Whim Plantation Museum

The Whim Plantation Museum (52 Estate Whim, 340/772-0598, fax 340/772-9446, www.stcroixlandmarks.com) is the best place to learn about St. Croix’s Danish plantation era. In high season (November–April) the museum is open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; at other times it opens 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and $4 for children 6–12. Children under 6 get in free.

The elegant 18th-century Whim great house is the centerpiece of the museum. Guided tours of the house, which has been furnished with period pieces, are included with admission. A self-guided tour of the grounds takes you to the only fully restored windmill on the island, a sugar factory, watch house, cookhouse, and more.

Whim was first surveyed between 1733 and 1735, when Danish authorities divided the island into estates and began encouraging settlers to establish plantations on the island. By 1754, sugar cultivation began on the Whim estate, fueled by the labor of enslaved Africans. In 1810, a peak year for sugar production on the island, there were 105 slaves at Whim and 130 acres under cultivation. Sugar continued to be produced until 1920, when the estate turned to livestock. This was short-lived; in 1932, the federal government bought the plantation as part of a Depression-era homestead program.

In 1954, 11 acres at Whim, including the great house, was deeded to the St. Croix Landmarks Society for preservation and education. Over the years, the Society has collected sugar mill artifacts from area estates. The surrounding area is now residential.

The museum shop sells reproduction Danish colonial furniture, as well as books, crafts, and gifts. A library and archives on-site has an excellent collection of material about St. Croix and the Virgin Islands, including extensive genealogical resources.