A big getaway on a small land

St. Eustatius, Caribbean Islands

Orangestad, St. Eustatius: the first thing I had to do was find it. But at least I had heard of it which is more than many people can say. St. Eustatius (yoo-stay-shus), or Statia (stay-sha), is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, about 150 miles east of Puerto Rico and 38 miles or 20 minutes flying time south of St. Maarten, the closest airlink. With only 11.8 square miles of land area, the island is little more than a speck on the map, indeed, the planet. But because of the island's even bigger history, it is, in my view anyway, the crown jewel of the Netherlands Antilles, which also include Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, and St. Maarten.

For me, the island's allure was historical. I was here to photograph the ruins of an unlikely Jewish community for my Jewish photo library. But most of the island's 27,000 or so annual visitors come for world-class diving and hiking the Quill (from the Dutch kwil, meaning pit or hole), a 600-meter high extinct volcano with a unique eco system in its crater. Unlike most of Statia's visitors, I was greeted like a rock star and treated like royalty from touchdown to takeoff during my 48-hour stay.

I first "met" Roland Lopes, public relations officer of the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation, two months prior to my arrival. I had sent a random email to their offices inquiring about historical Jewish sites on the island. Within hours, Roland had not merely acknowledged me, he faxed me a nine-page article outlining the community's history. Once on the island, he looked after me like a father for his son.

"Wow, Roland. I feel like a star," I said upon our first handshake. "Even the immigration guy knew I was coming."

"It's my pleasure to serve you," Roland responded with a beaming smile. "I feel like I know you already."

After settling into my accommodation, Roland drove me to the outskirts of Oranjestad, the island's only town and home to nearly all its 3,000 residents, to meet Grant Gilmore, an American archaeologist with whom I had also been in contact thanks to Roland's efforts. Grant and his team had just days before completed excavations on the ruins of Synagogue Honen Dalim (meaning, 'He Who is Charitable to the Poor').

"The best part was unearthing the mikvah (ritual bath)," Grant told me in the middle of a field thought to be site of the largest village of free-slaves from the 19th century. "We managed to recover some 250,000 artifacts from the synagogue site, anything and everything bigger than [a large marble]," he explained.

This information excited me and I was eager to get to work. We drove the half mile into town in a jalopy held together only by hope. "It's for sale," Grant noted.

The synagogue ruins, which predate Grant's vehicle, were in far better shape, a startling fact considering they date to 1739.

After a chat, I was left alone on the site, utterly in awe midst refurbished brick walls and glassless windows. Grant is now securing funds to totally redo the building.

Statia is but one of several Jewish communities in the Caribbean and northern coast of South America that was part of what is historically known as the Jewish Nation of the Caribbean. While there is no Jewish population on Statia today, the synagogue ruins and an ancient cemetery (1742-1843) remain as testament to the importance of the Jewish community's role in the eco nomic growth of the region which continues to this very day. The island's ideal location made it an important trading post, and Jews were captains of industry. They owned portions of the ports, warehouses, ships, and shipping companies.

While related business has long vanished, today, Statia Terminals, an oil storage and distribution facility, accounts for one-third of the island's employment.

"Statia is a small place but unique," Roland explained as he ushered me round on an island tour. "We have a lot of nature but we are industrial." It certainly feels that way looking at the oil tankers just off shore.

Columbus was here in 1493 but it was the Dutch who established the first permanent settlement in 1636. In the subsequent centuries, however, Statia changed hands 22 times between the Dutch, French, and English. That's hardly surprising considering the island was the only link between Europe and the New World for most of the 17th century. In its heyday, some 20,000 European colonists and African slaves lived here. This boom earned it the moniker The Golden Rock.

November 16, 1776 signaled the end of the good times on the island, particularly for its 150 or so Jewish inhabitants. On that day, an American Brig-of-War, the Andrew Doria, sailed into the harbor of Statia firing a 13-gun salute indicating America's long sought independence. In response, the canons of Fort Oranje fired an 11-gun reply, establishing Statia as the first foreign nation to recognize the young United States of America. British Admiral George Rodney would have none of it, however.

Because so many of George Washington's supplies came via Statia, the island was selected as the first Dutch target of the British Caribbean on December 20, 1780. A squadron of ships encircled the island and easily overpowered the small Dutch military contingent.

Once ashore, Rodney, an anti-Semite, singled-out the Jews and installed a reign of terror on them. He stripped them of their wealth by confiscating their money, their possessions, burned their homes and synagogue, wrecked their businesses, accused them of profiteering, and banished the males to nearby St. Kitts and other islands (the women and children were left behind to subsist in utter squalor). Rodney was later harshly reproved by his Parliament back home.

Statia reverted to Dutch control in 1784 but the Jewish community never regained its footing. The last Jewish resident died in 1846.

By the 1960s, Statians started to recognize the importance of their past and today the island is protected under the umbrellas of the St. Eustatius National Park, Marine Park, and Botanical Garden. That commitment to preservation generates a certain tourist infusion which, of course, means incomes. Many dive sites, for instance, are underwater historical museums.

Rusting shipwrecks and port ruins are now homes to schools of goat fish, snappers, barracudas, morays, flying gurnards, and southern stingrays. Midst the steel and colorful corals, divers find shards of old plates, wine bottles, even blue beads that were once given to slaves as a form of stipend.

For those who prefer to stay on land, no visit to Statia is com- plete without a hike into the rainforest in the crater of the Quill. On my second day, I joined a group of young volunteers who had come to the island to monitor sea turtles. During the four -hour hike, we admired both the flora and fauna: ferns, banana trees, bromeliads, orchids, Killy Killies, Bullfinches, Red-bellied Racer Snakes, and Green Tree Lizards. We even sampled stinky toe, a powdery candy-like fruit that smells like, well, a stinky toe.

If hiking and foul-smelling fruits aren't your thing, there is the Statia Historical Foundation Museum to see and three forts to explore (there were once nine). The Botanical Garden on the eastern slopes of the Quill affords fine views of nearby St. Kitts. There are also three beaches. But despite all its natural and historical allures, Statia's charm is in its people.

"It's what we do," said Roland in response to my expression of gratitude. "We don't look at the numbers (of tourists). We look at the individual. So it's natural for me to take care of you. It's my pleasure. If you are happy, I am happier."

Text & photos: Jono David