Cinnamon Bay Plantation
Cinnamon Bay Plantation is a historic plantation estate and archaeological site on Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, now within Virgin Islands National Park.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Cinnamon Bay Plantation is an approximately 300-acre historic estate on the north-central coast of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, adjacent to Cinnamon Bay and now incorporated into Virgin Islands National Park. Although it is described in the supplied subject data as a brand, the authoritative Wikipedia subject is a historic plantation property and archaeological site rather than a commercial consumer brand. The estate contains evidence of Indigenous occupation, plantation agriculture, slavery, maritime activity, and later conservation history. Archaeological investigations have identified material associated with Ortoiroid and Arawak settlement, as well as ceremonial activity linked to Classic Taíno culture. Shell middens and other deposits indicate that the area was occupied over a long period before European colonization. By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, settlers of several nationalities were using the coastal area for maritime activities and cotton cultivation. Danish claims over Saint John were formalized in 1718. Three adjacent landholdings along the north-central coast were eventually consolidated into the estate later known as Cinnamon Bay Plantation. Daniel Jansen and his wife, Adriana Delicat, received an early formal Danish deed for property at Cinnamon Bay. William Gandy acquired a nearby coastal parcel in 1722, which passed to Peter Durloo in 1728, while Pieter de Buyck acquired land farther east in 1719. These holdings and their later ownership transfers formed the basis of the consolidated estate. The property became part of the Danish West Indies plantation economy. Sugarcane was its principal plantation crop, although the land also supported provision crops and earlier cotton production. Tax records from 1805 recorded 105 acres planted in sugarcane, 48 acres in provision crops, and 147 acres left unused or covered in bush. The plantation depended on enslaved African labor, and the estate was directly affected by the 1733 slave insurrection on Saint John. According to the historical record, enslaved people loyal to the Jansen family helped the family escape, but the plantation dwelling, storage building, boiling house, and cane fields were looted, burned, or destroyed. Ownership changed repeatedly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The recorded owners included members of the Jansen family, John Hobby, Commandant Harrien Felchenhauer, Adriana Bödker, Mathias Bowe, Michael Shoy and his heirs, members of the Dam and Cronenberg families, Mary Cronenberg, Mary Lindberg, N. S. Hjardemaal, C. A. Woldsen, and other later proprietors. In 1903 the estate was associated with the Danish West Indies Plantation Company. A Danish company purchased Cinnamon Bay in 1913 and used the land for cattle breeding and raising rather than continuing its earlier plantation role. The property's modern conservation history began in the 1950s. Jackson Hole Preserve, Incorporated acquired Cinnamon Bay in 1955. In 1956 the land was donated by Laurance Rockefeller to the United States for inclusion in the newly established Virgin Islands National Park. This transfer ended its history as a privately operated agricultural estate and placed its cultural and archaeological resources under public conservation management. The Cinnamon Bay Plantation historic district was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1978. The district included ruins and surviving traces clustered near the North Shore Road, including a factory or sugar-mill building, plantation house, servants' quarters, related structures, and two small cemeteries. The factory ruins cannot be dated precisely, but their form is consistent with sugar-processing buildings from the early or middle eighteenth century. Today, the site is significant primarily for its archaeological, architectural, environmental, and historical associations with Indigenous Saint John, Danish colonization, plantation slavery, sugar production, and the development of the national park system.
History
The Cinnamon Bay area was occupied long before European settlement. Archaeological evidence indicates early Ortoiroid migration into the Virgin Islands from the Orinoco region of South America around 2000 BC, followed over many centuries by Arawak settlement and agricultural activity. Excavations at Cinnamon Bay have also identified material associated with Classic Taíno culture, including evidence interpreted as ceremonial use. Middens and other archaeological deposits demonstrate prolonged pre-Columbian occupation. From the 1680s, before formal Danish colonization, the north-central coast of Saint John was used by settlers of different nationalities for maritime activity and cultivation. Denmark claimed Saint John on March 25, 1718, after which the coastal territory between Caneel Bay and Cinnamon Bay was divided among several private owners. Daniel Jansen and Adriana Delicat were the first owners identified as receiving a formal Danish deed for land at Cinnamon Bay. Nearby parcels were acquired by William Gandy in 1722 and Peter Durloo in 1728, while Pieter de Buyck purchased land farther east in 1719. Through inheritance, marriage, and later transfers, these holdings became the consolidated estate known as Cinnamon Bay Plantation. The plantation operated within the Danish West Indies sugar economy. Earlier uses included cotton production and maritime activity, while sugarcane became the dominant agricultural purpose. The 1805 tax rolls recorded 105 acres in sugarcane, 48 acres in provision crops, and 147 acres unused or in bush. The estate was worked by enslaved Africans and was involved in the violence of the 1733 slave insurrection. Enslaved people loyal to the Jansen family enabled the owners to escape, but rebels looted and burned the dwelling house, storage building, and boiling house and set fire to the cane fields. Ownership changed frequently. Eighteenth-century owners and associated proprietors included Adriana and Jasper Jansen, John Hobby, Harrien Felchenhauer, Adriana Bödker, Mathias Bowe, Michael Shoy and his heirs, Lachlan McLachlan, Johannes Dam and his heirs, and Hans D. Cronenberg. Nineteenth-century ownership included Mary Cronenberg, Mary Lindberg, N. S. Hjardemaal, C. A. Woldsen, Clement Skelton, Thomas Ivinson, William Dawson, R. F. Barner, Abraham Chalwell Hill, John William Weinmar, Carl Alexander Lindqvist, Margaret Lindqvist, and several Lindqvist heirs. The Danish West Indies Plantation Company was recorded as an owner or associated corporate holder in 1903. In 1913, a Danish company acquired Cinnamon Bay and used it for cattle breeding and raising. The property entered a new phase in 1955 when it was sold to Jackson Hole Preserve, Incorporated. In 1956 it was donated by Laurance Rockefeller for inclusion in Virgin Islands National Park. This donation transformed the estate from a private agricultural property into part of a federally protected landscape managed for conservation and public interpretation. The Cinnamon Bay Plantation historic district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1978. Its resources included a factory or sugar-mill ruin, plantation house, servants' quarters, additional plantation-related buildings, and two small cemeteries. The factory remains are difficult to date exactly but are architecturally consistent with early- to mid-eighteenth-century sugar-processing structures. The site is historically important because its physical remains and archaeological deposits connect Indigenous history, Danish colonial expansion, plantation agriculture, enslavement, nineteenth-century landholding, twentieth-century agricultural reuse, and the creation of Virgin Islands National Park.
- 1978
National Register listing
[1]The Cinnamon Bay Plantation historic district was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on July 11.
- 1956
Donation to the national park system
[1]The land was donated by Laurance Rockefeller for incorporation into Virgin Islands National Park.
- 1955
Acquisition by Jackson Hole Preserve
[1]Jackson Hole Preserve, Incorporated purchased the property as part of the transition toward conservation ownership.
- 1913
Cattle operation
[1]After acquisition by a Danish company, the property was used for breeding and raising cattle.
- 1903
Danish West Indies Plantation Company record
[1]The Danish West Indies Plantation Company was listed among the twentieth-century holders associated with the estate.
- 1805
Recorded plantation land use
[1]Tax records documented 105 acres of sugarcane, 48 acres of provision crops, and 147 acres unused or in bush.
- 1733
Saint John slave insurrection
[1]The plantation was attacked during the uprising; buildings were looted and burned and the sugarcane fields were set alight.
- 1728
Durloo acquisition
[1]Peter Durloo acquired the Gandy parcel, linking it through family relationships to the Jansen holdings.
- 1722
Gandy coastal parcel acquired
[1]William Gandy acquired a coastal parcel that later became part of the consolidated Cinnamon Bay estate.
- 1718
Danish claim over Saint John
[1]Denmark formally claimed Saint John, bringing the north-central coastal area into the Danish colonial landholding and plantation system.
Products and positioning
A protected cultural landscape and archaeological resource representing Indigenous settlement, Danish Caribbean plantation agriculture, the history of slavery on Saint John, and the conservation legacy of Virgin Islands National Park.
Sources2 sources
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