Reef Bay Sugar Mill - St. John

We visited the Reef Bay sugar mill, one of many ruins on the island of St. John. We learned how the sugar industry died twice at this mill.
In plantation days slaves brought bundles of cane to the horse mill.
In l861, after Denmark abolished slavery and St. John's other mills began to collapse, Reef Bay's new owners attempted to revive the dying industry by installing steam power to crush the cane.
Exhausted soil and mainland sugar beets halted St. John's sugar production.
Reef Bay was the last operating sugar mill on St. John.
It closed in the early 1900s, leaving only the bats behind.