Frederiksted

The Danes laid out Frederiksted in 1751 on the leeward western shore of St Croix, where calm water and a naturally deep port made up for the shallow reef that limited trade at the older town of Christiansted. The surveyor Jens Beckfor planned a grid of 14 by 14 blocks, though only seven by seven were built. Fort Frederik went up between 1752 and 1760 to guard the anchorage from pirates and rivals and to stop ships slipping away without paying dues; it was named after King Frederick V. In 1776, the fort is said to have fired the first salute from foreign soil to the flag of the new United States.

On 3 July 1848 the freed craftsman Moses Gottlieb, remembered as "General Buddhoe", led enslaved people from the West End plantations in a march on the town, and Governor-General Peter von Scholten proclaimed emancipation at the fort. The town suffered again in 1867, when an earthquake and tsunami beached the warship USS Monongahela and killed at least five people.

On 1 October 1878, Contract Day, a protest by plantation labourers against the harsh contracts that had replaced slavery became the Fireburn, led by four women remembered as the "Four Queens": Mary Thomas, Axelene Salomon, Mathilda McBean and Susanna Abramsen. Much of the town was burned. It was rebuilt with Georgian and Victorian detailing, which still defines its streets. Hurricane Hugo destroyed the old pier in 1989, Marilyn caused heavy damage in 1995, and Maria passed about ten miles south of the island in 2017.

Locals call Frederiksted "Freedom City", and the 1848 emancipation is the heart of its identity: the fort where it was proclaimed stands at the edge of town, and the memory of General Buddhoe and of the Fireburn's "Four Queens" is a source of pride across St Croix.

The town has a slower pace than Christiansted, and its two great moments of noise are carnival in January and the days when cruise ships dock. Every month local jazz musicians play on Frederiksted Beach at the Sunset Jazz evenings.

Community life is built on volunteering. A local group organises clean-ups, mural and garden projects, and with the island's artists' guild has installed dozens of painted rum barrels around town as rubbish bins; the guild has also added murals and paintings. The town has attracted film-makers too: scenes from Trading Places and The Island of Dr. Moreau were shot here, and the final scene of The Shawshank Redemption was filmed on the beach at Sandy Point to the south.

Frederiksted proper is very small — 732 people at the 2000 census, and fewer than 1,000 today — but it is also one of the two administrative districts of St Croix, and nearly 10,000 people live on the island's western side. Several government offices occupy the town's historic buildings.

The economy turns on the pier, the island's only cruise port. On ship days passengers fill the waterfront, taxis and tour buses line up for round-the-island trips, and the shopping area near the pier is busy; on other days the town is quiet. Dive operators use the pier's landing platforms, and the island's other deep-water port, the South Port, holds the tank farm of the former oil refinery and an industrial park.

Redevelopment has been slow but steady: a first phase rebuilt the waterfront park with natural stonework in keeping with the old town, and later plans cover the shore north of the fort, the beach and the sports stadium. The trade winds, calm western seas and sunsets that come as late as ten past seven in summer set the rhythm of the evenings.

Frederiksted eats as the rest of the Virgin Islands does. Fungi, pronounced "foon-gee", is a stiff cornmeal dish served with boiled fish or saltfish; callaloo, sometimes spelled kallaloo, is a soup of leafy greens; and the everyday snacks are paté, fried dough filled with beef, chicken, conch or saltfish and often compared to an empanada, and johnnycake, fried dough originally known as "journey cake".

The town's places to eat are small and close together, around the old grid and the waterfront near the pier, and they are busiest on cruise days. Fungi is the main staple of the traditional Virgin Islands diet, and fish, conch and saltfish are the usual fillings and partners for it.

St Croix is a rum island: a distillery near Frederiksted offers tours and tastings, and its rum, including some flavours not sold on the US mainland, turns up in the drinks served in town. Popular cold drinks include maubi, brewed from tree bark, sorrel, soursop, sea moss and passion fruit juice.