50 Fun Facts About Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park covers about 60 percent of which island?

It also protects over 5,500 acres of surrounding sea and nearly all of a small isle off Charlotte Amalie.

Which port town is the gateway to the park and home to its visitor centre?

Ferries arrive hourly from Red Hook, and from the British islands as well.

Which member of a famous American family donated the land that created the park in 1956?

His Jackson Hole Preserve made the gift on condition the land never be developed; he kept his resort on a lease.

Which resort opened in 1956 on Rockefeller's former estate, on land leased from the NPS?

Rockefeller opened it in 1956 as one of the first eco-tourism resorts through his Rockresorts company; it sits on the park's north shore.

Which park beach, often voted among the world's best, has an underwater snorkelling trail?

It was voted best beach in the world in 2024, and a snack bar, showers and lifeguard make it the busiest in the park.

Trunk Bay is named after which animal, locally called a 'trunk'?

Trunk Cay, a palm-topped islet 200 feet offshore, has its own snorkel trails.

Which beach in the park hosts its only campground?

A short boardwalk loop across the road passes the ruins of a sugar factory.

Which beach with sand and seagrass bottom is the park's best spot to see sea turtles and stingrays?

The Trust for Public Land bought the 415-acre Estate Maho Bay in 2006 and has been selling it to the park piece by piece.

Which one-mile path leads from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon Beach?

It climbs to a lookout over the harbour before dropping to the palm-shaded beach.

What is the highest point on St. John, reached by a steep trail from Little Lameshur Bay?

At 1,277 feet it is densely forested, so there is no view from the top.

Which strenuous hike passes sugar-mill ruins and Taino petroglyphs down to the sea?

The round trip from Centerline Road is over 6 miles; the petroglyphs joined the National Register in 1982.

The park's rock carvings near a waterfall in the south-shore valley were made by which people?

Artefacts on the north shore show a Taino presence on the island from about AD 700 until the late 15th century.

Which historic district protects a partially restored sugar factory and windmill east of Mary's Point?

Built in 1731, the plantation became one of the island's biggest sugar producers; the bake house still hands out samples of dumb bread.

Which European power colonised St. John, bringing 20 planters over from St. Thomas in 1717?

Britain gave up its rival claim in 1762, and Danish rule lasted until the U.S. bought the islands in 1917.

In what year did the United States buy the Virgin Islands from their European owner?

Washington wanted a naval base to keep Germany out of the hemisphere, and in return recognised the seller's claim to Greenland.

How much did the U.S. pay for the Virgin Islands in 1917?

Residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president.

Which enslaved woman from Ghana led the 1733 uprising on St. John?

Rather than be recaptured, she and over a dozen others shot themselves before French troops reached them.

The 1733 rebels on St. John came mainly from which African kingdom in present-day Ghana?

They seized the fort at Coral Bay and held most of the island for months before French and Swiss troops crushed them.

Troops from which French colony were brought in to end the 1733 rebellion?

The rebels had started it by smuggling cane bills into the fort inside bundles of wood.

In what year were the enslaved people of the Danish West Indies emancipated?

The last sugar factory shut in 1908, and the island's population fell 70 percent between 1845 and 1945.

Which two Category 5 hurricanes hit the park in September 2017?

Visitor numbers collapsed to 112,287 in 2018, though the park reopened that December.

Which president created the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument off St. John in January 2001?

It covers 12,708 acres of submerged federal land, including Hurricane Hole.

After 2005 bleaching, USGS scientists found Hurricane Hole corals growing in what unexpected place?

About 30 of the Virgin Islands' 45 coral species turned up there, the first known corals in a mangrove ecosystem.

Roughly how much did coral activity in the U.S. Virgin Islands decline after the 2005 bleaching event?

Reefs almost completely surround the park.

What is the only native land mammal in the park?

Donkeys, deer, mongooses, pigs and goats all arrived with people.

Which introduced animals wander the park's roads and beaches, descendants of plantation-era work stock?

Iguanas, skinks and tortoises fill out the reptile roster.

Which small isle off Charlotte Amalie harbour is almost entirely within the park?

It sits just off St. Thomas, the island with the territory's capital.

Roughly how many acres of land and sea does the park encompass?

Park boundaries actually enclose 75 percent of the island, but private in-holdings like Peter Bay cut the park land to 60.

Which path from Salt Pond Bay runs down a dry, rocky peninsula to the southernmost point of St. John?

Salt Pond Bay itself has fringing reefs on both sides and a deep reef far out in the middle.

From the observation platform on the hill above Cruz Bay, what can a hiker see on a very clear day?

St. John, St. Thomas, Jost Van Dyke and many small islands fill the nearer view.

Which name did Columbus give the northern Virgin Islands when he sailed past in 1493?

'The eleven thousand virgins' honoured St. Ursula's legendary companions; he never came ashore on St. John.

What is St. John's nickname?

It is the smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands at about 19 square miles.

Which physicist, 'father of the atomic bomb', owned a home on the island's Gibney Beach from 1957?

He began spending months of each year on the island in 1954.

Which religious group built the island's first church, at Emmaus, in 1749?

Cruz Bay itself was not established until 1766.

Which easily reached sugar-mill ruins in the park include a windmill tower and a horse mill?

Dozens of ruins from the plantation era through the 1950s dot the park.

Roughly how many plantations were on St. John by 1733, when the uprising began?

Only 21 of them were producing sugar; the enslaved population peaked at 2,604 in 1804.

What is the park's average annual rainfall?

December to April is the dry high season, and the average temperature is 79 F year-round.

Which parcel, bought by the NPS in 2013, was the largest addition ever made to the park?

The Trust for Public Land had bought the whole 415-acre estate in 2006 to hold it for the park.

Which stronghold on Fortsberg Hill in Coral Bay did the 1733 rebels seize to start the uprising?

They killed five of the six soldiers and fired the cannon as the signal for revolt.

Which two islands lie about four miles from St. John — one holding the U.S. territory's capital, one British?

Coral Bay residents historically had easier access to Tortola than to St. Thomas.

Roughly how many visitors did the park average per year in the decade before the 2017 hurricanes?

Many are day-trippers from cruise ships docked at St. Thomas.

Which half-mile boardwalk loop across from the campground entrance winds through sugar-factory ruins?

Signs along the boardwalks explain the history, with no steep hills.

How many visitors did the park receive in 2018, the year after Hurricanes Irma and Maria?

It had drawn 304,408 in 2017 and more than 450,000 a year over the preceding decade; everything reopened by December 2017.

Park boundaries enclose 75% of St. John, yet park land is only about 60%. Why the gap?

Caneel Bay Resort itself operates on a lease, with the National Park Service owning the underlying land.

Which organisation bought the 415-acre Estate Maho Bay in 2006 to preserve it for the park?

It later donated 18 acres at Mamey's Peak and sold parcels of 58 and 72 acres to the National Park Service.

Trunk Bay beach is split into the main swim area and which inlet at its western end?

The cove sits near Jumbie Bay, and the bay's coral reef features an underwater snorkelling trail.

How high is Bordeaux Mountain, the highest point on St. John?

The unmaintained trail from Little Lameshur Bay climbs almost 1,300 feet in a mile, yet the forested summit has no view.

In which year were the Reef Bay Trail petroglyphs added to the National Register of Historic Places?

The Taíno carvings sit on rock pools by a waterfall, reached by a quarter-mile spur from the main trail.

Which body has recognised the park as an Important Bird Area?

Species supporting the listing include bridled quail-doves, Antillean crested hummingbirds and pearly-eyed thrashers.

What is the park's average temperature?

Its tropical savanna climate varies little between summer and winter, and December to April are the driest months.