Estate Hope
Hope is estate 42 in St. Croix’s Queen’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the 1760s. The windmill was likely demolished to make room for new construction. Field reconnaissance failed to locate ruins identifiable as a windmill.
The 1750 map indicates sugar cultivation and structures including an animal mill in estate 42. Both Beck printings show an animal mill icon. The annotated Beck maps and manuscript copies added sails to the animal mill to depict a windmill in the 1760s and 1770s.
The 1799 Oxholm map shows a windmill at Hope. The 1856 Parsons map also depicts a windmill at Hope. Of the 20th-century topographic maps, only the 1958 map shows ruins identifiable as a windmill. These ruins were likely demolished during construction of the industrial area.
The 1750 map attributes ownership to Pieter Heiliger, as do the maps from the 1760s and 1770s. By 1790 ownership transitioned to Heyliger’s heirs.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.96) notes the location and early ownership, locating buildings at south end of wooded ridge. Notes in the 1920s, chiefly in sugar cane; grassland and mangrove next to shore.
Historic Maps of Hope, Queen’s Quarter
