Estate Spanish Town
Spanish Town is estate 29 in St. Croix’s King’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1760s. The windmill has been reduced to a foundation.
The 1750 map indicates no cultivation in estate 29. While the first Beck printing does not depict a sugar manufacturing icon, the second printing includes an animal mill. All the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies include a windmill, except the 1770 annotated map that only added landowner names.
The 1799 Oxholm map includes a windmill in the northern half of estate 29, naming it Spanish Town. The mill sits near the end of a road coming from the north. The 1856 Parsons map includes a windmill in the same relative location with the road. Immediately west of the windmill is a square flanked by two structures on either side.
None of the 20th century topographic maps include ruins identifiable as a windmill. Fieldwork found a foundation of a windmill along with several other ruins in the area.
The 1750 map attributes ownership to Abraham Markue, a likely spelling variant. All the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies attribute ownership to Abraham Markoe, as do the early 1790s maps.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.182) notes the estate in woodland in pasture in the 1920s, with buildings 1,200 yards from Krause Lagoon. McGuire attributes ownership in 1851 to the Tinling sugar estates with neighboring Anguilla and other properties.
Historic Maps of Spanish Town
