Estate Boetzberg

Boetzberg is estate 4 in St. Croix’s East End A Quarter. Boetzberg’s name does not appear to derive from owners identified on historic maps. Sugar was produced by the 1760s, with a windmill only appearing on the 1856 map. Reinforcing late construction are two windows above the main entrance along with a hearth. The windmill tower is in very good condition, adjacent to a swimming pool.

Estate Boetzberg was involved in sugar production starting in the 1760s, with a windmill only appearing on the 1856 Parsons map. The 1750 map’s indication that the estate was planted in provisions is consistent with no sugar machinery on either of the initial Beck map printings. None of the owner names from the historic maps suggest the genesis of the name Boetzberg.

Starting with the 1766 annotated map, an animal mill appears on three of the annotated Beck maps and 2 of the 3 manuscript copies. The lack of a sugar mill depicted on the Kuffner map in 1767 raises questions about the source material for that map’s creation.

Oxholm’s 1778 map of Christiansted includes Estate Boetzberg with an animal mill and other structures. However, Oxholm’s 1799 map indicated cotton. The USGS maps locates a windmill ruin corresponding with the current location in the field.

Ownership of Estate Boetzberg varies often on the maps from 1750 to 1791. In 1750, Schoppen and the widow Beverhoudt, whose relationship appears to have started on a business footing due to multiple locations where they co-owned property. The co-ownership in Estate Boetzberg with Schoppen and the widow needs to be explored compared to the co-ownership of Queen’s Quarter 4-5-6-7-8, with Schoppen and Adrian von Beverhoudt.

Quickly changing ownership attributions may help pinpoint the dates of the annotated Beck maps. Four of these five maps attribute a different owner between 1766 & 1770. These differences raise the question of why a single property would change hands so quickly in a relatively short period of time. Still another owner, Rengger, owns the estate on the 1790 & 1791 maps.

The McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p. 44) provides a mill elevation of 180 feet, while the USGS topo maps suggest something closer to 160 feet at the base. Adding to the ownership issues, McGuire indicates the estate was patented to William Rogers and then John Martin in 1754.