Estate Blessing
Blessing is estate 30 in St. Croix’s King’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the late 18th century. The windmill was likely demolished to make room for construction of the oil refinery. Field reconnaissance failed to locate ruins identifiable as a windmill.
Sugar cultivation was an early blessing for estate 30. An animal mill on the 1750 map also appears on both Beck map printings. None of the annotated Beck maps or manuscript copies of Beck change the animal mill.
The 1799 Oxholm map notes a windmill in the southeast corner of estate 30 at the Blessing. The 1856 Parsons map identifies Blessing with no windmill or tower on the hill at 105 feet elevation, consistent with later topographic maps.
The 1921 topographic sheet indicates an old mill tower at Blessing and the 1958 topographic map indicates ruins identifiable as a windmill at the same location. The 1982 photorevision does not indicate the same ruins but does show where storage tanks were built near the location at the oil refinery.
The 1750 map and all the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies of Beck attribute ownership of estates 30 and 31 to Martin Meyer. By 1790, ownership transitioned to John Meyer.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.36) notes Blessing was owned by E.B. Tinling in 1851 along with estates Anguilla, Spanish Town, and Annaberg.
Historic Maps of Blessing
