USVI-On-Line

What's most amazing is that, styles and cars aside, those pictures don't look over 40 years old. It appears some of the same character is still there as existed decades ago.

Bill I'd be curious to know what you and your family thought of St. John in the late 60s. Was it considered way off the beaten track? Were you one of the few tourists? Where did you stay?

And please tell me your dad bought some property. That would've turned out to be a heck on an investment.

alw1977 - There were plenty of tourists then, probably not as much as now, but it seemed to be pretty well geared to accomodate tourism then. Our first trip, which I think was 1966, we rented a house on Lavender Hill, which I suspect may not exist any more. I do remember going down to Gallows Point, which was pretty much uninhabited except for a little snack bar or restaurant sort of place. There was no grocery store on the island; we had to pick up provisions on St. Thomas and bring them over on the ferry. Riding in the jeep was fun, and it was a real jeep, not one of these air conditioned SUV things. No top and a manual transmission. And there was less pavement on the island then.
The following trip we stayed at the Caneel Bay Plantation Resort (somewhere along the line they must have decided that "plantation" has some negative connotations). One of the things I remember doing was going to the slide talks at a pavillion in the park, it might have been at Cinnamon. They'd have a park ranger show slides of the local plants and fish and what not and talk about the history of the island. Anyone know if they still do that? (I know, it wouldn't be slides, it would be a powerpoint presentation.)
I think one of the things that struck me most at the time, and I was only five or six years old, was the poverty and what seemed to me terribly primitive living conditions. I'm still struck by that today, but I think conditions have improved a lot since then (unless they've just gotten better at hiding the poverty).
And no, Dad didn't purchase any land. I wonder what it was going for back then?

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Really great photos---thanks for posting. Cruz Bay beach looks like a great swimming beach at that time. I'm glad they're cleaning it up now to get it back a little closer to how it used to be.

We first visited St. John in 1980---not really that long ago, but downtown Cruz Bay looked quite a bit different than it does now---unfortunately I took only a few pictures---glad you were more foresighted.

Thanks Bill. I love Caribbean history. We took my in-laws to the Caribbean (St. Martin) for their first trip in 2007. They were both struck by the poverty as well - and bear in mind that St. Martin has much more poverty than St. John by a looong mile, though not nearly as much as Jamaica or St. Lucia. However, I don't believe that Caribbean residents live on credit quite like we do in the states (though this is probably changing for the worse).

I could go on and on with the questions, but I won't.

Bill....those are great photos. Thanks so much for sharing them with us.

Thanks for posting these!

Mike

I'm not sure that is Mooie's. Partly because Mooie's opened in the 50s, but also because I have some photos of present day Mooie's and a lot of the detail is different (I don't have these up on any web album, so can't post them here). They're certainly the same general style. Also the grade of the street looks too steep. Maybe the corner heading up to the Lumberyard?

I also have a couple of shots of the Dockside pub area which I'll post if i ever get around to putting them up on the web. That's a project I've been meaning to get to for much too long.

Very cool! I gotta get me a scanner for the boxes of slides I have in the closet. I have nothing like this, but I do have pics of 1981 Cancun when there were all of 7 hotels there.

The Chase Manhattan Bank Building is to the right of where The Lime Inn and The Pink Payaya are now. I think the building is now pink.

The picture with the stone wall has both Ron and I perplexed....Not sure where that is.

These photos are very cool, Bill W.
We can't wait for more!
-Ruth

Oh, I get it. It would be just beyond Fred's on the other side of the street, going up to Sosa's.

Bill...thanks for making the effort...very cool! Amazing the change...

Jen
33 & Counting...

Awesome Photos!
Thanks!

thoroughly enjoyed looking at those pics!!!

Love those pictures! Thanks!

Jorge: in the early 70's $245,000 was still quite a fortune for a house, wasn't it? I would have guessed much less. Makes me feel better that no one in my family purchased property on STJ back then...