Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

[Mutty]

circa 1941. Baby in Charlotte Amalie home (St. Thomas)




Sometime during World War II in St. Thomas




Dec. 1941. Cleaning a hog at a slaughter house. French Town, St. Thomas




1941. French Town, St. Thomas (Vicinity in St. Thomas where many immigrants came from the island of St. Barthelemy (Barts). We call the people "Frenchies" or "cha chas."




1930s. Cleaning the backyard. St. Thomas




French Town in the 1940s. My mom, as a Nevisian immigrant used to live right below that church to the top of the hill in the early 1970s. The church is still there.



Another even older view of French Town, St. Thomas.




French Town today.




St. Thomas at sunset. Puerto Rico 60 miles west on the horizon.




Frenchie family in the early 1940s.




Wharf in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Early 1940s.




Defense workers at U.S naval base in St. Thomas (early 1940s)




More naval base workers (early 1940s)




Donkey Parking lot. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas V.I (early 1940s)




Early 1940s St. Thomas, V.I




Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands




Charlotte Amalie harbor early 1940s







Charlotte Amalie Harbor today




Sugar Estate, St. Thomas (early 1900s)



Northern Sugar Estate today (hospital and surrounding medical offices)



Sugar Estate, April 2006



Public well, St. Thomas V.I (1940s)




Near Market Square, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas V.I




Days of coal pot (St. Thomas 1940s)




Prison cells at Fort Christian, St. Thomas V.I (1940s)




Nurses at St. Thomas hospital (1940s)




Playing dominos (St.Thomas 1940s)





Black and white and color version View of start of Main Street. City Post office dominates this area today.




This is the same area today (pic from my camera April 2006)





Cruise ships coming into Charlotte Amalie harbor at dawn. St. Croix (U.S Virgin Islands) can be seen on the horizon 40 miles away.




View of Charlotte Amalie from Bluebeard's Castle in the 1940s



Same view today




Insane asylum, St. Thomas




Mother and daughters on St. Thomas street




Native of India in the St. Thomas insane asylum. War conditions in th 1940s and expense prevented him being sent back to India.




Road Town, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands




Government Hill, St. Thomas




Main Street, St. Thomas 1941



Migrant worker in St. Croix Virgin Islands (1940s).




Christiansted, St. Croix (1940s)




Sugar Cane plantation on either St. Croix or St Thomas (1930s)




Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix U.S Virgin Islands



Christiansted, St. Croix (today)




Shopping center, Christiansted, St. Croix (1941)




Children at Peter's Rest Elementary School, Christiansted, St. Croix (1941)




Town street in St .Thomas (1940s)




One of the many steep hills in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (1940s)




Waterfront at Christiansted, St. Croix (1940s)




St. Croix back in the day (1940s)




Women awaiting fish boats in St. Croix (1940s)

[Compry]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Interesting pics. I find this one sweet. That mom found a way to make her baby comfortable. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Green_Biscuit]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Fascinating, Mutty. Thank you. I can't see the St Croix ones, and I am very interested in those, since that is the only VI I have visited. Any chance you can fix them? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Green_Biscuit</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Fascinating, Mutty. Thank you. I can't see the St Croix ones, and I am very interested in those, since that is the only VI I have visited. Any chance you can fix them? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img] </div></div>

I'll fix it shortly, GB.

[Magician]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Very nice Mutty! I love the old pictures that they made colour. I wonder how that's done.

The place used to have a nice laid back vibe to it. I've never been there but looking at the recent pictures and the fleet of cruise ships coming in things must be different now.

I thought you were from St Kitts/Nevis and emigrated to St. Thomas? It was you mom who did so?


Anyway I know you must have more, so post up do, mi a beg yuh. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Very nice Mutty! I love the old pictures that they made colour. I wonder how that's done.

The place used to have a nice laid back vibe to it. I've never been there but looking at the recent pictures and the fleet of cruise ships coming in things must be different now.

I thought you were from St Kitts/Nevis and emigrated to St. Thomas? It was you mom who did so?


Anyway I know you must have more, so post up do, mi a beg yuh. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] </div></div>


No man. I was born in St. Thomas and raised in St. Kitts from since I was 6 months old to 8 years old which is when I went to St. Thomas for 4 months before moving to New York City for 4 years.

My mom moved to St. Thomas from Nevis and my dad from St. Kitts and they met in St. Thomas which is where I showed up.

Yeah, I don't know how they did that with the pics, but they are indeed nice. It's just amazing to me to see older pics of places I know today. The old pic of Sugar Estate is mo st amazing because while the name denotes sugar, I did not know that the area was one huge cane field at one point because as far back as me being a kid in the early 70s, there were buildings there.

[mountaingal]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

great pics, Mutty. i enjoyed seeing them, would love to go visit these islands one day.

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands



Bethlehem. St. Croix (1941). Fomer slave quarters converted to work dorms for cane cutters.



Woman from northwestern St. Croix.




Street corner in St. Thomas (1940s).




Cow farm near Christiansted, St Croix (1941)




Christmas carolers in St. Thomas 1941. I remember this tradition as a little boy. These men would walk around playing Christmas and folk songs in return for drinks. By the time they got to a few houses, they were completely toasted. Also, the house over their left shoulder today houses my uncle's bar. It's where me and my brother hung out each night of the carnival week last year before hitting the town for the festivities.




Young girl embroidering handbags for sale. St. Thomas.




Puerto Rican woman washing clothes in Fredericksted, St. Croix in 1941. Of course Puerto Ricans migrated the 60 miles to St. Croix and St. Thomas in droves mostly in the 1960s with the opening of the Hess Oil Refinery on St. Croix.




Fredericksted, St. Croix (1941)




Puerto Rican boy at Peter's Rest elementary School in Christiansted, St. Croix (1941)




St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (1941)




Farmer's meeting in Christiansted, St. Croix (1941). You can see the hardships of the times on their faces, however, keep a few things in mind. The United States was just coming out of the depression era which of course was even worse in the islands and then this was followed by World War II. President Woodrow Wilson is reported to have said that the islands were the outhouse of the country (United States) because of their impoverished conditions upon the acquisition of the islands from Denmark in 1917. It was not until the rise of tourism after World War II (1950s and beyond) did the fortunes of the islands change for the better.

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands



St. John, United States Virgin Islands (1941). St. Thomas sits 5 miles away in the distance.




Cruz Bay, St. John (1941)




Cruz Bay, St. John today. You can see St. Thomas at the upper left tip in the second pic.




Cruz Bay dock (1941)




Caneel Bay, St. John V.I in 1941




Caneel Bay dock St. John V.I in 1941. St. Thomas in the distance.




Caneel Bay today. This is part of the island that is part of the U.S National Park system. NO commercial businesses or development allowed preserving the pristine beauty and keeping the ecosystem intact.

[img]http://images1.snapfish.com/347647298%7F...38%3B4566nu0mrj[/img]

The Caneel Bay dock today. St. Thomas in the distance.




Young boy in St. John, Virgin Islands. 1941




La Vallee, St. Croix (1941). Planting sweet potatoes.

[Magician]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Wickid. So you consider yourself a Nevisian, American, A Kittitian, or a Virgin? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]


Where did you get all there old time photographs from?

[Diplomat]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Great stuff [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] Love the "donkey parking lot" [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wickid. So you consider yourself a Nevisian, American, A Kittitian, or a Virgin? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]


Where did you get all there old time photographs from? </div></div>

All of the above. I need one of these Ja.com ladies to learn me a thing or three. lol


I got 'em from a U.S government site. They were taking pics all around the country (and territories) of folks between the depression era and World War II.

[Magician]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Cool. You should throw in some of your own collection on here so we get a full 'before' and 'after' effect. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hungry.gif[/img]

[Mutty]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Cool. You should throw in some of your own collection on here so we get a full 'before' and 'after' effect. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hungry.gif[/img] </div></div>


if I make it home in April, I'm going to visit the various spots in the pics and take pics for that very purpose.

[Serenity82]

Re: Pics of 1930s/1940s Virgin Islands

Interesting Photos. thanks for sharing!