Hassel Island, U.S. Virgin Islands

Last updated
Hassel Island Historic District
Hassel Island USVI.JPG
USA Virgin Islands location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Charlotte Amalie
Coordinates 18°19′44″N64°56′0″W / 18.32889°N 64.93333°W / 18.32889; -64.93333
Area48 acres (19 ha)
Built1801
ArchitectLt. Col. Charles Shipley
NRHP reference No. 76001862 [1]  (original)
78003093  (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 19, 1976
Boundary increaseAugust 29, 1978

Hassel Island (also sometimes Hassell Island) is a small island of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. Hassel Island lies in the Charlotte Amalie harbor just south of Saint Thomas and east of Water Island, with which it is part of the sub-district of Water Island.

Contents

The roughly 136-acre (550,000 m2) island was once a peninsula of Saint Thomas, known as Orkanhullet (Hurricane Hole). Hassel Island was separated by the Danish government in 1860, and named for the Hassel family who owned much of the estate.

In March 2012, the MTV's reality TV series The Real World was filmed for its twenty-seventh season on Hassel Island. The series was filmed at the Royal Mail Building which was the former quarters of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. During the later 1900s it was operated as the Royal Mail Inn. It is the only season that the television series has filmed in the Caribbean. The season completed its filming two months later in May 2012. In 2015, that land was purchased to be used as a private home. There are under five homes built on this island. It does not seem to be a fast growing populous place, but rather is a more secluded National Park and limited number of private homes.

History

Careening Cove, a bay on Hassel Island, appears on maps as early as 1687. [2]

Fort Willoughby, Hassel Island FortWilloughbyHasselIslandUSVI.jpg
Fort Willoughby, Hassel Island

The Danish used Hassel Island's strategic location to defend the busy Charlotte Amalie harbor in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Fort Willoughby Garrison House, Hassel Island FortWilloughbyGarrisonHouseHasselIslandUSVI.jpg
Fort Willoughby Garrison House, Hassel Island

The British occupied Hassel Island during the Napoleonic Wars. The ruins of several British buildings remain on Hassel Island, including Fort Willoughby, [3] which was built on the site of the older Prince Frederik's Battery (Fort Frederik), [4] as well as Fort Shipley (Shipley's Battery) [5] and Cowell's Battery. [6] All three were constructed around 1801-1802. [7]

Creque Marine Railway, Hassel Island CrequeMarineRailwayHasselIslandUSVI.jpg
Creque Marine Railway, Hassel Island

In the 1840s, the St. Thomas Marine Railway Company constructed the St. Thomas Marine Railway Slip. Later renamed the Creque Marine Railway, it is one of the earliest steam-powered marine railways in the western hemisphere and perhaps the oldest surviving example of such a railway. The Hamburg-based Boulton Company built the railway's steam engine. [2]

Creque Marine Railway Power House, Hassel Island CrequeMarineRailwayPowerHouseHasselIslandUSVI.jpg
Creque Marine Railway Power House, Hassel Island

In the 1860s, the Danish government dug a channel that separated Hassel Island from Saint Thomas and improved the circulation of the Charlotte Amalie harbor.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company operated its West Indies hub on Hassel Island from about 1850 until the 1870s. [8]

In 1871, the Hamburg America Line set up a coaling station on Hassel Island. [2]

There was also a leprosarium on the island. [9]

The channel was widened by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1919, shortly after the United States purchased the Danish West Indies. [10] The United States Navy also established a naval station on the island, which was in operation during World War I and World War II. [2]

In the middle of the 20th century, most of Hassel Island was owned by the prominent local Paiewonsky family. The Royal Mail Inn, a small hotel located on Hassel Island, built by the Paiewonsky family may have been the hotel immortalized in Herman Wouk's novel Don't Stop the Carnival . [2]

The Creque Marine Railway and a signal station at Cowell's Battery were in operation until the 1960s and 1970s, respectively.

The southern portion of the island was inscribed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 1978, the historic district was expanded to cover the remainder of the island as well.

In 1978, the Virgin Islands National Park purchased most of the island from the Paiewonsky family. The rest of the island is divided between the territorial government and a few private residences. [11]

Since around 2004, the Saint Thomas and Hassel Island Preservation Trust, the Virgin Islands National Park, the Saint Thomas Historical Trust and other organizations have been working to restore and preserve the island's historic sites. There are limited guided kayaking and hiking tours of the island.

Hassel Island is also the location for The Real World: St. Thomas , the twenty-seventh season of the reality show The Real World . [12]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of the United States Virgin Islands</span>

The United States Virgin Islands are a group of several dozen islands and cays located in the Caribbean, about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) southeast of Florida, 600 miles (966 km) north of Venezuela, 40 miles (64 km) east of Puerto Rico, and immediately west and south of the British Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation in the United States Virgin Islands</span>

The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left. However, virtually all passenger vehicles are left hand drive due to imports of U.S. vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands</span> Capital city of the United States Virgin Islands

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 the Danish queen Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1650–1714). 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands</span> One of the main islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, and a constituent district 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Islands National Park</span> 14,700 acres in St. John, Virgin Islands (US) managed by the National Park Service

The Virgin Islands National Park is an American national park preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor.

Water Island is a minor island in the United States Virgin Islands, an American territory located in the Caribbean Sea. The rest of the U.S. Virgin Islands were acquired by the Americans in 1917 from Denmark, however Water Island was excluded, thus the Danish East Asiatic Company, and by proxy the Danish kingdom, continued to own Water Island until several decades later. Water Island was bought by the American government in 1944, and in 1996 it was transferred to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The island is of volcanic origin and lies to the south of Saint Thomas in the Charlotte Amalie harbor. Ferry service runs regularly from Crown Bay, Saint Thomas to Phillips Landing, Water Island; the ferry ride is about 10 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legislature of the Virgin Islands</span> Territorial legislature of the United States Virgin Islands

The Legislature of the Virgin Islands is the territorial legislature of the United States Virgin Islands. The legislative branch of the unincorporated U.S. territory is unicameral, with a single house consisting of 15 senators, elected to two-year terms without term limits. The legislature meets in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Christian</span> United States historic place

Fort Christian is a Dano-Norwegian-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Built 1672-1680, early in the first successful colonial establishment on the island, the fort served as a critical point of defense and government during the entire period of Dano-Norwegian, and later Danish, administration, which ended in 1917 with the sale of the islands to the United States. It currently holds the St. Thomas Museum, which holds artifacts and art of the Dano-Norwegian period. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Moses Paiewonsky</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of United States Virgin Islands–related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the territory of the United States Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Frederik</span> United States historic place

Fort Frederik, also known as Frederiksfort, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Frederiksted, United States Virgin Islands. It was built between 1752 and 1760 by Denmark-Norway to defend the economic interests of the natural deep water port of Frederiksted and to ward off pirates. It has red and white painted walls, making it quite different then yellow and white of Fort Christiansværn on the other side of the island. It is located at the north end of Frederiksted, in St. Croix, south of the junction of Mahogany Road and VI 631. It should not be confused with Frederiks Fort, Fortberg Hill, on St. John, which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolph Achille Gereau</span> U.S. Virgin Islands civil servant

Adolph Achille Gereau, or Adolph Gereau, was a United States Virgin Islands civil servant who was the principal founder of the Republican Club and one of the committee of founders of the Republican Party of the United States Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowell Battery, U.S. Virgin Islands</span> Settlement in the United States Virgin Islands

Cowell Battery is a settlement on the island of Hassel near Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. The population of the settlement and entire island in 2012 was 10. It was named after the British officer John Clayton Cowell of the Royal Regiment of Foot who was Governor of St Thomas during the British occupation of 1801–1802.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creque Marine Railway</span>

The Creque Marine Railway, formerly the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility", is an inclined-plane ship railway on Hassel Island, in the bay of Charlotte Amalie off the coast of St. Thomas Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its site is below Fort Shipley, within Virgin Islands National Park.

St Thomas Historical Trust, is a non-profit historic preservation organization located on Saint Thomas island, in the United States Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Virgin Islands Governor's Mansion</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Amalie Historic District</span> United States historic place

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith L. Williams</span> US Virgin Islands educator and suffragist

Edith L. Williams was a United States Virgin Islands educator, women's rights activist, and suffragist. Williams was the first woman who attempted to vote in the Virgin Islands and when she was denied the right to register, she petitioned the court along with Eulalie Stevens and Anna M. Vessup to review their qualifications. They won their case and subsequently women throughout the Virgin Islands who were literate and property owners were allowed to vote. A bust of Williams was installed in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte Amalie, and the James Madison Elementary School was renamed as the Edith L. Williams School in 1981 in her honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Willoughby, U.S. Virgin Islands</span>

Fort Willoughby is a historic fort on Hassel Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Hassel Island, USVI". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  3. Survey, Historic American Buildings. "Fort Willoughby, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, VI". www.loc.gov. United States Library of Congress . Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  4. "Prince Frederik's Battery". Hassel Island. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  5. "Shipley's Battery". Hassel Island. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  6. "Cowell's Battery & Signal Station". Hassel Island. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  7. "SJHS Hassel Island Chronology". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  8. "Hassel Island Historical Archive - Royal Mail Stream Packet Co". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  9. "Virgin Islands Archeology with the NPS and Friends: Archaeology on an Epidemic Hospital" . Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  10. "U.S. Virgin Islands Forts" . Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  11. Morris, Molly (April 9, 2008). "Hassel Island's Makeover Uncovers Historical Riches". St. Thomas Source.
  12. "Real World St. Thomas Trailer". MTV. May 29, 2012. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012.