Hiking Hassel Island in U.S. V.I.

Hassel Island was connected to St. Thomas by an isthmus until 1860. It was part of Charlotte Amalie town and formed part of the hurricane proof anchorage in the 1700s when the Danes controlled the islands and made the port a free trade port. It became a major port as they asked no questions of where goods came from so pirates sold their pillaged goods there freely. In 1860 a channel was dug through it from East Gregerie Channel to St. Thomas Harbor and the passage called Haulover Cut. It was dug to allow for better water flushing in the harbor and to shorten the passage between Crown Bay and St. Thomas Harbor.

Haulover Cut

In 1840 the world’s first steam driven ship railway was built on the North end of the island and is now in the process of being restored. It could haul out a ship 200’ long and weighing 800 tons.

The haul our building

Railway building under restoration

The original ruins at the top of the saddle are the homestead of the Hassel’s which includes a family grave yard.  The graves had been vandalized so the remains have been reburied on St. Thomas.  The family also ran a leper colony for St. Thomas, the only remaining ruin is the cistern.

Family graveyard

Carl examins tomb

Cistern is all that remains of the Leper colony

Cowell Battery observation post house

bathroom of observation point

The Danes built Prince Frederik’s Battery on the South end to protect the harbor. During the British occupation they renamed it Fort Willoughby and added Shipley Battery on the North end and Cowell Battery on the South end of the island with barracks in between.  When the US took over the island, Cowell Battery became an observation post to watch the water’s from Porto Rico to BVI. The ruins that are there are in very good shape as they were occupied into the 1970’s.

Fort Silloughby

Carl climbs observation pole

When the US bought the islands in 1917 they put a Navy station on the island and in 1919 widened and deepened Haulover Cut. In 1930 the Paiewonsky family bought Hassel and Water Islands to get water for their distilleries.  In 1978 they sold most of the island to the National Park Service keeping a few small buildings on the northeast side. One of them was where a reality show, Real Life, was filmed recently.  The only way to get to the island is by boat.

Old barracks ruins

Today there are several unmarked trails to many ruins on the island even though many of the ruins have very nice plaques describing the changes occurring on the island.  Many of the trails follow what must have been roads during all the occupying years.  The cleaning and marking of these trails would be a great eco-project for some ambitious volunteers.

Manfred in his loft

Some of Manfred's gardening

Today the only long term resident on the island is Manfred, who has life tenancy as he was living there before the National Park Service acquired the island. He is a sail maker who is well known in the Virgins and has set up shop in the ruins of an old steamship company at Careening Cove. He has an extensive collection of old tools and equipment he has found on the island in his many years there.

Manfred's patio



More of Manfred's landscaping

A lilme kiln on the beach

Carl examins the kiln