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Culture & History · St. John

Reef Bay Trail & Petroglyphs

Pre-Columbian Taino petroglyphs carved into the rock face at Reef Bay, St. John.

Place photograph · views may be from different dates.

Photo: mollystevens, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Culture & History / St. John

Get to know Reef Bay Trail & Petroglyphs.

Three miles down to the beach from the trailhead near mile marker 5 on Centerline Road, past Danish sugar plantation ruins, stone cattle-grazing walls, pre-Columbian Taino rock carvings and some of the oldest and tallest trees on St. John. NPS describes it as strenuous, with steep, uneven, and rocky terrain and a long uphill return; check current trail conditions directly with NPS before setting out.

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Three miles down to the beach from the trailhead near mile marker 5 on Centerline Road, past Danish sugar plantation ruins, stone cattle-grazing walls, pre-Columbian Taino rock carvings and some of the oldest and tallest trees on St. John. NPS describes it as strenuous, with steep, uneven, and rocky terrain and a long uphill return; check current trail conditions directly with NPS before setting out.

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Setting

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Pre-Columbian Taino petroglyphs carved into the rock face at Reef Bay, St. John.

1 / 1 · Pre-Columbian Taino petroglyphs carved into the rock face at Reef Bay, St. John.

Photo: mollystevens, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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The stone windmill tower of the Annaberg Sugar Plantation ruins on St. John, against green hills.
Photo: Amaury Laporte, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Culture & History

Annaberg Sugar Plantation Ruins

Quarters of enslaved people, the sugar factory, the animal mill and the windmill still stand at Annaberg, looking out over the surrounding hillsides and Leinster Bay on St. John. Interpretation covers the global sugar market that drove slavery and colonialism in the Virgin Islands. The National Park Service also publishes 3D reconstructions of the structures through its Atlantic Slave Trade Project.

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St. John

Reef Bay Trail & Petroglyphs — Culture & History in St. John | VibeVI