Paradise and Downings is estate 45 in St. Croix’s Prince’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the late 18th century. The windmill tower is in good condition.
While the 1750 map indicates sugar cultivation, none of the Beck variants included a sugar mill icon. The 1799 Oxholm map and the 1856 Parsons map included a windmill at Paradise. All the 20th century topographic maps include ruins identifiable as a windmill.
The 1750 map attributed ownership to Joseph Johns, likely a spelling variant of Jones. The annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies through the 1770s attribute ownership Joseph Jones’ heirs for estate 44 and the western half of estate 45, with the eastern half to either John Willet or Robert Stewart. By 1790 ownership transitioned to Daly.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.143) notes a mill on southern foot of Mount Pleasant. In the 1920s, the estate was chiefly in sugar cane.