Florida & Caribbean 2019

Set in approximately 8 acres, these grounds have considerable history dating back to the 1600s. Romney Manor & Wingfield Estate have had only 5 family owners to-date. The first, Sam Jeffreson II, the great, great, great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson (3rd president of the U.S.A), who purchased the property in 1625.

The modest house, once named the "red house" to reflect Jeffreson's Quaker roots, was renamed Romney Manor upon its mid 17th-century acquisition by the Earl of Romney. In 1834, contrary to the instruction of the British Parliament, Lord Romney declared his enslaved Africans free men, becoming the first estate in St. Kitts to do so.

Most of the activity on the property, has been growing & distilling sugar cane. Over the years, its owners have witnessed the crushing of cane by animal, water, and steam power. This all changed in the 1920s as the cane processing became centralized in the nation's capital, Basseterre. The Wingfield Estate grew, harvested, and loaded sugar cane until the mid-2000s, that's 350 years!

Romney Manor became a batik enterprise in the 1970s under the tutelage of its current owner. Wingfield Estate began its transition to the beautiful gardens and active archaeological site it is today in the 2000s, when the St. Kitts government discontinued all sugar cane operations on the island.Les mer