Cistern Wall on Estate Seiban

Volunteers for the Virgin Islands Friends of the National Park have cleared the extensive ruins on the old Seiban Estate. These ruins including the only baobob tree on St. John have been mostly covered by bush for well over half a century.

Only Baobob Tree on St. John

Yesterday the volunteers cleared around the baobob tree from where there’s a great view of Fish Bay to the south. The photos you see on this blog entry were taken yesterday, the afternoon after the clearing of the estate.

There are two ways to get to Estate Seiban, the L’Esperance Road and the Great Seiban.

The L’Esperance Road begins on Centerline Road about a quarter-mile east of the Cathrineberg Road where the foundation of an old house can be seen on the south side of Centerline. Park here and go down the trail until you come to the small trail going south and down towards Seiban.

View of the Fish Bay Valley from the Great SeibanTrail

The Great Seiban trailhead begins in Fish Bay. Going east on the Fish Bay Road, take the first left after crossing the bridge over the Fish Bay Gut, which is Cocoloba Trail, at the first intersection bear right, staying on the Cocoloba Trail Road. Take the first left and head up the hill to the first switchback. The trail begins here.

Entranceway to the Esate Seiban Greathouse

Cistern

Bee Hive in Baobob Tree

View of Fish Bay from behind the Baobob Tree

Bottle with rounded bottom designed for storage on sailing ships

Iron Pot found on estate grounds

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under St. John USVI. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.