Clearmont includes estates 3, 4, 8, & 9 in St. Croix’s Northside B Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the late 18th century. Clearmont was likely named for sweeping views to the north the location affords. The windmill was incorporated into a dwelling and is in good condition.
Clearmont reflects the delay that remoteness and rugged terrain caused in the settlement and development of sugar cultivation. No settlement is indicated through the 1750s. In the 1760s, all of the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies of the Beck map indicate no sugar machinery and attribute ownership to Laurence Bodkin.
By 1790, ownership transitioned to Nugent. A windmill appears on the 1799 Oxholm map at Clearmont along with the 1856 Parsons map at Claremont. The 20th century topographic maps indicate windmill ruins at 535 feet elevation at Clearmont or Clairmont, depending on the map.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.56) notes the definition of the French Clairmont as clear mount, suggestive of the sweeping views to the north from this location. Also notes the estate sometimes called Bodkin’s Plantage in reference to the original owner in the Danish period, not to be confused with Estate Bodkin in Northside A quarter.