Estate Humbug
Humbug is estate 44 in St. Croix’s Queen’s Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the late 18th century. The windmill has been reduced to a foundation.
The 1750 map indicates sugar cultivation and structures but no animal mill in estate 44. The first Beck printing had no sugar mill icon, and the second printing added an animal mill in the mid-1770s.
The 1799 Oxholm map shows both an animal mill and a windmill at Humbug. The 1856 Parsons map depicts a windmill at Humbug. None of the 20th-century topographic maps shows structures identifiable as a windmill at Cottage.
The 1750 map attributes ownership to Cordera A Hall. The maps from the 1760s and 1770s attribute ownership to Nicolay Salomon in the north and Hartman’s widow in the south. By 1790, ownership transitioned to John Heyliger’s heirs.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.97) notes the location and early ownership, locating buildings on 100-foot rise in southeast. Notes in the 1920s, east half in sugar cane; remainder bush and grass.
Historic Maps of Humbug
