US Army National Guard Cultural Resources Planning Level Survey - Virgin Islands

Summary

In October 1997, St. Louis District personnel visited the U.S. Virgin Islands Army National Guard (VIARNG) Headquarters in St. Croix and the U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (VIDAHP) in St. Thomas to research archaeological and historic building survey work conducted on federally owned or supported National Guard facilities in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This document reports the history of cultural investigations on these VIARNG facilities, lists archaeological sites and historic buildings recorded within facility boundaries, and discusses historic contexts and predictive models. Three facilities were researched: Estate Bethlehem, Estate Ham's Bluff, and Estate Negro Bay. To date, cultural resources have been documented on one facility, Estate Bethlehem, where one archaeological site (12VAM1-1-173) and numerous historic buildings have been identified. The buildings have not received site numbers. Both the archaeological site and historic buildings are believed to be associated with the Estate Bethlehem Plantation ruins, which are directly south of the VIARNG property. The VIDAHP has deemed the site and buildings potentially eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, either as part of the entire plantation or as separate listings. A copper sauce pan or ladle fragment was collected from the archaeological site and is currently curated by the National Park Service at San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico. The extent, nature, and location of archaeological collections recovered from work conducted on VIARNG facilities will be determined in the second phase of this project, to be completed during fiscal year 1999.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• USACE (MCX-CMAC) - US Army National Guard Cultural Resources Planning Level Surveys

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, St. Louis District

Collaborator(s): Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service,Tallahassee, Florida

Landowner(s): Estate Bethlehem, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; Estate Ham's Bluff, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; Estate Negro Bay, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Sponsor(s): Departments of the Army and the Air Force National Guard Bureau Environmental Programs Arlington, Virginia

Repository(s): National Park Service,San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico

Submitted To(s): Departments of the Army and the Air Force National Guard Bureau Environmental Programs Arlington, Virginia

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