St.+John

__**Population & Size**__ **St. John is the second smallest out of the 4 islands. It is 19 square miles and has a population of about 4,000+ residents. Cruz Bay is the main town on St. John. Cruz Bay has a ferry dock that connects St. John to St. Thomas so that tourists can easily travel between both islands. The highest point on the island of St. John is Bordeaux Mountain which is 1,277 feet above sea level. ** __**Places**__  **Trunk Bay and Salt Pond Bay are the top two beaches on the island of St. John.** **Trunk Bay is the most renown beach on the islands. It is also the most photographed beach and is printed in beach magazines. There are many activities available on Trunk Bay to keep you occupied such as an underwater snorkeling trail and water sports kiosks. Coconut palms run down the beach along with sea grapes and mangroves. This beach receives the most visitors of any beach on St. John. Visitors say that Trunk Bay is a "beach not to be missed." ** **Salt Pond Bay has many natural and beautiful features. Salt Pond Bay has calming waters which is a favored feature to families.** **In Salt Pond Bay there are many groups of rare and tropical birds. When snorkeling you have a good chance of seeing many colorful coral and sponges.** **Salts are created in the pond behind the beach, this is nature's way of providing salt from the sea. The salt process is somewhat simple. Salt water seeps into the on, water evaporates, and a foamy residue of sea salts are left behind. With Salt Pond Bay's natural features this is a place you won't want to miss.** __**History**__ **St. John was discovered with all of the other U.S. Virgin Islands by Christopher Columbus in 1493.** **In 1684, the British tried to claim St. John when the Danish government took possesion of, but they had no settlement. So, the people of Tortola considered it their land.** **On March 25, 1718, Danish planters from St. Thomas raised a flag at their first permanent settlement at Coral Bay in Carolina Estate with a total of twenty settlers. Coral Bay had a nice natural harbor, but it was not well suited for planting.** **The British continuously tried to overtake the Danes on St. John, but in 1762 they renounces their claims to preserve their relationship with the Danes.**
 * St. John, U.S.V.I. ** **"Love City" **

**Fifteen years later, about 109 cotton and sugar cane plantations covered almost all of St. John. Life in the plantations were hard. St. John's hilly terrain had to be cleared and terraced. Because of this the soil became thin when the trees were cleared from the land. The planters had to add ashes and dung to the soil for it to maintain fertility.** **With so many growing plantations there was a strong need for labor, but it wasn't profitable to hire workers for the plantations. African Americans and indentured servants were brought to St. John to work the plantations. As more slaves came in, the number of slaves outnumbered the amount of freemen.** **In 1733, there was a revolt on St. John against plantation owners and slavery. On November 23, 1733, fourteen slaves went to Fortsberg with cane knives hidden in bundles of wood. The slave killed six out of seven men, took control of the fort, and signal the other slaves that the revolt had begun. This revolt lasted seven months and killed many Europeans and Africans. Before this all started the population was 1,295 people, 1,807 slaves and 208 freemen, which did not included children under 12 years of age. Large plantations were destroyed and about a quarter of the population was killed. It was estimated that about 300 slaves killed themselves because of the fear that soldiers would capture them. Just as this revolt became worse, French and Swiss soldiers came to settle the revolt.** <span style="color: #0072ff; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**In 1825, the Danish government opened a new courthouse and prison in Cruz Bay. They named this new structure the Battery. This was made to improve the treatment of slaves on St. John by making justice a government issue instead of leaving it to the individual planters and people to resolve.**

<span style="color: #0072ff; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**The Danish Parliament came up with a 12 year plan so that slavery would be able to slowly dissolve, but slaves didn't want to wait 12 years for their freedom. So, on July 3, 1848 Governor General Peter von Scholten was prompted to** **abandon Parliament's plan and** **put slavery to an end in the Danish West Indies after there was another revolution in St. Croix. When slavery ended there was a decline in St. John's plantations and population. Between the years of 1850 and 1870 more almost half of the population left.** <span style="color: #0072ff; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**The plantation in Carolina Estate was able to maintain itself the longest. Sugar production became profitless and bankrupt planter left the island. Though this happened former slaves started to move in. SOme slaves were able to buy the land, some were given to them from the former land owner, and rest of them turned into squatters. After the decline of plantation, life for the people was small scale subsistence farming.** <span style="color: #0072ff; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**In the 1870's to renew the sugar economy the people considered producing cheaper sugar with beets, but this didn't happen. St. Croix and Puerto Rico were already able to produce sugar more effectively for less money. By** **1913, the population of St. John was about 930 people.** <span style="color: #0072ff; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**In 1917, the U.S. bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. By the 1930's the U.Ss had heard news of the american islands and tourism was soon to be established in St. John and the other islands. Now St. John is one of the favored tourism destinations.** __<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**Pictures** __ <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**St. John, U.S.V.I.-** **http://www.stjohn-virginislands.com/st%20john%20usvi.htm** **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> Trunk Bay- http://www.ibtimes.com/contents/20090120/escape-thes-virgin-islands.htm ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">** Salt Pond Bay- http://www.technomadia.com/2010/11/snapshots-of-st-john/  **  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">** Cotton Plantation Field- http://blog.couragetosee.com/?p=1054**  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">** Governor General Peter von Scholten- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8737 **