Estate Bethlehem New Works
Bethlehem New Works was built in estates 25 & 26 in St. Croix’s King’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1760s. The windmill was reduced to a foundation and subsequently used to store water on top of the windmill foundation.
Each of the areas for sugar manufacturing in the sprawling Bethlehem plantation, which included all or part of 10 estates, receives separate examination here. Bethlehem New Works became a substantial settlement in the southern portion of estate 25 in King’s Quarter, extending south into estate 26.
The 1750 map and both Beck map printings indicate no sugar cultivation or sugar manufacturing icons in estates 25 & 26. Only two of the annotated Beck maps, 1767 and c.1767, add a hand-drawn animal mill in estate 25. The 1766 annotated Beck map adds a windmill to the center of estate 26. No sugar manufacturing icons appear on any of the other Beck map variants.
The 1779 plan of the Bethlehem plantation includes a windmill at Middle Works. The 1799 Oxholm map locates a windmill on a ridge in the southwest corner of estate 25 at Bethlehem new Worck. The 1856 Parsons map locates a windmill in a similar location with extensive other structures at Bethlehem new work. None of the 20th century topographic maps include any ruins identifiable as windmills.
The 1750 map attributes ownership of estate 25 as one of a group of estates labeled Parcel reserved for and worked by His Majesty. On this map, estate 26 attributes ownership to Pieter Claussen. The 1766 and 1770 annotated Beck maps and the 1766 Zöllner manuscript copy of Beck attribute ownership to Governor Johannes Heyliger or his heirs, with both 1766 maps remarkably noting the heirs rather than the man, suggesting the 1770 map overlooked the passing of Gov. Heyliger. Ownership attributed ty John de Windt on the 1767, c.1767, and c.1770 annotated Beck maps. This ownership renamed slightly to John Jacob De Windt by 1790.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.34) notes that the Bethlehem plantation included and estates 15, 16, 25,26, and 34 along with the western half of the neighboring estates 14, 17, 24, 27, and 33. A mill at Bethlehem New Work was located at the south end of estate 25.
Notes that Bethlehem New Work identifies the mill at the south end of estate 25 in King’s Quarter, locating it on a ridge between Jealousy and Bethlehem Bæks (or guts).
Historic Maps of Bethlehem New Works
