50 free Virgin Islands National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Virgin Islands National Park trivia quiz covers the Caribbean park that takes up about 60 percent of the island of St. John, plus thousands of acres of reef and nearly all of Hassel Island off St. Thomas. It ranges across the famous beaches (Trunk Bay and its underwater snorkel trail, Cinnamon Bay, Maho, Honeymoon and Salt Pond), the Reef Bay and Bordeaux Mountain trails, the Taino petroglyphs, the coral reefs and the wildlife from bats to wild donkeys. There is plenty of history too: the Taino, Columbus's 'eleven thousand virgins', the Danish planters and the sugar mills at Annaberg and Catherineberg, the 1733 uprising led by Breffu, emancipation in 1848, the 1917 sale to the United States, Laurance Rockefeller's 1956 gift that created the park, the 2001 coral reef monument, and the twin Category 5 hurricanes of 2017. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, so it works for a beach-day game or a serious park-nerd challenge. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Biscayne, Everglades and US National Parks quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Virgin Islands National Park covers about 60 percent of which island?
St. John
It also protects over 5,500 acres of surrounding sea and nearly all of a small isle off Charlotte Amalie.
Q 02Which port town is the gateway to the park and home to its visitor centre?
Cruz Bay
Ferries arrive hourly from Red Hook, and from the British islands as well.
Q 03Which member of a famous American family donated the land that created the park in 1956?
Laurance Rockefeller
His Jackson Hole Preserve made the gift on condition the land never be developed; he kept his resort on a lease.
Q 04Which resort opened in 1956 on Rockefeller's former estate, on land leased from the NPS?
Caneel Bay
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.
Q 05Which park beach, often voted among the world's best, has an underwater snorkelling trail?
Trunk Bay
It was voted best beach in the world in 2024, and a snack bar, showers and lifeguard make it the busiest in the park.
Q 06Trunk Bay is named after which animal, locally called a 'trunk'?
Leatherback turtle
Trunk Cay, a palm-topped islet 200 feet offshore, has its own snorkel trails.
Q 07Which beach in the park hosts its only campground?
Cinnamon Bay
A short boardwalk loop across the road passes the ruins of a sugar factory.
Q 08Which beach with sand and seagrass bottom is the park's best spot to see sea turtles and stingrays?
Maho Bay
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.
Q 09Which one-mile path leads from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon Beach?
Lind Point
It climbs to a lookout over the harbour before dropping to the palm-shaded beach.
Q 10What is the highest point on St. John, reached by a steep trail from Little Lameshur Bay?
Bordeaux Mountain
At 1,277 feet it is densely forested, so there is no view from the top.
Q 11Which strenuous hike passes sugar-mill ruins and Taino petroglyphs down to the sea?
Reef Bay
The round trip from Centerline Road is over 6 miles; the petroglyphs joined the National Register in 1982.
Q 12The park's rock carvings near a waterfall in the south-shore valley were made by which people?
Taino
Artefacts on the north shore show a Taino presence on the island from about AD 700 until the late 15th century.
Q 13Which historic district protects a partially restored sugar factory and windmill east of Mary's Point?
Annaberg
Built in 1731, the plantation became one of the island's biggest sugar producers; the bake house still hands out samples of dumb bread.
Q 21Which two Category 5 hurricanes hit the park in September 2017?
Irma and Maria
Visitor numbers collapsed to 112,287 in 2018, though the park reopened that December.
Q 22Which president created the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument off St. John in January 2001?
Bill Clinton
It covers 12,708 acres of submerged federal land, including Hurricane Hole.
Q 23After 2005 bleaching, USGS scientists found Hurricane Hole corals growing in what unexpected place?
On submerged mangrove roots
About 30 of the Virgin Islands' 45 coral species turned up there, the first known corals in a mangrove ecosystem.
Q 14Which European power colonised St. John, bringing 20 planters over from St. Thomas in 1717?
Denmark
Britain gave up its rival claim in 1762, and Danish rule lasted until the U.S. bought the islands in 1917.
Q 15In what year did the United States buy the Virgin Islands from their European owner?
1917
Washington wanted a naval base to keep Germany out of the hemisphere, and in return recognised the seller's claim to Greenland.
Q 16How much did the U.S. pay for the Virgin Islands in 1917?
$25 million
Residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president.
Q 17Which enslaved woman from Ghana led the 1733 uprising on St. John?
Breffu
Rather than be recaptured, she and over a dozen others shot themselves before French troops reached them.
Q 18The 1733 rebels on St. John came mainly from which African kingdom in present-day Ghana?
Akwamu
They seized the fort at Coral Bay and held most of the island for months before French and Swiss troops crushed them.
Q 19Troops from which French colony were brought in to end the 1733 rebellion?
Martinique
The rebels had started it by smuggling cane bills into the fort inside bundles of wood.
Q 20In what year were the enslaved people of the Danish West Indies emancipated?
1848
The last sugar factory shut in 1908, and the island's population fell 70 percent between 1845 and 1945.
Q 24Roughly how much did coral activity in the U.S. Virgin Islands decline after the 2005 bleaching event?
About 60%
Reefs almost completely surround the park.
Q 25What is the only native land mammal in the park?
Bats
Donkeys, deer, mongooses, pigs and goats all arrived with people.
Q 26Which introduced animals wander the park's roads and beaches, descendants of plantation-era work stock?
Wild donkeys
Iguanas, skinks and tortoises fill out the reptile roster.
Q 27Which small isle off Charlotte Amalie harbour is almost entirely within the park?
Hassel
It sits just off St. Thomas, the island with the territory's capital.
Q 28Roughly how many acres of land and sea does the park encompass?
About 14,700
Park boundaries actually enclose 75 percent of the island, but private in-holdings like Peter Bay cut the park land to 60.
Q 29Which path from Salt Pond Bay runs down a dry, rocky peninsula to the southernmost point of St. John?
Ram Head
Salt Pond Bay itself has fringing reefs on both sides and a deep reef far out in the middle.
Q 30From the observation platform on the hill above Cruz Bay, what can a hiker see on a very clear day?
St. Croix and even Puerto Rico
St. John, St. Thomas, Jost Van Dyke and many small islands fill the nearer view.