Bethlehem Old Works includes estates 15 & 16 in St. Croix’s King’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1760s in estate 15. This estate was part of the larger Estate Bethlehem.
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 Old Works became a substantial settlement in the northern portion of estate 16 in King’s Quarter.
The 1750 map does not indicate sugar cultivation or structures at estates 15 & 16. Both Beck printings include an animal mill on the west side of estate 15 and no sugar manufacturing icon in estate 16. The 1766 and 1770 annotated Beck maps include the animal mill with no added sails. All the other annotated Beck maps and the manuscript copies include a windmill.
The 1779 plan of the Bethlehem plantation includes a windmill at Old Works. The 1799 Oxholm map included a windmill in the northeast corner of estate 16 with the name Bethlehem old Worck. The 1856 Parsons map depicts numerous structures but no windmill at Bethlehem old work.
None of the 20th century topographic maps includes ruins identifiable as a windmill.
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. The large sugar mill in the northern portion does not clarify the reference to a stone mill or the central factory built in this area.