May 16, 2008 — Virgin Islands culture has diverse groups working on many fronts to preserve and promote the region's cultural, historical and environmental assets, but there is still plenty to be done. That would be the one clear message as the Senate Committee on Education, Culture and Youth wrapped up three days of encyclopedic testimony on cultural preservation with a hearing in Frederiksted Friday.
Quadrille and bamboula dancing, quelbe and drumming, traditional foods, marine parks and historic buildings were grist for the mill as Sen. Liston A. Davis attempted to put together a montage of the state of the culture.
Mary Moorhead, president of the History Culture and Tradition Foundation, testified about her group's work reviving bamboula dancing, a traditional African dance form still found on many Caribbean islands, as well as plans for this year's Emancipation Day events and other activities.
A barge of donkeys is being brought in from St. John for traditional donkey races during the Emancipation celebration, she said. She thanked the Legislature for appropriating money for this year's 160th anniversary celebration of the 1848 emancipation, but said money is tight because Gov. John deJongh Jr. released a smaller sum than appropriated due to budget woes.
"We were seriously affected by the late disbursement and reduction of funds," she said.
Several spoke of the island's parks. Moorhead and her organization want Maroon Ridge, a steep ridge on St. Croix's northwest corner, placed into a nascent Virgin Islands park system. Called Maronberg on a 1648 map, the area was known for centuries as a temporary hideout for "maroons" or escaped slaves marooned far from home. Tradition has it some threw themselves off the steep cliffs in despair.
St. Croix's East End Marine Park is up and running, taking students and tour groups out for educational hikes and snorkeling tours, park marine ecologist Paige Rothenberger said. The park encompasses several coastal areas on the eastern quarter of the big island.
"How do you connect what you do to our culture?" asked Davis.
"We have a well developed outreach and interpretive program," Rothenberger said. "We go to schools, take kids to the park. In the last month alone we reached over 700 people through hiking and snorkel tours."
Rothenberger noted that one ranger "takes people to see ancient petroglyphs, talks about the importance of mangroves to the early people of the island, tying them to the health of the coral reefs, to the island culture and how the health of the reefs help provide food, and increase our quality of life."
Salt River National Historic Park, the area where Christopher Columbus landed in 1493, is moving forward though still in its infancy. National Park Superintendent Joel Tutein outlined the Park Service's work to acquire ownership of much of the land for the park and the dedication of the park's visitor contact station in 2004.
Percival Edwards, president of St. Croix Farmers In Action, testified about his group's efforts to preserve the ruins of the Estate Bethlehem sugar factory. Farmers in Action plans to establish a kind of living museum at the site, with some form of historical interpretation to educate local students and visiting tourists about this aspect of V.I. history.
Some of the factory land and land where the factory's workers lived is on land controlled by the V.I. National Guard, and Edwards said the Guard plans to demolish several old buildings. Farmers in Action wants whoever can bring pressure to bear to persuade the Guard to restore or preserve the structures instead.
St. Croix Heritage Dancers is teaching students quadrille dancing, spokeswoman Yvonne Gordon Henry told the committee.
The colonial-era dance is different on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
"St. Thomas dances German quadrille and St. Croix dances French," she said.
More in a wide array of topics were put on the table Friday. There were no votes. Present at one time or another were: Davis, Sens. Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Ronald Russell and Shawn-Michael Malone.
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