3 Best Sights in Mid Island, St. John

This is one of the most interesting hikes on St. John, but it's only for the physically fit as the 2-mile return climb, rising 900 feet from sea level back to the trailhead, is a real workout. Along the way, one short side trail to the west takes you to a small pool where indigenous inhabitants carved petroglyphs into the rock. Another short side trail to the east leads to the plantation's greathouse, a gutted but mostly intact structure with vestiges of its former beauty. Down at sea level, walk around the sugar factory ruins. The beach here makes a great place to cool off before hiking back up. Difficult.

St. John's highest peak rises to 1,277 feet. Route 10 passes near enough to the top to offer breathtaking vistas. Don't stray into the road here—cars whiz by at a good clip along this section. Instead, drive nearly to the end of the dirt road that heads off to Picture Point and the trailhead of the hike downhill to Lameshur. Get a trail map from the park service before you start. It's a relatively easy 2 miles (3 km) down, but the hike back up is strenuous due to the steep incline.

At this fine example of an 18th-century sugar and rum factory, there's a storage vault beneath the windmill. Across the road, look for the round mill, which was later used to hold water. In the 1733 slave revolt Catherineberg served as headquarters for the Amina warriors, a tribe of Africans that had been captured into slavery.