Castle Coakley has 2 windmills in estate 34 in St. Croix’s Queen’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the first windmill was likely built in the 1760s and the second in the 19th century. The estate was likely named for a member of the Coakley family, one of the early owner of the estate. The inscription stone on the southern windmill says Julianna. The windmill towers are in good condition.
Sugar cultivation came early to estate 34, with cane fields and an animal mill depicted on the 1750 map. The first Beck printing retained the animal mill while the second printing converted it to a windmill in the mid-1750s. All of the 1760s and 1770s variants of the Beck maps included a windmill.
The 1799 Oxholm map shows one windmill at Castle Coakley, while the 1856 Parsons map shows two windmills along with a tower with no sails. The 20th century topographic maps all show ruins identifiable as two windmills at Castle Coakley.
The 1750 map attributes ownership to James Coakly. Apparently keeping it in the family, the 1760s and 1770s maps attribute ownership to John Coakly Senior. By 1790, ownership transitioned to De Nully. The early ownership by the Coakley family suggests the name Castle Coakley.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.51) locates the location and early ownership. Perhaps explaining the two closely located windmills and extensive masonry work around them, notes that in 1851, it had absorbed Cassava Garden and Pearl, as Ratcliffe Estates; Hermitage and Manning being under same ownership. It seems reasonable that sugar cane from Pearl and Cassava Garden was transported to Castle Coakley for processing. Note the 1851 date differs from the 1854 date in the Cassava Garden entry.