Mount Healthy National Park
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A well-preserved 18th-century windmill is the main attraction at Mount Healthy National Park (284/494-3904, www.bvinationalparkstrust.org, free), a one-acre park perched atop a foothill overlooking Brewer’s Bay on the north shore. Built around the turn of the 19th century, the Mount Healthy windmill provided power to crush sugarcane grown on the surrounding plantation owned by Tortola’s wealthiest planter, Bezaliel Hodge. All other plantations on Tortola used an animal round—a simple mill operated by mules, horses, or oxen—to power their cane-crushing machine rather than windmills, which were expensive to build and required 360-degree exposure to winds to be worthwhile.
In addition to the main windmill ruins, you can see other remnants of the Mount Healthy sugar ruins at the park. A short trail circles the edge of the park, and there’s a picnic table.
© Susanna Henighan Potter from Moon Virgin Islands, 4th edition
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