Native American Village and Ceremonial Site

This site was a Native American village and ceremonial site, including the only known ball court, or batey, in the Lesser Antilles. In November 1493, it was the only point in United States territory where members of Christopher Columbus's crew came ashore on his second voyage to the New World. It is also connected to the first recorded altercation between Europeans and the native people of the western hemisphere, at a point across the bay known as Cape of Arrows. After the demise of the native population on St. Croix, an earthen fort was erected here, and it was successfully occupied by European powers including the English, Dutch, and French. In 1788, a Danish Customs House was built nearby to thwart smuggling, and during the 1920s Danish archaeologists carried out extensive excavations on the prehistoric village site.