- Christiansted National Historic Site
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Christiansted National Historic Site IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location Christiansted, Virgin Islands, USA Coordinates 17°44′49″N 64°42′8″W / 17.74694°N 64.70222°WCoordinates: 17°44′49″N 64°42′8″W / 17.74694°N 64.70222°W Area 27.15 acres (0.11 km²) Established March 4, 1952 Visitors 106,015 (in 2005) Governing body National Park Service Christiansted National Historic Site commemorates urban colonial development of the Virgin Islands. It features 18th and 19th century structures in the heart of Christiansted, the capital of the former Danish West Indies on St. Croix Island.
On the grounds are five historic structures: Fort Christiansværn (1738), the Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse, where Alexander Hamilton worked as a young man before emigrating to the American colonies (1749), the Steeple Building (1753), Danish Custom House (1844), and the Scale House (1856). This is also the site where African slaves were brought by ship from Africa and sold to local planters to work on the sugar plantations.
Contents
History
An 1836 plan of Fort Christiansværn
It was first established on March 4, 1952, as Virgin Islands National Historic Site through the initiative of concerned local citizens, to preserve the historic structures and grounds within its boundaries, and to interpret the Danish economy and way of life, including colonial administration, military and naval establishment, international trade (including slave trade), religious diversity, architecture, trades and crime and punishment, between 1733 and 1917. The site was renamed on January 16, 1961. As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the historic site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
The National Park Service, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, is planning to rehabilitate the main warehouse facility into a slave trade museum and to restore the complex to how it appeared in 1833.[1]
See also
Notes
- ^ Bomar, Mary A. (August 2007). "Summary of Park Centennial Strategies" (PDF). National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/2016/assets/files/Summary-of-Park-Centennial-Strategies.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
References
- The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
External links
- Official NPS website: Christiansted National Historic Site
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Category:National Register of Historic Places • 
Portal:National Register of Historic PlacesProtected Areas of the United States Virgin Islands National Parks: National Historic Sites: Christiansted National Historic SiteNational Monuments: National Wildlife Refuges: Categories:- IUCN Category V
- Colonization of the Americas
- Forts in the United States Virgin Islands
- National Historic Sites of the United States
- National Register of Historic Places in the United States Virgin Islands
- Protected areas established in 1952
- Museums in the United States Virgin Islands
- United States National Park Service areas in the United States Virgin Islands
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