Above: Fort Christian

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The government of the United States Virgin Islands has signed a Memorandum of Agreement to facilitate the reopening of Fort Christian on St Thomas.

The Danish fort, which was attacked by French forces in 1678, just a few years after construction had begun, is in the process of being restored.

“The people of the Virgin islands will again be able to tour and learn about our rich heritage at Fort Christian and trek along nature trails on Hassel Island to view and learn about the fortifications on Hassel Island that hundreds of years ago enabled our capital city to develop as a thriving port of trade,” the Governor’s office said in a statement.
“It’s a very important agreement, an agreement that’s been at work for a numberof yeras,” Governor John de Jongh said at the signing ceremony this week.

The deal also facilitates the opening of Cowell’s Battery on Hassel Island.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for I can’t tell you how many years,” said Ronald Lockahart of the St Thomas Historical Trust. “Pretty soon we hope to have it open up, so we can have visitors and locals alike using the fort and seeing everything that we were able to when we were younger. I think it’s going be a great thing happening for the Virgin Islands right now.”