Christiansted National Historic Site

I remembered Fort Christianvaern as the centerpiece of the Christiansted National Historic Site during my last visit to St. Croix in 1981 (courtesy of the U.S. Navy). I don’t recall going inside the fort during that visit, but on this trip, with the fort literally across the street from our hotel, we will be venturing over.

The fort is just one component of the park, though most of the other buildings are just outside of it. This includes the Scale House, where sugar cane and other exports were weighed, and nearby Customs House. Scale House was closed (there was a bookstore inside once), though the scale itself is outside under a covered porch.

We headed up to the fort itself, which was open and had a sign so indicating. In a small room inside of the outer walls but not inside the main fort, an exhibit showed the history of the islands from first European discovery to today. A video was playing in a constant loop mostly discussing to 100-year anniversary of the islands’ transfer from Denmark to the United States.

The history of St. Croix was shown as a horizontal timeline along the wall. It was split into three rows with the top row showing the history of Denmark, the bottom row showing the history of the United States, and the center row showing the history of St Croix. It was an interesting and effective way to present the island’s history in regard to the two other nations.

The fort itself was extremely small, especially compared to the other forts we have recently seen. It was one of three fortifications placed around the Christiansted harbor forming a triangle of defense. We were able to climb to the top of the wall where several old cannons looked out over the water, and outstanding views were had in every direction.

Sadly, this site appears to have received the same neglect from the National Park Service as Salt River Bay did. The fort did suffer hurricane damage, but the repair work is progressing very slowly, with areas of the fort completely closed to the public. In addition, even though the fort was open, the contact station inside (where I presume information and Passport stamps are) was locked up. We did not see a park ranger anywhere.

We did wander over to the Administration Building across the street as some posts online indicated that they have information and stamps, but it too was locked. I’m hoping both places were locked because it was a Sunday, and will check them on Monday and/or Tuesday in hopes of getting the precious stamps to show we were here!

Despite the neglect, the visit to the fort was still enjoyable. The accommodations for the soldiers were not very nice, and overall it was pretty cramped. Being in St. Croix in February is also pleasant enough. Highs in the lows 80s F, and a nice breeze off of the water make for very comfortable days. We did keep an eye on the weather back in Iowa just for comparison.

We head next to Buck Island Reef National Monument where we plan to do some snorkeling in this mostly underwater park.

Steve