Maria Hope Ruins

Just a few hundred feet off of Centerline Road in the vicinity of the Reef Bay Trail, lies the ruins of the Maria Hope Estate, apparently totally hidden in the bush until it was rediscovered by local hikers early in 2009.

Historically speaking these ruins have the distinction of being the site of the first sugar works on St. John.

The Maria Hope Estate was also the setting for the following story of murder and deceit.

The Story
We’ll begin our story in 1671, when the British kicked out all the Dutch settlers on Tortola. Lucas van Beverhoudt, a  Dutchman born in the Netherlands Antilles, was one of these previously successful planters given one of those unfortunates who were given their walking papers. (Not as unfortunate as the slaves who had been working his land, I might add here)

Von Beverhaut took his cane slips and whatever equipment he could carry and sailed to St. Thomas, where the Danes were welcoming foreign settlers and even offering religious freedom of sorts. Setting up shop again, he established St. Thomas’ first sugar works.

When the Danes claimed St. John as their own, Van Beverhoudt took up a plantation there, which he named Maria Hope, and established the first sugar works on that island as well.

Von Beverhaut died in 1728 and Maria Hope was taken over by one William Vessup.

Vessup subsequently stabbed Karl Henry Kuhlmann to death on St. Thomas over a land dispute. Wanted for murder Vessup fled the island in 1732 leaving the Maria Hope Estate  abandoned when rebellious slaves took over the island of St. John.

While still on the lamb from authorities on St. Thomas, Vessup was approached by messengers who led him to understand that his help in putting down the slave rebellion could lead to a government pardon.

Vessup put forth a plan to trick the rebels. He would lure the leaders aboard his ship with the promise of supplying them with badly needed guns and ammunition. He then planned to capture the rebel leaders and turn them over to the Danes. Vessup made contact with rebel leaders saying that he would supply them with guns ammunition and gun powder in return for slaves. The rebels reportedly offered him ten slaves in payment for ten barrels of powder.

With each side scamming the other and with the well deserved wariness and skepticism by both Vessup and the rebels, all deals fell through. No ammunition powder guns or slaves changed hands. The rebels did not fall into Vessup’s trap and Vessup remained a fugitive.

Vessup’s family remained in the Virgin islands, but under very poor circumstances.

I came across this quote from Mark Dallas on the on-stjohn.com website,  “I hope to find a new owner as soon as possible and get the gym back up and running and I apologize to all the paying members for having to close…”

Wait a minute. When you take someone’s money for goods or services and then don’t provide those services, you don’t apologize, you give the money back.

I don’t know who this guy is, but most of the members who paid money in good faith to join the gym, which subsequently closed are hard working St. John locals, who are struggling to get by in this economy. The rich ones are at the Westin.

You just don’t do things like this Mark, it’s not right. Refund the money!

Sushi on St. John
Habiba and I were having lunch the other day at a local sushi restaurant. Upon sitting down we were informed that the restaurant was out of tuna. Meanwhile sitting at the bar was a friend of mine, a local St. John fisherman. He asked me if I could explain an exchange that occurred between him and the sushi chef.

Out of Tuna
Hearing that the restaurant was out of tuna, the fisherman asked the sushi chef if he would like to buy some fresh locally caught yellow fin tuna, which he could get to the restaurant within the hour.

About Tuna
Before telling you the sushi chef’s response, let me tell you a little bit about the fisherman and about tuna. Tuna are pelagic fish, meaning that rather then frequenting a particular location, they swim from place to place in the open ocean. The best tuna for sushi is the giant blue fin tuna whose popularity has led it to be overfished almost to the point of extinction. Because it is prohibitively expensive (one fish could be worth upwards of $50,000) and a protected species in many places not to mention is absurdly high mercury content, it is not often offered for sale in most sushi restaurants, especially those outside of Japan.

The next best is yellow fin, also a large fish and high in fat content.

A fisherman intending to sell his catch of yellow fin to buyers for top of the line sushi
restaurants must follow a procedure which will insure the best taste and quality for use as sushi. The fisherman explained it to me like this:

Preparation at sea for Sushi Quality Tuna
“Gerald, he said, I’m a fisherman first, but when it comes to the big yellow fin tunas, I’m a surgeon as well. First I knock out the fish with a billy, haul him on board and Immediately cut off the head with a good well placed blow with sharp machete in order to drain the blood and and expose the spinal column. Then I carefully push a  metal rod through the vertebrae in order to remove the nerve tissue, which stops any further metabolism of the precious fats and oils so important for good sushi. The final step is to put the fish in ice water or frozen brine if color is an issue.”

Generally a locally caught tuna is like money in the bank with in the know restaurants like Morgan’s Mango, La Tapa and others relishing the opportunity to place the locally caught yellow fin tuna their list of specials.

Sushi chef’s response
But, the sushi chef’s surprising response to our fisherman friend, delivered somewhat disdainfully I thought,  was this: “No thank you. we only buy sushi quality tuna, we only buy cold water fish.”

Trying to find an explanation
My friend said that this made no sense at all and I had to agree with him. Why would the restaurant prefer to go without this important item on their menu and wait to buy tuna that came from somewhere in the world, than iced and brought to a Miami or NYC market then sold to a wholesaler who would ship the fish to St. Thomas to a another wholesaler, put on a truck then on a barge and finally delivered to the restaurant.

My take on it was that one possibility was that the sushi chef was just totally ignorant about sushi. Don’t laugh, it’s possible, but not probable.

Another possibility is that the restaurant people were uncomfortable dealing with Virgin Islanders and made up a quick nonsensical justification.

I also believe that this is not an isolated case and although many St. John businesses do try to buy locally and hire local people, there are too many that do not, and they too generally justify their actions with the same sort of, as they say on the island, “stupidness.”

The Moral of the Story
And the moral of the story is that dismissing qualified local people, local businesses and local products cheats everybody concerned.

First of all, you cheat yourself. In this case the restaurant could have established a good working relationship with a guy who, because he has contacts with other fisherman and fishing businesses from Anegada to San Juan, would be an invaluable asset to their establishment.

Secondly, you cheat customers; in this case depriving them of the best, most delicious sushi that you could possibly ask for and substituting an inferior product at a higher price.

Thirdly, there is a social cost. We are living together on a small island and cooperation and tolerance will yield way better results for evryone than divisiveness, intolerance and ignorance.

Yesterday, a Continental Airlines bound for St. Thomas, USVI carrying 180 people experienced a compressor stall in the right hand engine, which forced the engine to be shut down. The incident occurred just a few minutes after takeoff at an altitude of 1000 feet. The pilot declared an emergency and was instructed to return to Newark’s Liberty International Airport, where he landed the plane safely.

St. John physical fitness devotees found the doors at the Gym in Paradise locked up tight this morning. A sign on the door said “closed temporally,” but quien sabe, who knows? But if you ask me, it doesn’t look good.

Closed (Temporarily?)

The trouble in paradise began when the Swans and Bertolino’s who had been running the gym, some say almost as a public service, sold out to a businessman from America. Supposedly, the new owner originally had the intention of coming to St. John and operating the gym as a lifestyle-business combination kind of thing.

But, as rumor has it, personal problems and/or business setbacks caused a change in plans and the gym was run on an absentee owner basis, rarely a good deal anywhere and maybe worse on St. John.

To make a gym work financially is a tricky situation and depends on aggressive marketing and quite a bit of expertise. Meanwhile the place has to look good to attract new members.

Apparently, with expenses outweighing income, the new owner now has to pump more money into the operation. Meanwhile he’s sitting home in America and isn’t even getting a good workout for his money, and at some point he’s had enough of that and let’s the management on island know that the gym has to pay its own way.

So services are cut back, bills aren’t paid and the place starts looking kind of rundown. Machines break down and they sit there broken – no money. Furthermore there’s no business plan put in place to increase memberships, no motivation for the management to push for more members and with this negative cash flow, I can pretty much bet that bills weren’t paid and it began to look like the end was near for our beloved neighborhood gym.

Into this mess comes Pilates Bob.   Bob understands the dynamics of gym management,and he enthusiastically tries to turn things around. I’ve been around gyms pretty much my whole life and I’d have to say that Bob did a pretty good job. He initiated specials, increased membership, improved cash flow and saw to the basic maintenance of the equipment and the various systems, often doing much of the work himself,

But with rent that some say was as high as eight grand a month, a WAPA bill that must have been frightening , payroll, insurance  maintenance, etc., etc., the chips were really stacked against the guy and this morning the Gym in Paradise at the St. John Marketplace where the elite meet was closed up.

Hopefully, the sign saying “temporary” is telling the truth. Failing that, we would hope that at least those people who recently signed up for membership can get refunds and that the employees who are already owed back wages will be paid for their labors.

Options
Meanwhile if the gym doesn’t reopen, the options for workout fanatics aren’t that great. The only other gyms on the island are at Caneel Bay and the Westin. The gym at Caneel is for guest only, so that’s out.

The Westin has a nice gym with state of the art equipment, but like so many other aspects of our “Millionaire Island,” regular people will be priced out at $135/month dues and a $150 signup fee.

Or there’s always this option for the self motivated and disciplined: WORKING OUT AT HOME!!!

The At Home Work Out

ST. JOHN FILM SERIES
The ultimate goal of the St John Film Society is to establish an annual Independent Film Festival on St John. The monthly film series is our first effort toward that goal. We hope to bring attention to the rich cultural diversity and unique voice of the Virgin Islands as we share our stories through film. While our monthly screenings are free to the public, we welcome donations to help us achieve these goals. We are currently raising funds to purchase the following items: projector, screen, DVD deck.

Additionally, we are looking for volunteers to help us with the following tasks: tech support, graphic design, film recommendations.

Our free film series will continue at Sputnik on the first Tuesday of every month.

The presentation will begin at 7:00 PM. All are encouraged to bring a folding chair and arrive early for better seating.

Until further notice, Cruz Bay screenings will be held on special occasions, to be determined.

For more information, visit our website: www.stjohnfilm.com

FILM SCHEDULE
March 3rd – Global Economy and the Developing World
LIFE AND DEBT
A documentary by Stephanie Black; narrated by Jamaica Kincaid (80 min.)
“If you come to Jamaica as a tourist, this is what you will see…” This award winning feature length documentary, screened at the 2001 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, explores the complexity of international lending and free trade in the developing world. It focuses on individual Jamaicans who struggle to survive amid US and multinational economic agendas.

Jamaica Kincaid’s narration is based on her nonfiction book, “A Small Place.”

As the film begins, she contrasts what the visitor to Jamaica sees with what is kept hidden, and her voice is coolly alluring as she says, “When you sit down to eat your delicious meal, it’s better that you don’t know that most of what you are eating came off a ship from Miami.”

Michael Manley, Jamaica’s former prime minister, was interviewed for the film. He speaks openly yet sadly about mistakes his administration made that led to the devastation of the country’s economy. The film outlines the path of economic decline after the first International Money Fund loan that was meant to improve development yet resulted in increased debt and dependency. It visits the Free Trade Zone with its deplorable working conditions, where workers are paid US $30 a week.

“…the overall impression left by this devastating film is of the global economy as a dog-eat-dog world where the usual culprits, the United States and its multinational corporate clients, have the advantage.” – New York Times http://www.lifeanddebt.org

Followed By 10 Min Clip From Related Film
BANANA SPLIT
A lesson in the history of the banana: its production, transportation and challenges. This lighthearted film stands in stark contrast to the devastation of
Jamaica’s banana industry depicted in “Life and Debt.” http://www.shebafilms.com/films/banana_split.html

April 7th – A Celebration of Garifuna Culture
A GARIFUNA JOURNEY
A documentary by local filmmaker and St John Film Society founder Andrea Leland (46 min)

“…captures the triumph of spirit of the Garifuna people.”

This film, made with the cooperation and participation of the Garifuna people, celebrates the enduring spirit of the descendants of the African and Carib-Indian inhabitants of the Caribbean. The Garifunas’ determination to keep their culture alive led to their being exiled from St Vincent to Belize by the British at the end of the eighteenth century.

Told in the voices of the Garifuna themselves, the film is engaging and colorful. It is an encouraging testament to a society’s ability to keep its music and spirituality alive amid the threats of the encroaching bigger world.

“…a vital step in archiving the rich culture and fascinating trajectory of the Garifuna of Belize. The video is a prime model for the use of the moving image
in preserving living culture.” – Huntington International Independent Film Festival

www.newday.com/films/GarifunaJourney.html

Followed By Clip From Related Film
PLAY, JANKUNÚ PLAY

A documentary by Oliver N Greene, Jr. (46 min)
A look at the Garifuna wanaragua ritual, known as Jankunú. The dances, with their distinctive costumes and music, are a blend of African, European, Arawak

and Carib traditions. Includes interviews with Garifuna singers, drummers and dancers who echo the value of the ritual to their culture.

www.der.org/films/play-jankunu-play.html