Mount Healthy National Park and The Plantation Era

The Park at Mount Healthy was established in 1983 and is situated on one acre of land above Brewers Bay. Its most significant feature is the towering base of an 18^th century windmill that was used to crush the sugar cane once grown on the adjacent 210-acre plantation. The building was constructed using local stone or rubble. Across the road are other ruins. There’s a mill round which would have been used on windless days and powered by beasts of burden. There is a boiling house and distillery, a hospital and living quarters.

The windmill was stoutly built with walls six feet thick at the base and tapering to three feet at the top. The large arched openings were bordered with cut stone blocks; one was used for accessing the mill to bring in the sugar cane. After the crushing the bagasse (refuse) was discarded from the other. The mill was likely in use for close to 60 years (1790 approximately to the 1840s).

The Mount Healthy Sugar Mill stands as a symbol of BVI history, the plantation era and slavery. It was a time that many would prefer to forget but it’s a time that must be remembered. It was a time when money and power were more important than human rights and justice.

The plantation era in Tortola and the BVI saw prolific sugar estates, primarily on Tortola’s northern slopes with cotton being a crop grown on the flatter and dryer areas. From Josiah’s Bay heading west sugar cane was grown on the hills above Larmer Bay and all the way to Cane Garden Bay. At Cooten Bay by the water’s edge the ruins of an estate house can be seen together with a couple of cannons. Close by the beach at Brewers Bay the ruins of another sugar works are clearly visible. The ’coppers’ are still there in the undergrowth as are the distillery walls. A chimney stands adjacent to the road. It is highly likely that the Brewers Bay sugar works and rum distillery worked in tandem with the Mount Healthy operation. As was common in those days sugar and rum operations were often close to the shore where barrels of rum and sugar could be loaded onto lighters and floated out to schooners for export to England.

At the height of the plantation era in the late 18^th century there were approximately 26 rum distilleries operating on the island. The Arundel distillery in Cane Garden Bay is till operational.

The Mount Healthy plantation was large by Tortola standards. It was owned by Bezaliel Hodge and bequeathed to Ruth (Hodge) Lettsome. The smaller Brewers Bay plantation and sugar works was owned by the Anderson family.

There are two unique stories surrounding the plantation era in the British Virgin Islands. Each had a profound impact:

The story of Arthur Hodge has its own historical significance. He was likely born in the Virgin Islands but as was the custom he was sent to England for his upbringing.  He became a well-educated (Oxford University) graduate. On his return to Tortola he was elected to the Tortola Council, a prestigious position. As a wealthy plantation owner (Belle Vue), he was first regarded as a respected landlord. As his reputation deteriorated many landowners turned a blind eye when he was accused of cruel and brutal behaviour towards his slaves.

Hodge was eventually charged with murder when it was found that a young slave named Prosper died after a severe lashing and then having boiling water poured down his throat, all for eating a mango that had dropped on to the ground. Even though there was much dissent, in his trial in 1811, he was found guilty and hanged near the jail in Road Town.

It was a ground breaking case. Plantations were largely owned by politicians and wealthy aristocrats who saw this as a weakening of their power and control over slavery. It would be another 23 years before emancipation but this small step was a beginning.

On a brighter note, John Coakley Lettsome was a plantation owner born on Little Jost van Dyke. He was a Quaker with a high moral grounding. Lettsome was also educated in England and was apprenticed to a surgeon in Yorkshire, later studying at St Thomas’s Hospital in London. On his father’s death he returned to the BVI where he inherited the small estate. Like most Quakers he was an abolitionist and immediately freed all his slaves. He then spent time travelling the islands visiting the sick and gaining valuable knowledge on tropical diseases. He was later bequeathed land at Cane Garden Bay.

Lettsome was celebrated for founding the Medical Society of London among other organisations. He was elected as a member of the prestigious Royal Society. He became great friends with fellow Quaker William Thornton and Benjamin Franklin, the famous American statesman and signatory of the US Declaration of Independence.

The ruins of his estate house, or at least the entrance steps and the footprint along with slave quarters and cooking ovens are visible above the small bay that accommodates the B-Line Bar. The Mount Healthy National Park ruins are well worth a visit and the nearby views are worth the short walk. Close by and down the hill the Brewers Bay ruins add to the story. Then a visit to the popular palm lined sand beach of Cane Garden Bay and the Callwood Rum distillery is rewarding. Try their famous ‘Spiced Rum’ or perhaps the slightly stronger ‘Panty Dropper.’ You won’t be disappointed!

Recommended Reading: The Hanging of Arthur Hodge: A Caribbean Anti-Slavery Milestone by John Andrew (published 2000, Xlibris)

The Quaker connection to slavery in the BVI is described in the following book: ‘Simplicity, Equality and Slavery.’ Quakerism in the British Virgin Islands, 1740 -1780 by John M. Chenoweth. Inspired by the Quaker ideals of simplicity, equality, and peace, a group of white planters formed a community in the British Virgin Islands during the eighteenth century. Yet they lived in a slave society, and nearly all their members held enslaved people. In this book, John Chenoweth examines how the community navigated the contradictions of Quakerism and plantation ownership.

Please be advised that an exhibit on the history of the BVI’s Quakers will be available for viewing from November, 2025 at the Old Government House Museum in Road Town, Tortola

Celebrations, renovations and coming events with reference to the BVI National Parks Trust can be accessed on their facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/NPTVI/