Annaberg Sugar Plantation

Situated on St. John Island in the eastern Caribbean, the Virgin Islands National Park preserves the ruins of the Annaberg sugar plantation, and is one of the finest remaining example of Danish Colonial Era industrial agriculture in the Virgin Islands. A modest holding when it was established in 1722, the plantation was enlarged and modernized in 1796 when James Murphy purchased and consolidated several plantations, adding one of the largest windmill on the island and a sugar factory. The ruins of the Annaberg plantation encompass the enslaved laborers’ village and factory site where they worked. Overlooking the Bay are the remains of the guardhouse, which ensured the slaves’ captivity. Today, the Annaberg plantation reminds us of the daily lives of an enslaved people and traces their resistance to slavery.