Rust op Twist includes estates 5 & 6 in St. Croix’s Northside B Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 19th century. The windmill has an interesting keystone & remains in good condition. Other ruins are cleared on the site.
Rust op Twist indicates how locations near the north shore in Northside B quarter provided earlier access for sugar cultivation compared to more elevated locations. No settlement is indicated through the 1750s. In the 1760s, the annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies of the Beck map indicate an animal mill hand drawn into the map except the 1766 unsigned manuscript copy of Beck and the 1770 annotated Beck map, a map that did not add any sugar machinery to the printed map.
Both the 1799 Oxholm and 1856 Parsons maps indicate a windmill at Rüst op Tvist and Rust op Twist, respectively. The 20th century topographic maps indicate windmill ruins at approximately 100 feet elevation, with the top specified at 130 feet, at Rust op Twist or Rust up Twist, depending on the map.
The 1760s annotated and manuscript copies of the Beck map attribute ownership to Johann Balthazar Uÿtendall while the 1770 annotated map attributes ownership to Johann Balthazar Uÿtendall Baron de Bretton, suggesting that this is one and the same person. The c.1770 annotated Beck map and 1790s manuscript copies of Beck attribute ownership solely to Baron de Bretton.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.161) makes the point that Oldendorp referred to the area as Vitendals Plantage after the first owner in the Danish period Johann Balster Uÿtendall. McGuire notes that Rust op Twist in Dutch means Rest after strife, struggle, or toil.
Information about the steam mill built at Rust op Twist can be found at this website.