Judith’s Fancy is estate 1 in St. Croix’s Northside B Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1750s. The estate was likely named for Judith Aletta Kenney, whose gravestone rests on the site. The windmill was blocked to store water after decommissioning and is in good condition.
While in Northside B quarter, Judith’s Fancy is far more accessible to Company quarter immediately to the south, also facilitated by Salt River Bay to the west. This accessibility placed Judiths Fancy as the estate cultivating sugar sooner than other Northside B estates, very possibly during the French period.
Judith’s Fancy is the only estate in Northside B quarter with an animal mill indicated on the 1750 map and the first printed Beck map and the only estate in Northside B quarter with a windmill on the second printing of the Beck map. The c.1770 annotated Beck maps indicates an animal mill working in conjunction with the windmill, something confirmed on the 1778 Oxholm map.
At an elevation of about 25 feet for the base of the windmill, this represents one of the lowest elevations for any mill on St. Croix. That being said, the winds constantly blow on the eastern shore of Judith’s Fancy, likely enough to justifying a windmill in that location. The windmill and a steam chimney along with other structures are easily located at Judith’s Fancy.
Maps indicate ownership transferred from Gouverneur Jens Hansen in 1750 to Jens Peter Hemmer in the 1760s. By 1778, ownership transferred to Benners and stayed as such through at least 1791. At various points, the plantation extended ownership to estate 34 of Company quarter and estate 1 Queen quarter. McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.102) makes the point that Oldendorp referred to the area as Hemers Plantage and was home to the Governor’s Castle.
The 1799 Oxholm map makes the first reference to the name Judith’s Fancy. Hinting at the basis for the name given to the estate, a gravestone with the name Judith Aletta Kenney can be found at the estate near the other ruins, with the date of death in 1790 sufficient time before the 1799 Oxholm map to have the name come into common usage. Ryberg’s list of inhabitants of the Danish West Indian Islands includes mention of Judith Aletta Heyliger married to Johannes Benner with a child baptized in the Dutch church in 1779.