Annaberg Windmill

On St. John, only the plantations at Annaberg, Carolina, Denis Bay, Susannaberg, Cathrineberg and Caneel Bay used windmills. (There were 140 windmill built on St. Croix.) The 40-foot-tall Annaberg windmill was built between 1810 and 1830. The wind-powered blades turned the rollers that crushed the sugarcane. While the horsemill could only crush about 50 cartloads of cane per day, the more efficient windmill could crush 75-100 cartloads. The sugarcane had to be juiced within 24 hours of being harvested to prevent spoilage. Slaves worked almost around the clock at harvest time. When it was windy, both windmill and horsemill were operated simultaneously. It took about ten slaves to work the windmill. Two of the men fed the bundles of sugarcane back and forth through the cane crushing rollers. An ax was kept nearby in case an unfortunate worker got his hand caught in the rollers. Then if nearby workers acted fast enough, his arm would be chopped off before the rollers crushed his whole body.