May 29, 2002 – Hidden behind and beneath shrubbery, tan-tan trees, bush and 3-feet-high ginny grass, and nestled beneath a towering tamarind tree in Estate Bethlehem, lay a grave site protected for untold years from the elements, nature and man.
It might still be there undisturbed, but for the fact that the V.I. National Guard had plans to construct its new headquarters at the site. During excavation in preparation for the construction, workers unearthed what proved to be the burial ground, which appears to date from the late 1700s.
"It is one of our lost cemeteries," David Brewer, senior archaeologist with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources' Historic Preservation Division, said Wednesday at a media tour of the site.
Capt. Clifford Crooke, VING environmental specialist, said that once the discovery was made, the Guard invited DPNR "to come in and make an assessment."
"In looking at literature of work done in the past, there was a suggestion that there was a possible cemetery site, and we wanted to do this right," Crooke said of the directive from Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean to preserve the history of the Estate Bethlehem property.
"Our plan to build on this site has changed," Crooke said, adding that VING is concerned with the social, environmental and cultural correctness in the project. An alternative site has yet to be identified.
"The Antiquities Act determines what the V.I. National Guard can do with the property," DPNR Commissioner Dean Plaskett noted. "We will ensure that this site is protected."
There was no such act in the Virgin Islands a dozen years ago, when excavation work for Tutu Park Mall on St. Thomas unearthed the remains of a prehistoric settlement. Although the developers voluntarily halted work and allowed archeologists and volunteers to work at the site for more than a year, ultimately they paved it over and made a parking lot. Since then, the territory's only other major archeological find has been at Cinnamon Bay on St. John, but that site is located within the V.I. National Park and as such is federally protected.
Brewer noted that the law now provides that no burial site be disturbed. He said DPNR will seek to determine the perimeter of the community grave site.
"This is a joint venture between two departments in the V.I. government," Crooke said. Who will have jurisdiction over the artifacts remains to be determined; the property was leased to the U.S. Army by the V.I. government, but the federal government funded the VING construction project.
Farmers in Action, a community group advocating the reinstitution of a lucrative agricultural market and historical preservation, has been urging the restoration of ruins that lie on land about 20 acres south of the National Guard site. The ruins include the old Bethlehem sugar factory, about 10 row houses, a gatekeeper's residence, blacksmith and machine shops, and a warehouse.
The National Guard property includes long stone row houses that essentially have protected the grave site on the north, and the remains of a greathouse to the east. The row houses date back 300 years into the Danish colonial period, Brewer says.
Percival Edwards, Farmers in Action president, said Wednesday that he is overwhelmed by the newly unearthed findings. "I think it is a blessing. This is full evidence that this is sacred ground," he said Wednesday. "Bethlehem history is unbelievable."
As he walked around the property, Edwards said, he found a large copper molasses distillation tank. He said he hopes the Guard will team up with Farmers in Action to preserve the cultural heritage of the Bethlehem sugar plantation and village.
Bethlehem was one of the earliest and largest sugar plantations on St. Croix, with Danish settlements chronicled from the 1740s to the 1960s. The island once was known as the breadbasket of the Caribbean because of its fertile soil and vigorous export market to Europe, North America and the wider Caribbean.
The burial ground encircles the majestic old tamarind tree whose branches extend like a peacock's tail, gently swaying with the wind. Small pink and red flag markers fluttering a foot off the ground dot the white caleche, or clay soil, showing where more than 70 items have been found. A small grave about a foot wide and two feet long signals the loss of a child of the village. In a rounded crevice, remnants of food remain in broken terra cotta.
Brewer believes it's a Christian burial because of the east-west positioning of the grave plots. Artifacts initially unearthed include clay bottles, smoking pipes and the charred remains of what resembles a cooking urn. "Someone is cooking food, drinking and smoking," he said, musing that possible scenarios to explain these items include a wake or a ritual held after a burial, or perhaps simply workers in the field taking a break.
Moravian missionaries came to the Virgin Islands in the 1730s and began Christianizing the Africans, Brewer noted. "It goes from the slave period into the modern era," he said. "These remains could be workers."
For six weeks, experts have been working at the site with Brewer — two anthropology students from Syracuse University, one from Florida State University and four retired volunteers from Kansas. "The bulk of the work is done," Brewer says. "Our plans are to have local volunteer groups and social organizations continue this project."
Part of their work has consisted of collecting and labeling items found on the surface of the site. In clear sandwich bags are fragments of common European blue and white ceramic pieces, a crusted pewter spoon, a single, blue square-shaped African bead, and numerous pieces of brown clay Afro-Crucian pottery made from mud similar in composition to what is still found in the area.
A hammered silver medallion resembling the head of Jesus in a crown of thorns was found near the head area of skeletal remains. In another grave was a hoe. Brewer said burial rituals included enclosing the deceased's tools or craft items to aid the person's passage to the after-life.
"We need to preserve these things before we put them on display," he said.
"We found about a dozen features yesterday," Syracuse student Erica Seltzer said. "This is a lot bigger than anyone thought."
Steve Lenik, the other Syracuse student, said he interned with the National Park Service on St. John last summer, where he met Brewer. He also has been on excavations in Cuba.
Iris Jean Hagadome, one of the volunteers from Kansas, also has St. John connections. She and her husband and two friends have volunteered with the Friends of the V.I. National Park for the last two years, working at the Cinnamon Bay dig. It all came about, she said, because she and her husband called the V.I. Historic Preservation office a couple of years ago "after picking up a brochure on the Virgin Islands."
Through oral history, Brewer said, Virgin Islands elders have said that other burial sites may exist in the Bethlehem area.
A while back, Brewer said, an application to include Bethlehem Old and New Works in the National Historical Registry was denied because it lacked sufficient artifacts. He believes the archaeological find will increase the cultural and historical value of the area and that the application should be resubmitted with the new findings documented.
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