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NATIONAL HISTORIC NFS Fom 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP R(j SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Serviee MARK NOMINATION 1 Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: SKYTSBORG (Blackbeafys Castle) Other Name/Site Number: Fogarthy’s Castle, Kjaer’s Castle 2. LOCATION Street & Number: No. 38 Dronningens Gade, King’s Quarter City/Town: Charlotte Amalie State: U.S, Virgin Islands County: St. Thoms Code: 030 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Private: X Public-Local: Public-State: Public-Federal: Category of Property Building(s): District: Site: Structure: X Object: Number of Resources within Property Contributing i. Noncontributing buildings sites structures objects 0 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register: 1 Name of Related Multiple Property Listing: Not for publication: Vicinity: X Zip Code: 00801 NFS Form 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United Stites Department of the Interior, National Park Service USDI/NPS NRHP Rcgiatration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this___ nomination____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property___ meets____ does not meet the National Register Criteria. Signature of Certifying Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property___ meets____ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that this property is: __ Entered in the National Register Determined eligible for the National Register — Determined not eligible for the National Register Removed from the National Register ________ Other (explain): ------------------------------------- Signature of Keeper Date of Action NPS Fonn 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United Sutes Department of the Interior, National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: Defense Sub: Fortification Current: Vacant/Not In Use Sub: 7. DESCRIPTION ARCHITECTURAL CLASSIFICATION: OTHER: Military Fortification MATERIALS: Foundation: Limestone, Augite Andesite or "Blue Beach", Coral Walls: Limestone, Augite Andesite or "Blue Beach", Coral Roof: Wood Other: Brick (facings for entrance and gun ports) NPS Fonn 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States DqNutment of the Interior, National Paifc Service USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places R^istration Form Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. DESCRIPTION Skytsborg, commonly referred to as Blackbeard’s Castle, is situated on Government Hill (formerly called Baggaertsbjerg in the seventeenth century) overlooking Charlotte Amalie and the St. Thomas Harbor. This fortified stone tower, constructed in 1679, is slightly ovoid in ground plan and is 20 feet in diameter at the base and tapers to 17 feet 8 inches at the top of the parapet. The total height of the tower is 31 feet 6 inches. The interior of the tower was originally divided into four levels by three wooden floors with the first floor being stone. The origin^ levels are clearly identified by projecting stone ledges on the interior side of the tapered stone walls. The walls of the tower are constructed of masonry rubble, 53 inches thick at the base and tapering to 40 inches at the edge of the parapet. The exterior and interior surfaces of the walls were originally covered with a thin coat of lime plaster and whitewashed. Although this covering does not exist on the exterior surface, traces of this plaster exist on the interior surfaces of the tower. The tower is entered from the north through a four foot wide, seven foot high elliptical arched entrance. The entrance has three stone steps leading into the tower and the entrance opening is faced with brick. The floor is stone. The wooden entrance door and metal fittings are modem, but are in character with the tower. The first floor room is 9 feet high. Nine brick lined gun ports (6 inches x 9 inches) are arranged in a radial pattern around the first floor room, seven feet above the present floor level. This would indicate that there once existed a wooden platform along the inner wall to serve as a firing platform for the gun ports. The floor of the first floor room is made of stone. The second floor room is 7 feet 2 inches high. Thirteen brick lined gun ports, similar in size to those in the first floor room, are also arranged in a radial pattern. They are 6 feet above the present floor level. There is also a larger gun port or embrasure, measuring 14 inches x 26 inches, set 45 inches above the fl(X)r level in the south face of the tower. This is probably one of two embrasures cut into the existing tower in 1688 for cannons to command Charlotte Amalie Harbor and protect the north approaches to Christiansfort. The floor of the second floor room is made of reinforced concrete. The third floor room is 7 feet high. Thirteen brick lined gun ports repeat the radial pattern found in the second floor room. The floor of the third floor room is also made of reinforced concrete. The fourth floor room is also 7 feet high. The tower walls are pierced by 8 gun ports. Seven gun ports measure 12 inches x 16 inches, while the eighth one is 12 inches x 30 inches. This latter gun port is on the north face of the tower and probably served by a small cannon to protect the tower from the hills above. NPS Fonn 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Rcgislntion Fonn (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Path Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Originally above the fourth floor room was an open observation and gun platform on top of the tower. In the nineteenth century it was covered with a small wooden structure with windows when the tower served as a private astronomical observatory (see Figure 9). This structure was removed in the mid-twentieth century and replaced with a wooden floor below the parapet wall to simulate the original historic appearance of the open gun platform. The floor of the observation level is made of reinforced concrete covered with wood on top. A circular metal stair, which replaced the original wooden stairs, permits access to all floors. INTEGRITY Skytsborg is substantially unaltered from its original construction in 1679. The original stone masonry construction of the tower and brick facing for the entrance and gun ports of the tower are in excellent shape. None of the original wooden interior floors are extant, although stone projections on the interior walls of the tower indicate the original locations of the floor levels. Skytsborg served as an outer defensive work in conjunction with Schmidtsbjerg tower and Fort Christian, which also contained a tower called Trygborg situated within the fort. Trygborg was tom down in the 1870s during a renovation of Fort Christian. In the 1930s, Schmidtsbjerg was substantially modified. Large windows were cut through the rubble masonry tower walls of Schmidtsbjerg and the building was physically attached to a tourist hotel. It has guest rooms on its upper floors and a gift shop on the ground floor. Only Skytsborg still retains its original shape. Skytsborg is situated within a modem hotel complex, but the buildings and stmetures associated with the hotel are not physically attached to the tower. NPS Fonn 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Fonn (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Fait Service OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: Nationally: X Statewide:__ Locally: Applicable National Register Criteria: Criteria Considerations (Exceptions): AX B B NHL Criteria: NHL Theme(s): 1 n. EUROPEAN COLONIAL EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT D. Other European Exploration and Settlement 1. Scandinavian (Danish) Areas of Significance: Exploration and Settlement Military Period(s) of Significance: 1679-1700 Significant Dates: 1679 Significant Person(s): N/A Cultural Affiliation: N/A Architect/Builder: Governor Jorgen Iversen NPS Foim 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United Stales Department of the Interior, National Park Service USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form State Significance of Property, and Justify Criteria, Criteria Considerations, and Areas and Periods of Significance Noted Above. SUMMARY STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Skytsborg, or Blackbeard’s Castle, is a rubble masonry tower constructed in 1679 by the Danish colonial government as part of a network of defensive fortifications to protect St. Thomas. It is the best remaining example of seventeenth-century Danish colonial military architecture in the United States, and is the only unmodified seventeenth-century fortified tower in the Caribbean. Historical Background to Tower FortiHcations Throughout Europe in the fifteenth century, tower fortifications underwent a major modification in both intent and design as a result of the new technology of artillery. Prior to this time tall stone towers, or keeps, often served as isolated defensive structures or observation towers able to fend off Medieval attackers armed only with bows and arrows and rudimentary siege machines. As the power of artillery grew, allowing attackers to breach the high stone walls of such towers from a distance, military engineers began to reconfigure the shape of the tower to confront this threat and to incorporate the tower into larger more complex defensive designs (Duffy 1979:2). Instead of tall isolated stone towers, the towers became shorter, usually not more that 40 feet tall, with walls up to twenty feet thick to counter the effects of battering by artillery. These massively designed towers, often incorporated into town walls as roundels, became gun- towers, or platforms for artillery. The first appearance of these gun-towers occurred in Renaissance Italy during the latter part of the fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth century when control of the Italian states was contested between the French and Spanish crowns (Duffy 1979). However, in the instance of coastal fortifications, isolated gun-towers still had an important defensive role. As Christopher Duffy in Fire and Stone, The Science of Fortress Waif are notes, "Given the peculiar circumstances of coastal fortification, there was still a place for isolated and tall towers of a kind that would have been considered decidely old-fashioned in inland warfare" (1975:155). The offensive function of these towers dictated their form. The designer of coastal fortification had to bear in mind that these works were intended to deliver a heavy weight of fire rather than to offer resistance against prolonged siege. These considerations, taken together with the usual lack of space and earth in coastal sites, made for a characteristic architecture of simple traces, and high exposed walls executed in full revetment. The parapets and embrasures were nearly always of masonry, even though "it had been found by experience, that nothing disheartens troops placed behind a wall so much, as pieces of stone flying about their ears" [Duffy 1975:154-155]. NPS Form 10-900 USDWPS NRHP Regi»ti»tion Foim (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of die Interior, National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form During the first half of the sixteenth century, isolated masonry gun-towers made their appearance as coastal fortifications throughout the islands of Ae western Mediterrean, as defense against Moorish pirates as well as European raiders (Fomals 1992:31-32). At the same time, such isolated masonry structures also solved for the Spanish problems of harbor defense in the New World at Havana, Cuba; Santo Domingo, on Hispaniola; and San Juan, Puerto Rico (Anonymous 1985:149-150, 341, 377; Torres-Reyes 1955:60-62). These New World towers erected by the Spanish in the sixteenth century were pulled down, with the exception of those built into the walls of La Fortaleza (designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960), in favor of more extensive harbor fortifications in later years (Hoyt 1943:27-36). However, a sixteenth-century Genoese fortified tower on Mortella Point on the island of Corsica so ably defended itself against two British warships in 1794 that the design was copied and numerous "Martello Towers" were constructed in England, Ireland, and the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century (Duffy 1975:155; Floyd 1991:47-56). Due to their adaptability to coastal areas, tower fortifications also continued to play an important role in military engineering in the Baltic Sea region where, during the seventeenth century, the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden fought over control of the sealanes leading into the Baltic. The two preeminent military engineers during this conflict were Gottfried Hoffmann, of Denmark, and Erik Dahlberg, of Sweden. Both of these individuals utilized low thick fortifications to protect towns in combination with outlying fortified towers to protect key defensive points (Dahl 1992:6; Duffy 1985:191). As noted by Christopher Duffy, The surest signs of Dahlberg’s presence were, however, his idiosyncratic multi-storeyed casemated towers, which he employed variously as island batteries, hilltop forts and inner keeps [1985:195-196]. Gottfried Hoffman during the mid-seventeenth century also constructed fortresses with outlying tower works at Fredericia and Helsingborg, Denmark (Dahl 1992:6). Throughout the troubled seventeenth century, both contenders for control of the Baltic—Denmark and Sweden—also undertook efforts to establish colonies in the New World. Sweden established a military outpost called Fort Christina (designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961) in the vicinity of present day Wilmington, Delaware, where they traded for furs until the colony was captured by the English in 1664. The Danes were more successful in establishing and holding a colony in the Caribbean. In early 1671, the rechartered West India Company was created to establish a Danish colony on the island of St. Thomas. The Company selected as the Governor of the colony Jorgen Iversen. Iversen had gone to the British Caribbean Island of St. Kitts in 1651 at the age of 13 as an indentured servant. In the next fifteen years he rose to become a full partner in a Dutch trading concern in the Caribbean, from which he learned the necessary lessons for a successful colony (Gjessing 1982:2-3). NPS Foim 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United Statea Deputment of Ibe Interior, National Park Service USDI/NPS NRHP R^istratioo Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form From 1672 until 1680, when he was relieved, Iversen succeded ...in creating a community out of the multinational and racial components of the colony and steer it towards a promise of prosperity while building Christians Fort, carrying out an interisland trade for the company and establishing plantations on St. Thomas [Gjessing 1982:3]. It was during Governor Iversen’s tenure that he had constructed Fort Christian and its outlying hilltop gun and watch tower of Skytsborg (Gjessing 1982:12). According to Frederik Gjessing An Army Lieutenant had been included amongst the Company’s functionaries of the proposed colony. He was to advise Governor Iversen in all military matters and provide the technical knowledge needed for the design and construction of a fort. To insure that this was done according to the standards of the times, a copy of Admiral Freitag’s treatise on the construction of forts was included among the books that Jorgen Iversen brought out to guide him in his duties as the governor. This 17th century work provides layout of fortifications, explanations of the military functions of their different parts and served as a design handbook for military engineers [1982:17]. Unfortunately, the Lieutenant died on the voyage from Denmark to the Virgin Islands. Thus, "Iversen was left to make his own decision regarding the fortification" (Gjessing 1982:18) of Fort Christian and Skytsborg using Admiral Freitag’s work. This document provided information on the fortification of coasts utilizing gun towers on hilltops to support major coastal forts, as pioneered by Hoffmann and Dahlberg. Thematic Framework n. EUROPEAN COLONIAL EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT D. Other European Exploration and Settlement 1. Scandinavian (Danish) Skytsborg has its roots in the earliest history of the Danish Virgin Islands. In 1678, war having broken out between France and Denmark, the French settlers of neighboring St. Croix launched an attempt to seize St. Thomas Island. Fortunately Governor Jorgen Iversen, since his arrival in 1672, had undertaken to construct a large four-sided fort at the harbor’s edge of Charlotte Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas, called Christiansfort, or Fort Christian (designated an NHL in 1977). As the attackers did not have any siege cannon, this structure was easily able to withstand the brief siege imposed by the French from St. Croix, who were then forced to retreat. One of the main features of Christiansfort was a squat three-story high tower, called Trygborg, on the north side of the fort. Twenty-six and one half feet high and ninety feet in circumference, the tower was intended as a self-contained last ditch defensive position if an enemy carried the outer walls of Christiansfort. The first floor was a large storeroom for NPS Form 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Parle Service USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form ammunition and provisions. The walls of the upper two floors were studded with embrasures for both small arms and light cannon. This was the first military tower that can be documented on St. Thomas. Trygborg and the north side of Christiansfort were tom down in the nineteenth century during renovation. Christiansfort provided a strong defense for St. Thomas against an attacking force from the sea. However, Governor Iversen realized that an attacking force could have pounded Christiansfort into submission by erecting an artillery battery on the high ground behind and north of the fort. For this reason, in 1679, Iversen ordered a tower fortification erected on Baggaertsbjerg, a hill top north of Christiansfort, similar to Trygborg. Such a tower would serve not only to deny the high ground to an attacking force, but could also serve as a watchtower providing a vantage point high enough to peer over Hassel Island to scan the open ocean; thereby providing early warning of an approaching enemy. The success of the 1678 defense of St. Thomas convinced Iversen of the usefulness of stone towers for defense. Iversen’s letter of February 2, 1680 to the directors of the Danish West India Company indicated that Skytsborg had been erected at Baggaertsbjerg by that date. In it he wrote "Since I had the Watchtower erected at Baggaertsbjerg I did not fear a hasty attack so much." A 1687 English map of St. Thomas harbor depicts and a describes a "small white tower" on Baggaertsbjerg Hill to the north of Christiansfort. The relationship between the tower on Baggaertsbjerg Hill and Christiansfort is also shown on an undated late seventeenth century map (See Figures 3 and 4). It is possible that Iversen used the Company stone mason, Simon Lamare, who had worked on Fort Christian and Trygborg tower to construct Skytsborg in 1679. According to Frederik Gjessing, In August, 1674, Jorgen Iversen acquired for the Company a mulatto slave by the name of Simon Lamare. He was a mason and was to serve as the clerk of the works, for the construction of the fort [Fort Christian]. The phrasing in the account book of this transaction is of interest. It states "brought Simon Lamare to serve the Company for seven years" [1674-1681], implying some sort of contractual agreement with Simon Lamare for his manumission after an agreed upon period of service [1982:20]. In 1688, another crisis occurred when, in response to dynastic wars in Europe, the Spanish from Puerto Rico occupied Crab Island (Vieques) and Anguilla, thereby surrounding St. Thomas. This made the Danes in St. Thomas concerned as the Spanish had never abandoned their claim, by right of discovery, to the Virgin Islands. Governor Christopher Heins, who had replaced Iversen, undertook a program of upgrading the fortifications of Christiansfort and Skytsborg. He had embrasures cut in the walls of Skytsborg for two large cannon capable of covering the harbor. In addition, he erected a third tower to the east on Schmidtsbjerg. The erection of this last tower in 1689 completed the seventeenth-century defenses of St. Thomas (Gjessing and Gardner 1958:1-3). In peacetime no soldiers were stationed at Skytsborg or Schmidtsbjerg, while a skeleton force was maintained at Christiansfort. If an attack by other colonial forces or a slave rebellion was anticipated, an alarm was sounded by firing a predetermined number of cannon at NPS Foim 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of tbe Interior, National Park Service USDWfi>S NRHP Registnitioo Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Fonn Christiansfort. This signal would call out all able-bodied whites and free blacks to take up arms and report to one of the three fortifications. A militia sergeant and eight men were posted in Skytsborg in emergencies. Such an alarm occurred in May of 1694 when a slave insurrection was anticipated from the newly established plantations in New Quarter, present day Tutu (a suburb of Charlotte Amalie). Throughout the eighteenth century, Denmark maintained a policy of strict neutrality in all European wars. This policy proved more of an economic boon to the Danish West Indies than the planting of sugar cane because of the commerce it attracted to the island of St. Thomas to transact business. As a neutral Caribbean port of trade, all European traders respected that neutrality, and to a certain extent encouraged its prosperity, as it provided a means of trade between otherwise belligerent European powers. As the warehouses and trading houses of Charlotte Amalie expanded to meet this trade, the need for fortifications languished. At this time, numerous European traders noted on maps the fortifications of St. Thomas. Van Keulen’s 1719 map of St. Thomas, drafted for Governor Erik Bredal, in referring to Skytsborg noted, "De Wyne Tooren es omgevallen" (the small tower is deteriorated) (See Figure 5). Similarly, a 1730 map of St. Thomas noted Skytsborg as a "gammellt fefalden Taam" (an old collapsing tower) (See Figure 6). Oxholm’s map of 1779 labelled Skytsborg as "et gammellt taam" (an old tower). During the early eighteenth century, Skytsborg passed out of government ownership to a planter named Johannes Jahnsen de Windt. De Windt’s plantation lands, called Catarinabjerg after his wife Catherine, were willed to the Dutch Reform Church in 1759. The pastor. Reverend Francis Verboom, purchased the plantation and Skytsborg for 38,000 rigsdollars, subdivided the land, and sold off individual building lots. By 1800, an Irish immigrant, Thim Fogarthy, acquired Skytsborg from Verboom. Fogarthy used the tower as his private residence. The first floor was used for storage, the second as a parlor and dining room, and the third floor as a bedroom. During the first three decades of the nineteenth century Skytsborg was commonly known as Fogarthy’s Castle and it was noted on a map drawn by A. von Meley in 1807 (See Figure 7). For most of the rest of the nineteenth century Skytsborg was called Kjaer’s Castle after Thomas A. Kjaer who acquired the tower in 1826 and whose family owned the property until 1886. A view of St. Thomas harbor in ca. 1860 shows Skytsborg during the period of Kjaer’s ownership (See Figure 8). Kjaer’s interest in astronomy saw him convert the tower into an astronomical observatory by placing a telescope on the roof and putting a wooden structure on the top of the tower (See Figure 9). When Kjaer’s heirs sold Skytsborg in 1886, the stone walls were solid but the wooden interior floors had to be replaced by the new owner, A. R. Raven, with concrete floors and a circular metal staircase. In the mid-twentieth century, the area was acquired and converted into a hotel complex. At this time, the wooden observatory was removed and a wooden floor placed on the observation level of the tower. One-story hotel structures were constructed to the east and NPS Fomi 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Deputment of the Interior, National Paik Service USDI/NPS NRHP R^istratioo Form (Rev. 8-86) OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form west of the tower, and a swimming pool was added to the cliff face south of, and just below, the tower. None of these modem structures touch the tower or are within the landmark boundary. Skytsborg became associated with three distinct but erroneous legends during the nineteenth century. The first was that the tower was built by seventeenth-century buccaneers and later used by Captain Edward Teach, also known as Blackboard the Pirate. Blackboard was never known to have visited St. Thomas. The second legend was that the tower was built by the first Danish colonization attempt (1665-1666). However, there is ample historical evidence that it was constructed in the second Danish colonization effort after Governor Jorgen Iversen arrived in 1672. The last legend had a Dutch settler, Carl Baggaert, building the tower in the 1670s on the high ground, then known as Baggaertsbjerg, north of Christiansfort as part of a dispute with Governor Iversen. However, there is no evidence that Baggaert erected this tower. Skytsborg may be considered the oldest unaltered structure on St. Thomas. Although Christiansfort predates Skytsborg, extensive alterations of the fort in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries modified its seventeenth century appearance. Schmidtsbjerg tower has also been extensively renovated in the 1930s obscuring its earlier appearance. No other seventeenth-century structures survive in the Virgin Islands. The three tower defensive network of Skytsborg, Schmidtsbjerg, and Trygborg (part of Christiansfort), although Medieval in appearance, admirably suited the defensive needs of St. Thomas in the seventeenth century. The principle danger at that time was not well- equipped professional armies, but was plundering raids, such as the French attack on St. Thomas in 1678, or slave rebellions. A small Danish force, supplemented with militia, could easily defend itself against such attacking forces. Nowhere else in the Caribbean were fortified towers constructed in the seventeenth century. By the early eighteenth century, the development of accurate large calibre cannon necessitated a shift from outmoded and exposed medieval fortified towers to the lower profile Vauban-style of rectangular forts with protruding bastions at the comers. The eighteenth century also brought large, well-equipped professional armies and navies from Europe to the Caribbean. The concentration of the Danish on St. Thomas on trade precluded the constmetion of new defensive works. The inadequacy of the tower network to defend the island was demonstrated in 1801 when the British forced a bloodless surrender of the island to keep it from being used by French naval forces during the Napoleonic Wars. NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Rcgistiatioa Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United Sutei Depaflmeat of the Interior, Natkml Park Service OMBNo. 1024-0018 Natknal Register of Historic Places Registration Form 9. MA.TOR BIBLTOGRAPfflCAT. RF.FF.ilF.NfPF.S Anonymous 1985 Puertos y Fortificaciones en Amirica y Filipinos. Comisi<5n de Estudios Hist(5ricos de Obras Pdblicas y Urbanismo, Spain. Bronsted, Johannes (editor) 1952 Vore Gamble Torpe Kolonier. Volume n. A.G.H. Forlag, Copenhagen. Dahl, Bjorn W. 1992 The Military Engineer Gottfried Hoffmann and his Works in Denmark 1648-1687. Fortress, No. 13, pp. 3-12, May. Duffy, Christopher 1975 Fire and Stone, The Science of Fortress Warfare. Newton Abbot Publishers. 1979 Siege Warfare, The Fortress in the Early Modem World, 1494-1660. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. 1985 The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great, 1660-1789. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London Floyd, Dale E. 1991 United States Martello Towers. Fortress. No. 9, pp. 47-56, May. Fomals, Francisco LTC 1992 Fortifications in Minorca. Fortress. No. 12, pp. 23-29, February. Gjessing, Frederik C. 1982 Fort Christian Historic Structures Report. The Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs. St. Thomas, USVI. Gjessing, Frederik C., and William P. MacLean 1987 Historic Buildings of St. Thomas and St. John. Macmillian Publishers, Limited. Gjessing, Frederik C. and Philip E. Gardner 1958 Historic Architecture of the Virgin Islands. Sections from the Historic American Building Survey, Number 1. On file with the National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta. Hoyt, Edward A. 1943 A History of the Harbor Defenses of San Juan P.R., Under Spain, 1509-1898. Prpared at the Puerto Rico Coast Artillery Command. NPS Form 10-900 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Pait Service USDimPS NRHP RegistraUon Fonn (Rev. 8-86) OMBNo. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Torres-Reyes, Ricardo 1955 The Harbor Defenses of San Juan in the Sixteenth Century. Manuscript on file National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta. Previous documentation on file (NPS): Preliminary Determination of Individual Listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested. Previously Listed in the National Register. [1992] Previously Determined Eligible by the National Register. Designated a National Historic Landmark. Recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey: # Recorded by Historic American Engineering Record: it Primary Location of Additional Data: X State Historic Preservation Office: VIRGIN ISLANDS __ Other State Agency __ Federal Agency __ Local Government __ University X Other (Specify Repository): Blackbeard’s Castle, P.O. Box 6041, St. Thomas, USVI 00801 NPS Fonn 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Fonn (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 Natiocul Register of Historic Places Registratioo Fonn 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Acre^e of Property: 0.01 acre UTM References: Zone Easting Northing A 20 296050 2029400 Verbal Boundary Description: The nominated property is the stone tower located at the peak of Government Hill, No. 39 Dronningens G^e, Kings Quarter, in Charlotte Amalie. The boundary is a circle 25 feet in diameter centered upon the axis of the tower located at the UTM reference point of 20 296050 2029400. Boundary Justification: The boundary for Skytsborg is intended to include just the tower area, which is the historic resource and which maintains its historic integrity. It does not include any modem structures located next to the tower at No. 39 Dronningens Gade. 11. FORM PREPARED BY Name/Title: Mark R. Barnes, Ph.D, Senior Archeologist National Register Programs Division National Park Service, SERO 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Telephone: 404/331-2638 Date: December 9, 1993 National Park Service/WASO/History Division (418): April 8, 1994 NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSB0R6 (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Skytsborg-^s ':;.v ^ ^ .................... .......... 1 Figure 3. Enlargement of a 1687 map of St. Thomas by the Englishman John Jenifer, showing Skytsborg tower, and Christians Fort (from Brmnsted 1952:65). NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service OHB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4 . /.It A'#*' ^f.4T ! * A. 1 1 i Figure 4. Late seventeenth century map showing the relationship between Skytsborg tower and Christians Fort (from 6jessing and Garnder 1958:17). NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form * uo/T'tze'f ; T H o M A s -! J/'aArr'l 'JCer. 6ai/ 'Rh/u£c l/i£ \> Figure 5. Enlargement of Van Keulen's Map of 1719 showing Skytsborg tower (from Brmnsted 1952:115). NPS Form 10-900US01/NPS NRHP Registration Form <Rev. 8-86) SKYTSB0R6 (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form IPi! • ...J Hill iiiiSls wmilS £*iMt iH i«k liiit 1*11 Sif" aiiliili .iiiii* '■ *i- tiimammm llili aisli llili ise liiPiiBiiililli ■ii ■1 liifciSf;! Figure 6. Enlargement of a 1730 of St. Thomas showing Skytsborg tower (from Br0nsted 1952:99). NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form %/WA Jfu . ‘.11* ,v M Figure 7. A. von Meley's 1807 map of St. Thomas showing Skytsborg tower (from Gjessing and MacLean 1987:26). NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page National Register of Historic Places Registration Form ‘ . I y,. . '' 'S'v''-. V .. ■ ■ W m Figure 8. Overview of St. Thomas harbor (ca. I860) showing Skytsborg tower (from Bronsted 1952:417). NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of 0MB No. 1024-0018 Page Historic Places Registration Form ; ■ ■ mil • ! I f Ritt. fi I .V# T Figure 9. Drawing of Skytsborg in the mid-twentieth century showing the wooden observatory built by Kjaer (from Bronsted 1952:67) . NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION CoTreC NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle) Other Name/Site Number: Fogarthy's Castle, Kjaer's Castle 2. LOCATION Street & Number: No. 38 Dronningens Gade, King's Quarter Not for publication: City/Town: Charlotte Amalie State: US Virgin Island County: St. Thomas Code: 030 Vicinity :_X_ Zip Code: 00801_ 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Private: X Public-local: Public-State: Public-Federal: Category of Property Building(s): District: Site: Structure:_X_ Object: Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing buildings ______ sites ______ structures ______ objects 0 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register: 1 Name of related multiple property listing: District NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this ____ nomination ____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register Criteria. Signature of Certifying Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property Register criteria. meets does not meet the National Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I, hereby certify that this property is: Entered in the National Register Determined eligible for the _____ National Register Determined not eligible for the ___ National Register Removed from the National Register Other (explain): _____________________ Signature of Keeper Date of Action NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: Defense Current: Vacant/Not in Use Sub: Fortification Sub: 7. DESCRIPTION ARCHITECTURAL CLASSIFICATION: Danish-colonial MATERIALS: Foundation: Walls: Roof: Other: Limestone, Augite Andesite or "Blue Beach", Coral Limestone, Augite Andesite or "Blue Beach", Coral Wooci . tx-xck 3 WPS Form 10-900US0I/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. Description: Skytsborg, commonly referred to as Blackboard's Castle, is situated on Government Hill (formerly called Baggaertsbjerg in the seventeenth century) overlooking Charlotte Amalie and the St. Thomas Harbor. This fortified ston^-tower, constructed in 1679, is slightly ovoid in ground plan^?^b feet in diameter at the base and taper^iuj to 17 feet 8 inches 'at the top of the parapet. The total height of the tower is 31 feet 6 inches rsce Pj.guroc The interior of the tower was originally divided into four levels by three wooden floors^ with the first floor being stone. The original levels are clearly identified by projecting stone ledges on the interior side of the tapered stone walls. The walls of the tower are constructed of masonry rubble, 53 inches thick at the base and tapering to 40 inches at the edge of the parapet. The exterior and interior surfaces of the walls were originaJ.J;X__ ^covered--with,,a thin coat ^f _1 ime plaster and white^/ashedL^^^race^ Vf^this plaster exis't on the interior surfaces of the tower^ jklthough this c^v^ring does not exist on the exterior The tower is entered from the north^ through a four foot wide, seven foot high elliptical arched entrance. The entrance has three stone steps leading into the tower^ and the entrance opening is faced with brick. The floor is stone. The wooden entrance door and metal fittings are modern, but are in character with the tower (Seg" FigHYg-Tj^. The first floor room is 9 feet high. Nine brick lined^ gun ports (6 inches x 9 inches) are arranged in a radial pattern throughout - »roor>c the fi^t floor room, seven feet above the present floor level and 2) . This would indicate that there once existed a wooden platform along the inner wall to serve as a firing platform for the gun ports. The floor of the first floor room is made of stone. The second floor room is 7 feet 2 inches high. Thirteen brick lined gun ports, similar in size to those in the first floor room_^ are^arranged in a radial pattern (Soo F-igur^e-s 1 and 2) i They are 6 feet above the present floor level. There is also a larger gun port or embrasure, measuring 14 inches x 26 inches, set 45 inches above the floor level in the south face of the tower (-See Figurg This is probably one of two embrasures cut into the existing tower in 1688^ for cannons to command Charlotte Amalie Harbor and / protect the north approaches to Christiansfort. The floor of the second floor room is made of reinforced concrete. The third floor room is 7 feet high. .Thirteen brick lined gun ports repeat the radial pattern found the second floor roop /.q&g Fignrgg 1 24.. The floor of the third floor room is made of reinforced concrete. The fourth floor room isa7 feet high. The tower walls are pierced by 8 gun ports (See—Figuifes—±—and—2-)*. Seven gun ports measure 12 inches x 16 inches, while the eighth one is 12 inches NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form X 3 0 inches. This latter gun port (-See—Pigure—S-)- is on the north face of the tower and probably served.a small cannon to protect the tower from the hills above. Originally above the fourth floor room vjas an open observation and gun platform on top of the towec-^jlt was covered with a small wooden structure with windows(j3!^n ^^e nir^teenth centur^ when the tower served as a private agtrronomical~~~ubggrvatury (see Figure 9). This structure was removed in the mid-twentieth century and replaced with a wooden floor below the parapet wall to simulate the original historic appearance of the open gun platform. The floor of the observation level is made of reinforced concrete covered with wood on top. A circular metal stair^permits access to all floors. ----- 'vjWnink "(V«_ oJOoduN<35.^ / The original stone masonry construction of the tower and brick / facing for the entrance and gun ports of the tower are in excellent shape. None of the original wooden interior floors are extant, although stone projections on the interior walls of the tower indicate the original locations of the floor levels. , PK. eutaiyj tltg, tvi AJJ:--woodeiT~fToiTrs--tmd- cinnorptp and a c±rGulratr-Trtetair~stal'rC5S^~in~~the—1-abe-nineteenth Gent«ry> Tn-the-d»id—twentieth—eentruiry—a—"w©©4en—fi©er=—was-^laced_ jtop—of—the—trancrete~flo6r of the observat:iron—ievei. W4th the -except ions noted—above- integrity; 'Btoors-rlpi ace d^ ,by_ _concre te~fJ,o ors_in- -th4 and -a wooden-^loor - i-ns^talled—in-~rthe—mid—twent ieth—centuryr-on ebserva-tion—ievel-y Skytsborg is substantially unaltered from its original construction in 1679. Skytsborg served as an outer defensive work in conjunction with Schmidtsbjerg tower and Fort Christian, which also contained a tower called Trygborg^^ situated within the fort. Trygborg was torn down in the 1870s during a renovation of Fort Christian. In the 1930s, Schmidtsbjerg was substantially modified. Large windows were cut through the rubble masonry tower walls of Schmidtsbjerg and the building was physically attached to a tourist hotel. It has guest rooms on its upper floors and a gift shop on the ground floor. Only Skytsborg still retains its original shape. Skytsborg is situated within a modern hotel complex, but the buildings and structures associated with the hotel are not physically attached to the tower. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Certifying official has consiciered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: Nationally: X Statewide:___ Locally:_ Applicable National Register Criteria: Criteria Considerations (Exceptions): NHL Criteria: NHL Theme(s): A X B B Criteria 1 II. EUROPEAN COLONIAL EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT D. Other European Exploration and Settlement 1. Scandinavian (Danish) Areas of Significance: Period(s) of Significance: Significant Dates: Significant Person(s): Cultural Affiliation: Architect/Builder: Exploration and Settlement 167 9 - »id^=ul.ath»-eentur^ 1679 N/A Danir&h Coloniat- Governor J0rgen Iversen 7 V' / NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form State Significance of Property, an<3 Justify Criteria, Criteria Considerations, and Areas and Periods of Significance Noted Above. Summary Statement of Significance; Skytsborg, or Blackbeard's Castle, is a rubble masonry tower constructed in 1679 by the Danish colonial government as part of a network of defensive fortifications to protect St. Thomas. It is the best remaining example of seventeenth-century Danish colonial military architecture in the United States, and is the only unmodified seventeenth-century fortified tower in the Caribbean. Historical Background to Tower Fortifications Throughout Europe in the fifteenth century^ tower fortifications underwent a major modification in both intent and design as a result of the new technology of artillery. Prior to this time tall stone towers, or keeps, often served as isolated defensive structures or observation towers able to fend off Medieval attackers armed only with bows and arrows and rudimentary siege machines. As the power of artillery grew^^^lp^j^g^attackers to s:tarnd off and- breach the high stone walls,^%?sucn’t^ers/~ -9ro/v\ military engineers began^to reconfigure the shape of the tower to confront this threat and/sincorporate the tower into larger more complex defensive designs (Duffy 1979:2). Instead of tall isolated stone towers, the towers became shorter, usually not more that 40 feet tall, with walls up to twenty feet thick to counter the effects of battering by artillery. These massively designed towers, often incorporated into town walls as roundels, became gun-towers, or platforms for artillery. The first appearance of these gun-towers occurred in Renaissance Italy during the latter part of the fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth century when control of the Italian states was contested between the French and Spanish crowns (Duffy 1979). However, in the instance of coastal fortifications^ isolated gun- towers still had an important defensive role. As Christopher Duffy in Fire and Stone. The Science of Fortress Warfare^ notes, — "Given the peculiar circumstances of coastal fortification, there was still a place for isolated and tall towers of a kind that would have been considered decidely old-fashioned in inland warfare" (1975:155). The offensive function of these towers dictated their form. The designer of coastal fortification had to bear in mind that these works were intended to deliver a heavy weight of fire rather than to offer resistance against prolonged siege. These considerations, taken together with the usual lack of space and earth in coastal sites, made for a characteristic architecture of simple traces, and high exposed walls executed in full revetment. The parapets and embrasures were nearly always of masonry, even though "it had been found by experience, that nothing disheartens troops placed behind a wall so much, as pieces of stone flying about their ears" [Duffy 1975:154-155]. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form During the first half of the sixteenth century^ isolated masonry gun-towers made their appearance as coastal fortifications throughout the islands of the western Mediterrean, as defense =^against Moorish pirates well as European raiders (Fornals 1992:31-32). At the same time, such isolated masonry structures also solved for the Spanish problem^^f harbor defens^in the New World at Havana, Cuba; Santo DomingcD^^on Hispaniola; san Juan, Puerto Rico (Anonymous 1985:149-150, 341, 377; Torres-Reyes 1955:60-62). These New World towers erected by the Spanish in the sixteenth century were pulled down, with the exception of those built into the walls of La Fortaleza (designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960), in favor of more extensive harbor fortifications in later years (Hoyt 1943:27-36). However, a sixteenth-century Genoese fortified tower on Mortella Point on the island of Corsica so ablv defended itself v^CTnl79^ against two British warships^hat the design ~was copTed^nd Tmmerous "Martello Towers" were constructed in England, Ireland, and the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century (Duffy 1975:155; Floyd 1991:47-56). Due to their adaptability to coastal areas, tower fortifications also continued to play an important role in military engineering in the Baltic Sea region^ where^ during the seventeenth century^ the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden fought over control of the sealanes leading into the Baltic. The two preeminent military engineers during this conflict were Gottfried Hoffmann, of Denmark, and Erik Dahlberg, of Sweden. Both of these individuals utilized low thick fortifications to protect towns in combination with wTLifeh outlying fortified towers to protect key defensive points (Dahl 1992:6; Duffy 1985:191). As noted by Christopher Duffy, The surest signs of Dahlberg's presence were, however, his idiosyncratic multi-storeyed casemated towers, which he employed variously as island batteries, hilltop forts and inner keeps [1985:195-196]. Gottfried Hoffman^ during the mid-seventeenth century^ also constructed fortresses with outlying tower works at Fredericia and Helsingborg, Denmark (Dahl 1992:6). Throughout the troubled seventeenth century, both contenders for control of the Baltic - Denmark and Sweden - also undertook efforts to establish colonies in the New World. Sweden established a military outpost called Fort Christina (designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961) in the vicinity of present day Wilmington, Delaware, where they traded for furs until the colony was captured by the English in 1664. The Danes were more successful in establishing and holding a colony in the Caribbean. In early 1671, the rechartered Westmidia Company was created to establish a Danish colony on the island of St. Thomas. The Company selected as the Governor of the colony J0rgen Iversen. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Iversen had gone to the British Caribbean Island of St. Kitts-^at the age of 13 as an indentured servant (Tn 165^ In the next fifteen years he rose to become a full partner in a Dutch trading concern in the Caribbean, from which he learned the necessary lessons for a successful colony (Gjessing 1982:2-3). 1672 until 1680, when he was relieved, Iversen succeded ... in creating a community out of the multinational and racial components of the colony and steer it towards a promise of prosperity while building Christians Fort, carrying out an interisland trade for the company and establishing plantations on St. Thomas [Gjessing 1982:3]. It was during Governor Iversen's tenure that he had constructed Fort Christian and its outlying hilltop gun and watch tower of Skytsborg (Gjessing 1982:12). According to Frederik Gjessing An Army Lieutenant had been included amongst the Company's functionaries of the proposed colony. He was to advise Governor Iversen in all military matters and provide the technical knowledge needed for the design and construction of a fort. To insure that this was done according to the standards of the times, a copy of Admiral Freitag's treatise on the construction of forts was included among the books that J0rgen Iversen brought out to guide him in his duties as the governor. This 17th century work provides layout of fortifications, explanations of the military functions of their different parts and served as a design handbook for military engineers [1982:17]. ■ser.W.eJT) Unfortunately, the(b^utenant died on the voyage from Denmark to the Virgin Islandsjj^^^^ "Iversen was left to make his own decision regarding the fortification" (Gjessing 1982:18) of Fort ^Christian and Skytsborg using Admiral Freitag's work, whrieh provrSed information on the fortification of coasts utilizing gun towers on hilltops to support major coastal forts, as pioneered by Hoffmann and Dahlberg. Thematic Framework II. EUROPEAN COLONIAL EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT D. Other European Exploration and Settlement 1. Scandinavian (Danish) Skytsborg has its roots in the earliest history of the Danish Virgin Islands. In 1678, war having broken out between France and Denmark, the French settlers of neighboring St. Croix Thomas Island. ^Fortun^ely_>^ 1672, j^ndertSJSI^ to construct a large four-sided fort at the harborS^edge of — Charlotte Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas, called'^ , launched an attempt to seize St. Governor Jorgen Iversen, since^rrival in NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service OHB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Christiansfort, or Fort Christian (designateci an NHL in 1977) . As the attackers did not have any siege cannonjthis structure was easily able to withstand the brief siege imposed by the French from St. Croix, who were^orced to retreat. One of the main features of Christiansfort was a squat three- story high tower, called Trygborg, on the. north side of the fort. Twenty-six and one half feet high and in circumference) ^ the tower was intended as a self-contained last ditch defensive position if an enemy carried the outer walls of Christiansfort. The first floor was a large storeroom for ammunition and provisions. The walls of the upper two floors were studded with embrasures for both small arms and light cannon. This was the first military tower that can be documented on St. Thomas. Trygborg and the north side of Christiansfort were torn down in the nineteenth century during renovation. Christiansfort provided a strong defense for St. Thomas against an attacking force from the sea. However, Governor Iversen realized that an attacking force could have pounded Christiansfort into submission by erecting an artillery battery on the^iqh_oround behind and north of th^ fort. Fgr _thj^ reason^ Ive*rs¥rPordered a tower f o r td f ica^i orT erected on~) ^ Baggaertsbjerg, a hill top north of Christiansfort )<^n 167^ similar to Trygborg. Such a tower^ would serve not only to deny the high ground to an attacking for^e, but could also serve as a watchtower providing a vantage point high enough to peer over Hassel Island to scan the open ocean; thereby providing early warning of an approaching enemy. The success of the 1678 defense of St. Thomas convinced Iversen of the usefulness of stone towers for defense. Iversen's letter of February 2, 1680 to the directors of the Danish West India Company indicated that Skytsborg had been erected at Baggaertsbjerg by that date. In it he wrote "Since I had the Watchtower erected at Baggaertsbjerg I did not fear a hasty attack so much." A 1687 English map of St. Thomas harbor depicts and a describes a "small white tower" on Baggaertsbjerg Hill to the north of Christiansfort. The relationship between the tower on Baggaertsbjerg Hill and Christiansfort is also shown on an undated late seventeenth century map (See Figures 3 and 4). It is possible that Iversen used the Company stone mason^Simon Lamarejwho had worked on Fort Christian and Trygborg tower to ' construct Skytsborg in 1679. According to Frederik Gjessing In August, 1674, Jbrgen Iversen acquired for the Company a mulatto slave by the name of Simon Lamare. He was a mason and was to serve as the clerk of the works, for the construction of the fort [Fort Christian]. The phrasing in the account book of this transaction is of interest. It states "brought Simon Lamare to serve the Company for seven years" [1674- 1681], implying some sort of contractual agreement with Simon Lamare for his manumission after an agreed upon period of service [1982:20]. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of 0MB No. 1024-0018 Historic Places Registration Form ^ In 1688janother crisis occurred when^in response to dynastic wars in Europe, the Spanish from Puerto Rico occupied Crab Island (Vieques) and Anguilla, thereby surrounding St. Thomas. This made the Danes in St. Thomas concerned as the Spanish had never abandoned their claim, by right of discovery, to the Virgin Islands. Governor Christopher Heins, who had replaced Iversen, undertook a program of upgrading the fortifications of Christiansfort and Skytsborg. He had embrasures cut in the walls of Skytsborg for two large cannon capable of covering the harbor. In addition, he erected a third tower to the east on Schmidtsbjerg. The erection of this last tower in 1689 completed the seventeenth-century defenses of St. Thomas (Gjessing and Gardner 1958:1-3). In peacetime no soldiers were stationed at Skytsborg or Schmidtsbjerg, while a skeleton force was maintained at Christiansfort. If an attack by other colonial forces or^slave —^ rebellion was anticipated^an alarm was sounded by firing a predetermined number of cannon at Christiansfort. This signal would call out all able-bodied whites and free blacks to take up arms and report to one of the three fortifications. A militia sergeant and eight men were posted in Skytsborg in emergencies. Such an alarm occurred in May of 1694 when a slave insurrection was anticipated from the newly established plantations in New Quarter, present day Tutu (a suburb of Charlotte Amalie). Throughout the eighteenth century, Denmark maintained a policy of strict neutrality in all European wars. This policy proved more of an economic boon to the Danish West Indies than the planting ^ of sugar cane because of the commerce it attracted to the island (k to transact business. As a neut:ral Caribbean port of trade, all European traders respected t^^neutrality e-f-Srfe-? Themas, and to a certain extent encouraged its prosperity, as it provided a means of trade between otherwise belligerent European powers. As the warehouses and trading houses of Charlotte Amalie expanded to —^meet this tradejthe need for fortifications languished. Btrr±TTq maps the fortifications of St'. rvN€_ th-e eighteenth—eentuB?y^ numerous European traders noted on Thomas. Van Keulen^sl.'^19 map of St. Thomas, drafted for Governor Erik Bredal, jJfr r^^rei^Q- to Skytsborg noted, "De klyne Tooren es omgevallen" (the small tower is deteriorated) (See Figure 5). Similarly, a 1730 map of St. Thomas noted Skytsborg as a "gammellt fefalden Taarn" (an old collapsing tower) (See Figure 6). Oxholm's map of 1779 labelled Skytsborg as "et gammellt taarn" (an old tower). During the early eighteenth century^ Skytsborg passed out of government ownership to a planter named Johannes Jahnsen de Windt. De Windt's plantation lands, called Catarinabjerg after -J^his wife Catherine^ were willed to the Dutch Reform Church in 1759. The pastor. Reverend Francis Verboom, purchased the plantation and Skytsborg for 38,000 rigsdollars, subdivided the —^land^and sold off individual building lots. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form By 1800, an Irish immigrantyThim Fogarthy, acquired Skytsborg from Verboom. Fogarthy used the tower as his private residence. The first floor was used for storage, the second as a parlor and dining room, and the third floor as a bedroom. During the first three decades of the nineteenth century;^ Skytsborg was commonly known as Fogarthy's Castle and it was noted on a map drawn by A. von Meley in 1807 (See Figure 7). o'? For most of the/\nineteenth century Skytsborg was called Kjaer's Castle^ after Thomas A. Kjaer^c. who acquired the tower in 1826^ and whose family owned the property until 1886.^^jaer's interest in astronomy saw him convert the tower into an astronomical observatory by placing a telescope on the roof^ and puttinc _ wooden structure on thg^tap—o£_Jthe tower_(See Figure 9) . view^ f of. St. Thomas harbor in ca. 1860 shows Skytsborg during the period of Kjaer's ownership (See Figure 8) .y^^WHeh~Kjaer' s Heirs sold Skytsborg~~iiT~'1886j the stone walls were solid but the wooden interior floors had to be replaced by the new owner, A. R. Raven. in-^the- late ni- circular metal staircase. concrete floors and a In the mid-twentieth century^ the area was acquired and converted into a hotel complex. At this time poi«t, the wooden observatory was removed and a wooden floor placed on;Jf^servation level of the tower. One-story hotel structures were constructed to ^e east and west of the tower, and a swimming pool was added to^liff face south of, and just below, the tower. None of these modern structures touch the tower or are|^aa:l»"^f- the landmark boundary. >— ___________--------------- ^ W Cpurinq the nineteenth centur^ [Skytsborg became associated with three distinct but erroneous legends^ The first was that the tower was built by seventeenth-century buccaneers^ and later used by Captain Edward Teach, also known as Blackboard the Pirate. Blackboard was never known to have visited St. Thomas. The second legend was that the tower was built by the first Danish colonization attempt (1665-1666). However, there is ample historical evidence th|t it was constructed in the second Danish colonization effort Governor Jorgen Iversen arrived in 1672. The last legend had a Dutch settler, Carl Baggaertjbuilding the 't^er in ~the 167 0^on the~hi^qh ground^'^orth of Chri _ Christiansfort^ then known as BaqgaertsbjefgT) as part of ^ dispute with Governor Iversen. However, there is no evidence^aggaert erected this tower. \th Skytsborg may be considered the oldest unaltered structure on St. Thomas. Although Chris^ansfort predates Skytsborg, extensive alterations of the in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries modified its seventeenth century appearance. Schmidtsbjerg tower has also been extensively renovated in the 1930s obscuring its earlier appearance. No other seventeenth- century structures survive in the Virgin Islands. The three tower defensive network of Skytsborg, Schmidtsbjerg, and Trygborg (part of Christiansfort), although Medieval in appearance, admirably suited the defensive needs of St. Thomas in NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form the seventeenth century. The principle danger^ at th^t time^ we^^not well-equipped professional armies, but plundering ^ raids, such as the French attack on St. Thomas in 1678;^ or slave rebellions. A small Danish force, supplemented with militia, could easily defend itself against such attacking forces. Nowhere else in the Caribbean were fortified towers constructed in the seventeenth century. By the early eighteenth century^the development of accurate large calibre cannon necessitated a shift from outmoded and exposed medieval fortified towers to the lower profile Vauban-style of rectangular forts with protruding bastions at the corners. The eighteenth century also brought large, well-equipped — professional armies and navies from Europe to the Caribbean. The concentration of the Danish on St. Thomas on trade precluded the construction of new defensive works. The inadequacy of the tower network to defend the island was demonstrated in 1801 when the British forced a bloodless surrender of the island to keep it from being used by French naval forces during the Napoleonic Wars. NPS Form 10-900USOI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 9 . MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Anonymous 1985 Puertos v Fortificaciones en America v Pilipinas. Comision c3e Estuciios Historicos de Obras Publicas y Urbanismo, Spain. Brbnsted, Johannes (editor) 1952 Vore Gamble Torpe Kolonier. Volume II. A.G.H. Forlag, Copenhagen. Dahl, Bjorn W. 1992 The Military Engineer Gottfried Hoffmann and his Works in Denmark 1648-1687. Fortress. No. 13, pp. 3-12, May. Duffy, Christopher 1975 Fire and Stone, The Science of Fortress Warfare. Newton Abbot Publishers. 1979 Siege Warfare. The Fortress in the Early Modern World. 1494-1660. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. 1985 The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great. 1660-1789. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London Floyd, Dale E. 1991 United States Martello Towers. Fortress. No. 9, pp. 47-56, May. Fornals, Francisco LTC 1992 Fortifications in Minorca. Fortress. No. 12, pp. 23- 29, February. Gjessing, Frederik C. 1982 Fort Christian Historic Structures Report. The Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs. St. Thomas, USVI. Gjessing, Frederik C., and William P. MacLean 1987 Historic Buildings of St. Thomas and St. John. Macmillian Publishers, Limited. Gjessing, Frederik C. and Philip E. Gardner 1958 Historic Architecture of the Virgin Islands. Sections from the Historic American Building Survey, Number 1. On file with the National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta. Hoyt, Edward A. 1943 A History of the Harbor Defenses of San Juan P.R., Under Spain, 1509-1898. Prpared at the Puerto Rico Coast Artillery Command. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Torres-Reyes, Ricardo 1955 The Harbor Defenses of San Juan in the Sixteenth Century. Manuscript on file National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta. Previous documentation on file (NPS): __ _ Preliminary Determination of Individual Listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested. _X_ Previously Listed in the National Register. 1992 ___ Previously Determined Eligible by the National Register. ___ Designated a National Historic Landmark. ^ Recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey: # ___ Recorded by Historic American Engineering Record: # Primary Location of Additional Data: X State Historic Preservation Office Virgin Islands ___ Other State Agency __ _ Federal Agency ^ Local Government __ ^ University _X_ Other(Specify Repository): Blackbeard's Castle, P.O. Box 6041, St. Thomas, USVI 00801 NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Acreage of Property: 0.01 acre UTM References: Zone Northing Easting Zone Northing Easting A 20 296050 2029400 Verbal Boundary Description: The nominated property is the stone tower located at the peak of Government Hill, No. 38 Dronningens Gade, Kings Quarter, in Charlotte Amalie. The boundary is a circle 25 feet in diameter centered upon the axis of the tower located at the UTM reference point of 20 296050 2029400. Boundary Justification: The boundary for Skytsborg is intended to include just the tower area- It does not include any modern structures located next to the tpwer at No. 39 Dronningens Gade. NPS Form 10-900USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) SKYTSBORG (BLACKBEARD'S CASTLE) United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service 0MB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 11. FORM PREPARED BY Name/Title; Org. : Street/#: City/Town: State: ZIP: Telephone: Date: Mark R. Barnes, Ph.D, Senior Archeologist National Register Programs Division National Park Service, SERO 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta Georgia 30303 (404) 331-2638 December 9, 1993 National Park Service/UASO/History Division (418): January 31, 1994 GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES ------ o------ DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND NATURAL RESOURCES NISKY CENTER, SUITE 231 NO. 45A ESTATE NISKY CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS, V.l. 00802 October 9, 1992 Mr. Edwin Bearss Chief Historian National Park Service P. 0. Box 37127 Washington, D. C. 20013-7127 Dear Mr. Bearss: We want to thank the Southeast Regional Office and your Office for the support of Skytsborg/Bluebeard Castle for landmark designation. We are enclosing a letter of endorsement from the property owner for its landmark designation. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, d(u^au.iz^C'L^L j- Claudette C. Lewis Assistant Director CL/djl-1896 c: Honorable Roy E. Adams, Commissioner/SHPO Mr. Cecil McKithan, S. E. Regional Office Honorable Ron deLugo, Delegate to Congress \ gH 3i. INREPLYREFERTO: TAKE* United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Southeast Regional Office 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 llffi 111993 Memorandum To: Chief Historian, History Division, NPS, WASO From: Chief, National Register Programs Division, SERO Subject: Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle) Landmark (NHL) Study National Historic In July of 1992, this office provided the History Division with a draft NHL Study for Skytsborg (Blackboard's Castle), a property located within Charlotte Amalie, on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Also provided was a hard copy of the study, a diskette encoded with the text, an original USGS Map, and photographs and slides of this property. At that time we were given to understand that the History Division staff would be able to complete the NHL Study within a few months. Since then the property has been individually listed on the National Register and the Virgin Islands staff has requested information on the state of progress for the development of the study. If your staff is unable to complete the study we request that you return it and the items noted above to this office. We have recently identified some original documentation on this the earliest structure (1679) in the Virgin Islands, and could complete the NHL Study fairly promptly. IN REPLY REFER TO: TAKE! PRIDE in! United States Department of the Interior americ^ NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Southeast Regional Office 75 Spring Street, S.W. . Atlanta, Georgia 30303 «wt 0 6 1993 Memorandum To: Chief Historian, History Division, NPS, WASO From: Chief, National Register Programs Division, SERO Subject: National Historic Landmark Presentations for Los Adaes, Louisiana and Caguana Site, Puerto Rico; and Retrieval of Documentation for Skytsborg (Blackboard's Castle) US Virgin Islands This memo is to confirm Dr. Mark Barnes' attendance at the History Areas Committee on July 13, 1993, in Washington, D.C., to make a presentation for Los Adaes, Louisiana and the Caguana Site, Puerto Rico. Text of a narrative and slides for these properties wil be left with your office following the July 13th presentation. We would also like to use this trip to retrieve NHL documentation for Skytsborg (Blackboard's Castle), in the US Virgin Islands, originally sent to your office. We have previously requested this be return to this office (see attached). Please arrange to have this material given to Mark during his visit. If you have any questions please call me at (404) 331-2643. CcJi • y i:*- BLACKBEARD'S \C a s 11 eX Restauraiit^V^ Plano Lounge November 18, 1993 Mr. Cecil N. McKithan, Chief National Register Programs Division National Park Service, Southeast Regional OfBce 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 Dear Mr. McKithan; We have reviewed the draft text of the National Historic Landmark Study for Skytsborg (Blackboard's Castle) and found it to be very thorough and illuminating. The historical facts, as stated, agree with the information we have in our files. We were not aware of the historical architectural significance of Skytsborg and very much appreciate receiving this additional information for our files. The only error we noted was on page one, section 2. Location, where the Street & Number should read No. 38 Dronningens Gade instead of "39 Dronnigens Gade". As the owners of the nominated property, Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle), we have no objection to the proposed National Landmark designation. Again, thank you for this detailed and informative study. Sincerely, Selio R Konzi Co-owner Robert T. Harrington Co-owner J.^ V MOV 5 IQQII I P.O. Box 604 1 - Emancipation Garden ] I SI. Thomas. U. S. V. I. 00804 | I 1809) 776-1234 (800) 344-5771 | DEC 3 1993 Mr. Cecil N. McKithan, Chief National Register Programs Division Southeast Regional Office National Park Service 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 Dear Cecil: As requested, I've reviewed the Skytsborg National Historic Landmark Study. I agree that the models for Skytsborg were the numerous Mediterranean (European) towers. Finding the specific relationship between the Danes, Gottfried Hoffmann and Erik Dahlberg, the Baltic Region, Freitag's manual, and the fortifications of St. Thomas, adequately ties the whole story together. I have only a few suggestions. First, on page 7, under ^ ^ "Historical Background . . .,» first paragraph, mention should be made that besides the towers' use as defensive structures to fend off invaders, they sometimes served as observation towers (early warning devices) to spot invaders or raiders and then warn the local inhabitants by a bell, a fire, or some other method. Also, I would suggest that someone consult . Buisseret's writings such as "A Brief Assessment of the Chief Military Monuments of: Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Antigua." Caribbean Quarterly, XVI (March 1970), 58-67, and "The Elusive Deodand: A Study of the Fortified Refuges of the Lesser Antilles." Journal of Caribbean History [Barbados], VI (1973) 43-80. Buisseret does a good job of examining the West Indian'Islands as a general group and discussing their defenses, providing a great deal of comparison and contrast. His insights might help firm up some statements in the NHL study. Although I am 99% sure that you have already done this, just in case you haven't, I would suggest that someone run spell check and generally look for typos in the manuscript because I found quite a few in the draft. I enjoyed reviewing the manuscript and offer any further assistance that I can possibly provide you. ^—Sincerely, Dale E. Floyd, Historian American Battlefield Protection Program Interagency Resources Division National Park Service TAKE! PRIDE IN! United States Department of the Interior AMEwa INREPLYREFERTO: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Southeast Regional Office 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 OEC 0 9 1999 Memorandum To: From: Chief, History Division, NFS, WASO Chief, National Register Programs Division, SERO Subject: Sl^sborg (Blackbeard's Castle), Virgin Islands National Historic Landmark (NHL) Study Enclosed is a NHL Study for Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle), located in Charlotte Amalie, on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Skytsborg is the earliest unaltered Danish colonial fortification in the Virgin Islands, and represents a type of tower fortification used in the seventeenth century in the dynastic wars between Sweden and Denmark. This property was identified as potentially nationally significant in a historic site siorvey developed by this office. Please note that we are enclosing a letter from the owners of Skytsborg granting permission for NHL designation. Also enclosed is a review letter from Dale Floyd regarding the significance of the Skytsborg property. A copy of the enclosed has already been sent to your office by e-Mail. If you have any questions regarding this study please contact me at (404) 331-2643. Enclosures V ■r % j . »• . 7.V- .. 1 "I '^1 '4 / -----kUCPtf&l Skytsborg NHL Nomination I have read the attached correspondence and nomination form and believe the form is tremendously improved from the first one submitted. The form now amply demonstatres the substantial significance of the structure in the history of the Caribbean and in military architecture. It should be presented for board ^view after consideration of the comments noted on the form. ^e only substantial omission is noted on page 16 — there is no description of the recent history and present integrity (particularly setting and feeling). I believe that this question can be answered satisfactorily, but it must be addressed rather than being avoided. Kevin 1/4/94 Kevin: Please find attached the correspondence and nomination form with map and photos for Skytsborg. I will need your critique of this document before I can make a decision as to whether it should be scheduled for board review. I have made a copy of the correspondence but not the nomination form. Ben 1/4/94 United States Department of the Interior SBaSl IN REPLY REFER TO H3415(418) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE P.O. Box 37127 Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 JAN 2 5 1994 Memorandum To: Chief, National Register Programs Division, SERO From: Senior Historian Levy^j^yQ^ ^ Subject: Skytsborg, VI We have completed staff review of the subject nomination form and return it to you herewith complete with photos, map and illustrative data. Please note that the staff comments attached find the form to be substantially improved over the previous draft, but ask that certain issues be addressed to successfully complete this nomination. We have tentatively scheduled this property for the summer round of Board reviews. If this is to be possible we will reguire fairly immediate attention to the staff commentary. We await the emended form. cc: Bearss Henry Foster Mendez Charleton JAN 2 8 1994 fUmONAL REGISTER ; i IN REPLY REFER TO: United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SOUTHEAST REGIONAL OFFICE 75 Spring Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Memorandum To: From: Subject: Chief Historian, National Park Service, WASO Chief, National Register Programs Division, SERO Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle), USVI National Historic Landmark Study As per the attached memorandum this office has completed revising the Skytsborg (Blackbeard's Castle), USVI National Historic Landmark (NHL) Study as per the comments of the History Division reviewer (see enclosed). A copy of the revised study has already been sent to your office by e-mail. This office is, as will be the Virgin Islands State Historic Preservation Office, pleased that the enclosed NHL Study will be presented to the History Areas Committee for the summer round of reviews. This is probably one of the fastest reviews of a NHL Study to date. As your office may have noticed the National Register Programs Division has recently submitted a number of NHL Studies from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. These cultural resources were identified in a Historic Sites Survey undertaken by this office for properties in the Southeast Region believed to possess potential national significance. The properties in the Caribbean, however, are singular in that their significance is frequently linked to international as opposed to American history. We would like to encourage visitation by the History Division staff to these areas to acquaint themselves with these resources. The Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands State Offices strongly support the NHL programs and would assist your staff during any visitations. If you have any questions on the enclosed please contact me at (404) 331-2643. 6uU h- h H3415(418) Honorable Ron de Lugo House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Delegate de Lugo: 9JUN1994 We are pleased to inform you that the National Park Service has completed the study of the property identified on the enclosed sheet for the purpose of nominating it for possible designation as a National Historic Landmark. We enclose a copy of the study report. The National Park System Advisory Board will consider the nomination during its next meeting, at the time and place indicated on the enclosure. The Board will make its recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior based upon the criteria of the National Historic Landmarks Program. You have 60 days to submit your views in writing, if you so desire. After the 60-day period, we will submit the nomination and your comments to the National Park System Advisory Board’s History Areas Committee, which will then inform the full Advisory Board of the Committee’s recommendations at the Board’s meeting. The Secretary of the Interior will then be informed of the Board’s recommendations for his final action. To assist you in considering this matter, we have enclosed a copy of the regulations governing the National Historic Landmarks Program. They describe the cnteria for designation (Sec. 65.4), the effects of designation (Sec. 65.2), and specify how you may comment on a propos^ designation (Sec. 65.5(d)(4-5)). Should you wish to comment, please send your comments to Mr. Edwin C. Be^ss, Chief Historian, National Park Service, History Division (418), P.O. Box 37127, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20013-7127. Sincerely, /s/ Rowland T. Bowers Jerry L^^ogers Associate Director, Cultural Resources Enclosures PROPERTY STUDIED FOR NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS In commenting on the possible designation of the property identified above, you may find guidance in Section 65.5(d)(4) of the enclosed regulations. The History Areas Committee of the Secretary of the Interior’s National Park System Advisory Board will evaluate this property at a meeting to be held on Friday, August 12, 1994, at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room 7000 of the Main Interior Building at 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC. The Histo^ Areas Committee evaluates the studies of historic iroperties being nominated for National Historic Landmark designation in order to advise the iill National Park System Advisory Board at their meeting on Monday, August 15, 1994, in Washington, DC, and will recommend to the full Board those properties that the Committee finds meet the criteria of the National Historic Landmarks Program. Should you wish to obtain information about these meetings, or about the National Historic Landmarks Program, please contact Senior Historian Benjamin Levy at the National Park Service, History Division (418), P.O. Box 37127, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20013-7127; or by telephone at (202) 343-8164. If you have questions concerning the study prepared by Dr. Mark R. Barnes, Senior Archeologist, National Register Programs Division, National Park Service, Southeast Region, 75 Spring Street, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, you may contact Dr. Barnes at the address given above or by telephone at (404) 331-2638. cc: 5000 (SERO) C. McKithan 5000 (SERO) M. Barnes 001 RF 190 CL 400 RF 418 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) (NHL Pending) PHenry:mg:6/l/94 CHANGO MANOSO RCD #2\94-SUM\NL2\SKYTS-2D.LTR JUl^ I 3 H3415(418) Mr. Selio H. Konzen Blackbeard’s Castie P.O. Box 6041 Emancipation Garden Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00804 Dear Mr. Konzen: of the We are pleased to inform you that the National Park Service has completed the study property identified on the enclosed sheet for the purpose of nominating it for possible designation as a National Historic Landmark. We enclose a copy of the study report. The National Park System Advisory Board will consider the nomination during its next meeting, at the time and place indicated on the enclosure. The Board will make its recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior based upon the criteria of the National Historic Landmarks Program. You have 60 days to submit your views in writing, if you so desire. After the 60-day period, we will submit the nomination and your comments to the National Park System Advisory Board’s History Areas Committee, which will then inform the full Advisory Board of the Committee’s recommendations at the Board’s meeting. The Secretary of the Interior will then be informed of the Board’s recommendations for his final action. To assist you in considering this matter, we have enclosed a copy of the regulations governing the National Historic Landmarks Program. They describe the criteria for designation (Sec. 65.4), the effects of designation (Sec. 65.2), and specify how you may comment on a proposed designation (Sec. 65.5(d)(4-5)). Should you wish to comment, please send vour comments to me, at the Nation^ Park Service, History Division (418), P.O. Box 37127, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20013-7127. Sincerely, Edwin C. Bearss Chief Historian Enclosures PROPERTY STUDIED FOR NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS As a private owner in the property identified above, you may concur in or object to its designation. Your comments may govern whether or not the property will be designated. You can find guidance for your comments in Section 65.5(d)(4-5) of the enclosed regulations. The History Areas Committee of the Secretary of the Interior’s National Park System Advisory Board will evaluate this property at a meeting to be held on Friday, August 12, 1994, at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room 7000 of the Main Interior Building at 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC. The Histo^ Areas Committee evaluates the studies of historic properties being nominated for National Historic Landmark designation in order to advise the full National Park System Advisory Board at their meeting on Monday, August 15, 1994, in Washington, DC, and will recommend to the full Board those properties that the Committee finds meet Uie criteria of the National Historic Landmarks Program. Should you wish to obtain information about these meetings, or about the National Historic Landmarks Program, please contact Senior Historian Benjamin Levy at the National Park Service, History Division (418), P.O. Box 37127, Suite 310, Washmgton, DC 20013-7127; or by telephone at (202) 343-8164. If you have questions concerning the study prepared by Dr. Mark R. Barnes, Senior Archeologist, National Register Programs Division, National Park Service, Southeast Region, 75 Spring Street, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, you may contact Dr. Barnes at the address given above or by telephone at (404) 331-2638. SIMILAR LETTERS SENT TO: OWN: Mr. Selio H. Konzen Blackbeard’s Castle P.O. Box 6041 Emancipation Garden Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00804 Mr. Robert T. Harrington Blackbeard’s Castle P.O. Box 6041 Emancipation Garden Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00804 HEO: Honorable Alexander Farrelly Governor, U.S. Virgin Islands Government House Kongens Gade Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00801 SHPO: Mr, Roy E. Adams, SHPO Commissioner Department of Planning and Natural Resources Suite 231, Nisky Center No. 45A Estate Nisky Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 cc: Ms. Claudette Lewis Department of Planning and Natural Resources Suite 231, Nisky Center No. 45A Estate Nisky Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 Mr. Frederik C. Gjessing P.O. Box 1844 Veteran’s Drive Station Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 bcc: 5000 (SERO) C. McKithan 5000 (SERO) M. Barnes 001 RF 400 RF 413 D. Floyd 418 Foster 418 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castie) (NHL Pending) PHenry:mg:6/l/94 CHANGO MANOSO RCD #2\94-SUM\NL2\SKYTS-2B.LTR The United States Virgin Islands OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR GOVERNMENT HOUSE Charlotte Amalie, V.1.00802 809-774-0001 August 2, 1994 Mr. Edwin C. Bearss Chief Historian National Park Service History Division (418) P. O. Box 37127 - Suite 310 Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 Dear Mr. Bearss: RECEIVED 413 ftliR 8 BM INTERAGENCY RESOURCES DIVISION NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Thank you for your invitation to endorse the designation of Blackboard's Castle on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands as a National Historic Landmark, and a landmark. It is very much both: historic. Built in 1679, it still dominates the skyline from the hill over which its occupants could rule Charlotte Amalie harbor. Many modern-day tourists climb 99 steps past my office, beckoned by this unusual tower with its promising view. Skytsborg (commonly known as Blackboard's Castle) is the oldest, freestanding, unimproved structure in the Virgin Islands, and the only unmodified seventeenth-century fortified tower in the Caribbean. It is about forty miles from the site on St. Croix where Columbus set foot on what is now United States soil. It is a pleasure to recommend to the National Park System Advisory Board's History Areas Committee that St. Thomas' Blackboard's Castle be included on the Register of National Historic Landmarks. Cordially, Ale5cander A. Farrelly Governor TAKE* mm United States Department of the Interior IN REPLY REFER TO: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE P.O. Box 37127 i Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 MEMORANDUM SEP 8 To: Through: Secretary George T. Frampton __ Assistant Secret^ for Fish and Wild Loger G. Kennedy Director 1994 Subject: Designation of Thirteen Properties as National Historic Landmarks: Request for Secretarial Action A^t a meeting on August 15, 1994, the National Park System Advisory Board recommended designation of the following 13 properties as National Historic Landmarks: ARCHITECTURE 1. 2. CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, srr. LOUIS, Missot THE BREAKERS, NEWPORT, Newport county, Rhode island ARCHEOLOGY 3. KIJIK ARCHEOLOGICAL DISTRICT, LAKE CLARK national park & preserve, Alaska MARITIME HISTORY 4. EMMA C. BERRY, MYSTIC, NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT 5. MAPLE LEAF, Jacksonville, duval county, Florida POLITICAL HISTORY 6. JOSEPH TAYLOR ROBINSON HOUSE, little rock, pulaski county, Arkansas HISTORY OF GEOLOGY 7. 8. 9. 10. ROCK MAGNETICS LABORATORY, menlo park, san mateo county, California HADROSAVRUS FOULKIILEiDY SITE, haddonfield, camden county, new jersey J. PETER LESLEY HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania POCAHONTAS EXHIBITION COAL MINE, Pocahontas, tazewell county, Virginia PREPARED BY-. Patty nenry/TELEPHOim: 202/343-8163 H3417(418) Messrs. Selio H. Konzen & Robert T. Harrington Blackboard’s Castle P.O. Box 6041 Emancipation Garden Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00804 Dear Messrs. Konzen & Harrington: I am pleased to inform you that Skytsborg (Blackbeard’s Castle) in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, has been found to possess national significance in the history of the United States. As a result, the Secrete^ of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994. The purpose of landmark designation is to identify and recognize nationally significant sites and to encourage their owners to preserve them. Landmarks are chosen after careful study by the National Park Service. They are evaluated by the National Park System Advisory Board and designated by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Designation as a National Historic Landmark automatically places a property in the National Register of Historic Places, if it is not already so listed, and extends to it the safeguards and benefits provided by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and other Federal laws protecting historic properties. You are eligible to receive a bronze plaque to commemorate the designation of this property. Copies of the plaque application form are enclosed. Please complete the form in triplicate and return two copies to the National Historic Landmarks Coordinator identified on the form. You may retain the third copy for your records. Unless you specify otherwise, the plaque will bear the name of the property as it appears above. The plaque has a standard text, except for the name of the property (a maximum of two lines) and the year of designation. If you have questions about the plaque, such as the precise text to appear, please contact the National Historic Landmarks Coordinator identified on the form. The National Park Service will be pleased to assist you if you wish to arrange a ceremony for the presentation of the plaque. Such a ceremony should be scheduled a minimum of several months after notice of designation to provide time to cast the plaque and to arrange the participation of appropriate officials in the ceremony. We are pleased to include Skytsborg (Blackbeard’s Castle) on the roll of National Historic Landmarks as a significant representative of our Nation’s heritage. Sincerely, Benjamin Levy Acting Chief Historian Enclosures SIMILAR LETTERS SENT TO: OWN: Messrs. Selio H. Konzen & Robert T. Harrington Blackbeard’s Castle P.O. Box 6041 Emancipation Garden Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00804 HEO: Honorable Alexander Farrelly Governor, U.S. Virgin Islands Government House Kongens Gade Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00801 SHPO: Mr. Roy E. Adams, SHPO Commissioner Department of Planning and Natural Resources Suite 231, Nisky Center No. 45A Estate Nisky Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 cc: Ms. Claudette Lewis Department of Planning and Natural Resources Suite 231, Nisky Center No. 45A Estate Nisky Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 Mr. Frederik C. Gjessing P.O. Box 1844 Veteran’s Drive Station Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas United States Virgin Islands 00802 bcc: 5000 (SERO) C. McKithan 5000 (SERO) M. Barnes 001 RF 400 RF 418 Foster 418 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) (NHL) FNP:PHenry:mg: 11/18/94 CHANGO MANOSO RCD #2\94-WIN\NL3\SKYT-3B.LTR H3417(418) Honorable Ron de Lugo Delegate to the House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. De Lugo: DEC 9 1994 I am pleased to inform you that Skytsborg (Blackbeard’s Castle) in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, has been found to possess national significance in the history of the United States. As a result, the Secret^ of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994. We are notifying the owner of their property’s designation. The purpose of landmark designation is to identify and recognize nationally significant sites and to encourage their owners to preserve them. Landmarks are chosen after careful study by the National Park Service. They are evaluated by the National Park System Advisory Board and designated by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Designation as a National Historic Landmark automatically places a property in the National Register of Historic Places, if it is not already so listed, and extends to it the safeguards and benefits provided by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and other Federal laws protecting historic properties. The owner of a Landmark, upon application, will be awarded a bronze plaque. We are providing the owners with the appropriate application forms. We are pleased to include Skytsborg (Blackbeard’s Castle) on the roll of National Historic Landmarks as a significant representative of our Nation’s heritage. Sincerely, Boger G. Kennedy Roger G. Kennedy Director cc: 5000 (SERO) C. McKithan 5000 (SERO) M. Barnes 001 RF 190 CL 400 RF 418 SKYTSBORG (Blackbeard’s Castle) (NHL) FNP:PHenry:mg: CHANGO MANOSO RCD #2\94-WIN\NL3\SKYT-3D.LTR