The following poem was found in a little book called, A Souvenir by Charles A. Emanuel from St. Thomas. ~ 1912 There are so many wonderful poems written long ago about the Virgin Islands. I love discovering them and sharing them here on the blog. Africa Arise By Charles A. Emanuel Africa arise! The dawn […]
St. Jan 🇩🇰
11 Different Uses for St. Johns Bay Rum ~ 1917
Different Uses for St. Johns Bay Rum According to this old advertisement, St. Johns Bay Rum was a popular remedy for everything! It was used as fragrant toilet water, hair lotion, shampoo, shaving disinfectant, an invigorator, a headache cure, for rheumatism, dyspepsia, heartburn, protection against mosquitoes, and as a remedy for seasickness! To learn more about […]
How Whit Monday was Celebrated in St. John ~ 1906
Discovering a Clue to this Postcard’s Identity Unbeknownst to me, this postcard image held one important clue to its date and occasion.🔎 I’ve been trying to identify it for a long time until a friend from St. John, spotted the schooner, Viking anchored in the background. With this information, I was able to find the […]
A Historical Account of the Slave Insurrection on St. John ~ 1733
Today marks the anniversary of one of the darkest days in St. John’s history. Below is an account of that fateful day found in a book entitled, A Historical Account of St. Thomas West India Islands by John P. Knox. The Slave Insurrection of 1733 By John P. Knox A large body of slaves had […]
New Book! ~ Runaway Virgins by Enrique Corneiro
Runaway Virgins I recently purchased this brand new book entitled, Runaway Virgins by Enrique Corneiro. It is incredibly moving! Enrique shared over 250 slavery-related advertisements that he curated from the old Danish newspapers to help shine a light on what life was like for the enslaved people of the Danish West Indies, now the US Virgin Islands. More than 300 specific […]
Cultural Adaptation & Resistance on St. John Book by Karen Fog Olwig
Here’s an interesting book about the history of St. John that I’m planning on reading this summer. Below you’ll find the Amazon review with a link to the book. Three Centuries of Afro-Caribbean Life This book covers three centuries of St. John history from the plantation economy of the early 1700s through the peasant economy […]
Honoring Hurricane Heroes Past and Present
HMS Valkyrien ~ Crew Hurricane of 1916 Just over 100 years ago, a hurricane in October of 1916 tore through the Virgin Islands with a vengeance—leaving a path of destruction similar to hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. 🌧 The damage was of historic proportions for its time and it left a lasting impression […]
Collecting Postcards From The Past
I love collecting various postcards of the Danish West Indies and the British Virgin Islands. Here is a small sampling from St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. Based on this advertisement from 1913, it’ll take a lifetime to collect all of them. 🙂 Postcards from the Past This Virgin Islands postcard […]