Beck Grove | |
|---|---|
Village | |
  Beck Grove Location in Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands | |
| Coordinates: 17°43′31″N64°51′01″W / 17.72528°N 64.85028°W Coordinates: 17°43′31″N64°51′01″W / 17.72528°N 64.85028°W | |
| Country |  United States Virgin Islands |
| Island | Saint Croix |
| Time zone | UTC-4 (AST) |
Beck Grove is a former plantation which is the location of a few houses on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.
Jens Michelsen Beck (1721–1791) settled on Saint Croix in 1742 and was employed by the Danish West India Company. as chief surveyor for the island. He created the first town plan for the city of Frederiksted as well as one of the most frequently reproduced historical maps of Saint Croix.
In 1750, he invested in plantation land on the western part of the island, establishing Beck's Grove. In 1754, Beck returned to Denmark, leaving the management of Beck's Grove in the hands of an over seer, Adam Søbøtker. Beck's son Michael returned to the island to take over the plantation but died shortly thereafter in a hurricane which destroyed many of the buildings, crops and forest. In 1787, Beck decided to sell the estate. [1]
In 1816m Beck Grove (Princes Quarter No. 9 and Westend Quarter No. 27, 28, Centre Police District, Frederiksteds Jurisdiction) covered 310 acres of land of which 150 acres were placted with sugar canes and 160 acres were under other cultivation. 125 enslaved labourers were present on the estate. On 19 October 1821, in accordance with Robert Nielsen's testament, Beck Grove passed Jane Mathilde Nielsen as part of an endowment of Ps. 700. On 23 May 1834, it was sold by auction, together with Estate Clearmount, to Samuel Betts, for Ps. 20,000 and an annuity of Ps. 700. On 9 December 1852, it was sold by auction, to Mrs. C. Kerr, (Claremount included) for 11,000 dollars, and ab annuity of Ps. 700. On 20 June 1855, Mrs. Kerr sold the estate to H. L. Arnesen (Claremount included) for 19,000 dlrs. and an annuity of Ps. 700. [2]
The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles to the east of Puerto Rico and west of the British Virgin Islands.
The Virgin Islands are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix being a displaced part of the same geologic structure. Politically, the British Virgin Islands have been governed as the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The archipelago is separated from the true Lesser Antilles by the Anegada Passage and from the main island of Puerto Rico by the Virgin Passage.
The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 32 square miles (83 km2); Saint John with 19 square miles (49 km2); and Saint Croix with 84 square miles (220 km2). The islands have belonged to the United States since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.
Charlotte Amalie, located on St. Thomas, is the capital and the largest city of the United States Virgin Islands. It was founded in 1666 as Taphus. In 1691, the town was renamed to Charlotte Amalie after Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1650–1714), queen consort to King Christian V of Denmark-Norway. It has a deep-water harbor that was once a haven for pirates and is now one of the busiest ports of call for cruise ships in the Caribbean, with about 1.5 million-plus cruise ship passengers landing there annually. Protected by Hassel Island, the harbor has docking and fueling facilities, machine shops, and shipyards and was a U.S. submarine base until 1966. The Town has been inhabited for centuries. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, the area was inhabited by Caribs, Arawaks, Ciboney and Taíno native peoples. It is on the southern shore at the head of Saint Thomas Harbor. In 2010 the City had a population of 18,481, which makes it the largest city in the Virgin Islands Archipelago. Hundreds of ferries and yachts pass by the Town each week.
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Saint Thomas is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, one of the three largest of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Along with surrounding minor islands, it is one of three county-equivalents in the USVI. Together with Saint John, it forms one of the districts of the USVI. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island. As of the 2020 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 42,261, about 48.5% of the total population of the United States Virgin Islands. The island has a land area of 32 square miles (83 km2).
Christiansted is the largest town on Saint Croix, one of the main islands composing the United States Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States of America. The town is named after King Christian VI of Denmark.
Virgin Islands Creole, or Virgin Islands Creole English, is an English-based creole consisting of several varieties spoken in the Virgin Islands and the nearby SSS islands of Saba, Saint Martin and Sint Eustatius, where it is known as Saban English, Saint Martin English, and Statian English, respectively.
The United States Virgin Islands, often abbreviated USVI, are a group of islands and cays located in the Lesser Antilles of the Eastern Caribbean, consisting of three main islands and fifty smaller islets and cays. Like many of their Caribbean neighbors, the history of the islands is characterized by native Amerindian settlement, European colonization, and the Atlantic slave trade.
Belvedere is a settlement on the north coast of the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. Belvedere lies along North Shore Road or Route 80.
Bethlehem Old Work is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It was set-up as one of the first plantations in the 1730s, and operated as the last sugar plantation on the island until the Bethlehem Central Factory closed in 1966.
Sugar production in the United States Virgin Islands was an important part of the economy of the United States Virgin Islands for over two hundred years. Long before the islands became part of the United States in 1917, the islands, in particular the island of Saint Croix, was exploited by the Danish from the early 18th century and by 1800 over 30,000 acres were under cultivation, earning Saint Croix a reputation as the "Garden of the West Indies". Since the closing of the last sugar factory on Saint Croix in 1966, the industry has become only a memory.
Green Kay is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It is located 3.3 miles (5.3 km) east of Christiansted.
La Grange is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.
Sion Hill is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix, in the United States Virgin Islands.
The 1878 St. Croix labor riot, locally also known as Fireburn, was a labor riot on Saint Croix, one of the Virgin Islands, then part of the Danish West Indies. The revolt started on October 1, 1878 and was suppressed after several days of looting and burning. Among the leaders were several women – "Queen Mary" Thomas, "Queen Agnes" Salomon, and "Queen Mathilda" McBean – who became known as "Queens of the Fireburn".
The Danish slave trade occurred separately in two different periods: the trade in European slaves during the Viking Age, from the 8th to 10th century; and the Danish role in selling African slaves during the Atlantic slave trade, which commenced in 1733 and ended in 1807 when the abolition of slaves was announced. The location of the latter slave trade primarily occurred in the Danish West Indies where slaves were tasked with many different manual labour activities, primarily working on sugar plantations. The slave trade had many impacts that varied in their nature, with some more severe than others. After many years of slavery in the Danish West Indies, Christian VII decided to abolish slave trading.
The Indian community in the United States Virgin Islands is made up of Indo-Caribbeans, Indian Americans and other persons of Indian origin. The first Indians in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) arrived in the Danish colony of Saint Croix in June 1863 as indentured workers. However, the nearly all 325 Indians who came to Saint Croix left the island by the 1870s. Nearly two-thirds returned to India, while the others emigrated to Trinidad and Tobago. Some settled in that country, while others returned to India from Trinidad.
The 1916 Virgin Islands hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that inflicted extensive damage across the Virgin Islands in October 1916. It was the region's most destructive storm since at least the 1867 San Narciso hurricane; Consul General Christopher Payne and archaeologist Theodoor de Booy considered the 1916 storm as the archipelago's most damaging. Its peak intensity was equivalent to a Category 3 on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale. The storm began as a tropical depression southeast of Barbados on October 6, though little is known about the storm's origins or its developing stages; by the time its center was first located, the cyclone was already a hurricane and causing damage in the Virgin Islands. After forming, the storm moved northwest into the eastern Caribbean Sea and strengthened quickly. Rough seas were produced in the Windward Islands at Dominica and Saint Kitts as the storm passed nearby between October 7–8, damaging coastal villages.
Jens Michelsen Beck was a Danish surveyor, cartographer, landowner and planter. On the island of Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies, he owned the Beck's Grove plantation. Beck later returned to Denmark, settling on Gentoftegård north of Copenhagen. His daughter Christiane was married to Ove Malling.
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