WHIM PLANTATION MUSEUM
History comes alive as you walk among the original early 18^th century plantation buildings on the 12 acres of Whim Museum.  The stately greathouse welcomes you with gracious guides waiting to tell you the stories of the house and plantation life.  The fully restored windmill and sugar factory ruins are open for you to explore.  You can see sugar cane growing nearby in one of the plantation gardens.  The grounds are graced with tropical flowers, plants and trees. 

Whim is the oldest sugar plantation museum in the Virgin Islands.  Its purpose is to increase the understanding of a colonial sugar plantation to both island residents and visitors.  Exhibits and guided tours are designed to interpret the economics of a plantation, explain the procedures used in the cultivation and  processing of sugar, and describe the everyday life of the people who lived and worked there. 

Estate Whim is typical of the agricultural plantations originally laid out in the 1730's by the Danish West Indian Company.  The first records of ownership were in 1743 and show cotton as being grown on the estate.  By 1754 sugar had apparently become the main crop and so it continued until the 1920's when sugar, long since an unprofitable industry on the island, gave way to cattle.

In 1932 the United States federal government purchased the entire plantation.  For the next fifteen years a largely unsuccessful attempt was made to introduce the homesteading program to St. Croix and Whim was one of the areas chosen for this trial.  Even though a failure in many ways, this venture in homesteading did, however, serve to break up the persistent large acreage ownership and started the trend that continues today throughout the island, of small private land holdings.

Twelve acres, containing the remains of most of the original plantation buildings were, in 1954, leased to the society that, today, manages the museum there.  There are four main divisions of work on which the museum concentrates.  Each involves public participation.

The most visible endeavor is in the interpretation and organization of exhibits utilizing for the museum visitor, all of the buildings and equipment which together formed an 1800 century island sugar plantation.  These include the greathouse, cookhouse, privy/bath house, three kinds of cane processing mills (animal, wind, and steam), a watchhouse, a carriage house and several other foundations such as the workers houses and factory, soon to be better interpreted and added to the tour.

The museum continues to actively collect and conserve artifacts pertinent to St. Croix's colonial and modern history, especially if there is a tie to the local plantation systems.

Ongoing research unlocks the secrets of the plantation era of St. Croix and all its many ramifications.  A rare book library and archives repository has been established on the property which facilitates the work of the society and is open to the public for scholarly research.

Events at Whim include the Candlelight Concerts, Starving Artists Days, and Wine at Whim.  See our events calendar for dates.  Also be sure to stop at our Museum Store, located on the property, and the Lawaetz Museum located only 3 miles away.  Whim Plantation makes a beautiful setting for private parties. Learn more about the grounds or Contact us for more details.

Paa Danske

The museum has ramp access into the Greathouse and is handicap accessible into the restroom.