section of the Reef Bay Valley is known as Estate Par Force.
The house alongside the trail was once owned by Miss Anna Marsh,
who cultivated fruit trees and raised cattle.In those days,
permission had to be granted by Miss Marsh in order to continue
down the trail to the abandoned sugar mill or to the petroglyphs.
About 0.1 mile past the Anna Marsh house, you will come to
the Petroglyph Trail, which will be on your right (heading
west).
The next trail intersection will be the Lameshur Bay Trail,
which leads to the left (east) while the Reef Bay Trail continues
straight. For information on the Lameshur Bay Trail
The Reef Bay Trail continues straight (south) on relatively
flat terrain and leads to the partially restored Reef Bay sugar
factory and the beach at Genti Bay.
Many citrus trees were planted along this section of the Reef
Bay Trail, and some lime trees still remain. Two of these
trees are growing right alongside the trail. If you find
ripe limes, take a few back with you. They're especially
delicious and make excellent limeade.
In her book, Some True Tales and Legends About Caneel Bay,
Trunk Bay and a Hundred and One Other Places on St. John, Charlotte
Dean Stark remembers collecting fruit in Reef Bay:
'There are cultivated orange trees there (at Estate Reef Bay),
and once, to our joy, in 1948 or 1949, there was enough rain
to produce a crop of five hundred oranges. They were exceptionally
sweet and of fine flavor.”
As the trail nears the sea it passes through a low-lying marshy
area. The holes in the earth are land crab holes. This was
once a popular place to gather these island delicacies. Land
crabs are now protected within the National Park boundaries
and hunting them is forbidden.
In 1855, O.J. Bergeest and Company bought Reef Bay and converted
the mill to steam power. At that time, William Henry Marsh
was the manager of the plantation. Marsh had come to the
West Indies from England along with his brother. They both
settled for a time in Antigua. William went to live in Tortola
and then moved to St. John. His brother settled in New York.
William Marsh was in charge of setting up the steam engine.
In 1864, he bought the entire Reef Bay Estate at public auction.
He married a St. Johnian and had ten children. The Marsh family
acquired several other estates on St. John, and they are, to
this day, important landowners on the island.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, the Par Force or
Reef Bay Plantation operation covered almost the entire lower
part of the valley.
Sugar was planted just north and east of the factory behind
the marshy area. The provision grounds were planted at the
northern end of the valley just before it starts to slope steeply
upwards. Another provision ground was located next to the greathouse.
Coconut palms and bananas were cultivated in the lower area
near the beach. Fruit and citrus trees were planted throughout
the lower valley, but especially near the gut. Cattle and sheep
grazed on three sections set aside as grassland.
The Reef Bay Sugar Mill remains in extremely good condition.
A visit here may increase your understanding of the sugar making
process and help you to imagine what life was like in days
gone by.
A good way to start your tour of the factory is to begin at
the horsemill. Horses, mules or oxen walked in continuous circles
to power the three rollers of the cane crusher in the center
of the mill. A slave (or after 1848, a “worker”)
on one side of the crusher fed bundles of cane into the rollers,
and a worker on the other side would receive them. He, in turn,
would send the crushed stalks back through the rollers for
further extraction of the cane juice. The cane juice then flowed
down the trough to the boiling room. The leftover crushed cane
stalks, called bagasse, were dried out and stored.
horsemill illustration by Natasha Singer
One side of the boiling room housed the boiling bench and
the row of copper boiling pots where the cane juice would be
boiled down into a wet raw sugar called muscavado. The fires
were fed from the outside of the building. Bagasse would often
be burned to provide heat for the boiling operation. The muscavado
would then be dried and packed into 1,000 pound barrels called
hogsheads.
Reef Bay sugar boing bench
Sailing vessels bound for Europe would arrive in Genti Bay
to pick up the shipments of sugar. To accomplish this, specially
constructed boats called dories were used to bring the hogsheads
to the larger vessel. The dory would be beached and then turned
on its side. The heavy barrels would then be rolled inside.
Then the dory would be righted, launched and rowed out to the
anchored vessel. Using block and tackle on the boom of the
sailboat, the sugar could then be loaded into the cargo area
below decks.
After the abolition of slavery in the Danish West Indies, the
sugar industry on St. John began to collapse. Most of the
sugar plantations on St. John were sold, and their new owners
switched to cattle raising or provision farming. The owners
of Reef Bay, however, decided to continue the sugar operation.
To make the process more economically feasible, they installed
a steam engine to power the rollers. This, they felt, would
solve the problems associated with the slowness of animal
power.
At the perimeter of the horsemill, next to one of the factory
walls, is the steam powered sugarcane crusher. The steam engine,
built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1861 by the W.A. McOnie Co.,
is located in the room alongside the rollers. This room was
constructed especially to house the steam engine after it was
put together and installed.
steam engine
The sugar operation here did not proceed smoothly. The soil
on the sugar plantations became depleted of nutrients, and
the sugar crops became smaller and smaller. Moreover, the introduction
of sugar beets in Europe and in the United States provided
great competition and lowered sugar prices. Reef Bay Estate
and Estate Adrian, which also converted to steam power, were
the last operating sugar mills on the island.
On March 7, 1908, fifteen year old Maunie Dalmida was crushed
in the gear assembly next to the rollers. E.W. Marsh, the son
of W.H. Marsh, died a year later and left the property to his
four children, two of whom stayed on to run the plantation.
The sugar operation became even more difficult after the accident
because some people believed that the mill was haunted by ghosts.
In 1916, St. John was struck by a major hurricane. The factory
was closed and the sugar era on St. John finally came to an
end.
By 1930, only five people lived in the Reef Bay Valley at
Par Force. They tended two acres of provisions and grazed 44
cattle. The estate was then owned by Anna Marsh, the daughter
of William Henry Marsh, who sold small amounts of milk, citrus
fruits, guavas, mangos and coconuts. Reef Bay remained sparsely
occupied until the early 1950s.
In 1955, much of Reef Bay was sold to the Rockefeller’s
Jackson Hole Preserve Inc., which transferred the land to the
National Park.
Behind the horsemill, about twenty yards inland from the beach,
is the well preserved above ground grave of W.H. Marsh. His
two daughters are buried nearby.
An item of somewhat esoteric historical interest is the origin
of the bathrooms located near the beach. The former island
administrator and Park Ranger, Noble Samuels, took Ladybird
Johnson on the Reef Bay Hike in the early 1960s.
Upon reaching the sugar factory at the end of the trail, the
former First Lady asked Noble Samuels for the location of the
bathrooms. The Park Ranger acknowledged the lack of these facilities
and pointed to the bush as a possible alternative.
Ladybird Johnson later donated money for the construction of
the bathrooms which are there for your convenience today.
More Trails |
