Estate Profit
Profit is estate 28 in St. Croix’s King’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1760s. The windmill was incorporated into a dwelling. The inscription stone is illegible. The windmill is in good condition.
The 1750 map depicts no cultivation in estate 28. Similarly, neither of the Beck printings included a sugar manufacturing icon. Starting with the 1766 example and including all but two of the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies, map makers depicted a hand drawn windmill. However, two of the maps place the windmill in estate 27 and two place it in estate 28. The two maps that do not include a windmill are the unsigned manuscript copy and the 1770 annotated map that only added landowner names.
The 1799 Oxholm map depicts a windmill at the southern end of a hill in the eastern side of estate 27. The 1856 Parsons map locates a windmill at a 155-foot elevation.
The 1921 topographic sheet locates the Profit mill at a 158-foot elevation. The 1958 and 1982 topographic maps locate ruins identifiable as a windmill at an elevation between 140-160 feet.
On the 1750 map, ownership attributed to Friderich Moths. By 1766 and for all the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies, ownership changed to Lieutenant Krause. By 1790, Krause must have died, with the ownership attribution to his heirs.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.151) attributes ownership in 1754 to Rapzaat Heylinger, whose first name translates to rapeseed. A mill is noted in the southern bowl of Kingshill range.
Photos of Profit, 2020s
Historic Maps of Profit
