Castle Nugent Farm is right by the ocean on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. Peaceful seclusion and natural beauty are two of the main attractions of the cattle ranch. The history of the place is another.

By Robin Lloyd FOR THE INQUIRER

The brisk ocean air swept up the arid hillsides onto the veranda of the 18th-century West Indian farmhouse where we were staying. Below us, the ocean crashed and rolled over an ominous set of reefs. We could see a fisherman walking into the shallows, setting his nets. Not too far away, the ruins of an old stone windmill stood guard on the shoreline.

We were staying at Castle Nugent Farm’s guest house on the south shore of St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The farmhouse is situated in splendid isolation amid 2,000 acres of dry grasslands, rolling hills and a herd of Senepol cattle. Peaceful seclusion. This was part of the attraction that made us decide to stay on a working cattle ranch for our Caribbean vacation, but the history of the place was also a big draw.

The guest house is a historical “Overseer’s” house built in the early 18th century, and is now listed on the National Historic Register. The estate was one of 264 cotton and sugar plantations formed on the island of St. Croix after 1773, when the Danish West Indies Company first purchased the island from the French. Its white stuccoed walls, tin roof and sturdy dark green wooden shutters with wrought-iron hinges all are signatures of 18th- and 19th-century colonial architecture, when fortunes were made on this island from sugar.

The guest house seemed like the perfect way to tell our two children about the special history of this island, which was once part of the Danish West Indies. In its colonial prime, St. Croix was covered from one end to the other with sugar and cotton plantations.

Castle Nugent today is a cattle farm, but the old buildings have remained virtually the same. They include the remains of a cotton storage house, a small chapel, and rowhouses for the 15 to 20 slaves who lived there in the 18th and early 19th centuries. We were staying at the greathouse, and had the run of the whole house with the use of the kitchen and the pool in the back. The owner, Caroline Gasperi, lives next door in the old chapel, which she has furnished as an apartment. Some of the other buildings are also rented out, but we hardly noticed anyone else on the property. Caroline and her husband, Mario, used to live in the greathouse, but since he died several years ago, she has been renting out her historic home from mid-November through April.

As we ate breakfast on the veranda, we watched the cows slowly walk down to the watering trough below the house. In the distance we could hear the bleat of a calf calling for its mother. Castle Nugent exports Senepol cattle regularly, not only throughout the United States, but also to South America, Australia and Africa. The estate was first farmed as early as 1738. Over the centuries it has had many owners, one of them being Christopher Nugent, who bought the farm in 1774 and gave the estate its name. Caroline likes to say proudly that many historians believe her farm is one of the oldest cattle farms in the entire West Indies.

I thought to myself that we had successfully stepped back in time and were now living for a week in a farmhouse that had survived hurricanes and tropical storms, and had seemingly avoided many of the trappings of the 20th century. The wide planked floorboards, worn smooth from decades of use, creaked as we walked from room to room.

The house was filled with antique mahogany furniture from Europe and the West Indies. The walls were covered with West Indian art, old prints of St. Croix, and one large 18th- or 19th-century map of the island that showed all the names and boundaries of the original estate plantations.

My wife’s brother had come along with us so we were glad, with our group of five, that we had rented the entire house - about $365 a day - with its three bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms had four-poster West Indian beds with mosquito netting and overhead fans. The living room also had wonderful mahogany tables and cabinets.

The house was simply furnished with few signs of the modern world. No air conditioning. No sound system. I think there may have been a television, but we weren’t looking for one. The kitchen is small, but more than adequate with all the appliances and kitchenware you need to cook every meal in the house if that’s your desire. For the week we were there, Caroline arranged for a house cleaner to come in and tidy up. We took our laundry to a Laundromat, and, of course, did all our shopping at the local grocery store.

We spent much of our time on the large wrap-around veranda of the old house, reading and daydreaming. We had breakfast there and could see the sunrise off to the east. We took walks every evening to the estate’s old sugar mill on the shoreline, hikes on cattle trails into the mountains where the views of the southeastern section of the island are spectacular. The cows would look at us with puzzled faces, and we would continue climbing from one stunning vista to the next.

It’s not often you find a farm by the ocean, not to mention one that’s overlooking the Caribbean. The two girls spent many of their afternoons swimming and sunbathing in the swimming pool. The beach on the property is scenic, but not the best for swimming.

We found the house, which is just three miles from the main town, Christiansted, to be an excellent base to go to beaches and resorts on the island, not to mention restaurants. With our rental car, we had the run of the island. Caroline has a list of names and numbers of the best eateries, best beaches, and the best sailboat charter company to get to the underwater reef at the Buck Island National Park. She is not only a cattle rancher, she is an excellent concierge. We were able to golf and swim at the Carambola resort as well as at the Buccaneer Hotel. Both are open to day trippers for a small fee.

Buck Island is one of the places to visit while staying at Castle Nugent Farm (Robin Lloyd/For The Inquirer)

We had excellent meals on St. Croix. Three places that deserve special mention are all in downtown Christiansted. Top Hat, with its menu of nouveau Danish French cuisine, is a St. Croix tradition. Kendricks and Indies - both in lovely open-air brick courtyards - were also favorites. For typical West Indian cuisine, try Nolans on the road going east out of Christiansted. The decor is not fancy, but the curried lobster is great.

The highlights of our stay at Castle Nugent for me were the many different walks up through the hills on the farm, passing through groves of wrinkled tamarind trees as old as the farmhouse. When we first got there, Caroline proudly told us about her personal history with the property. She and her husband purchased the estate in the late ’70s. She showed us historical letters and papers she had uncovered from one of the original owners; they indicated the number of slaves he had and the problems he was having with his cotton crop due to a long drought in the early 1800s.

As we sat on the veranda of our guest house watching the sun set, listening to the languid roar of the ocean in the distance, it seemed as though nothing could be more peaceful. Images of our stay at Castle Nugent are completely different from those of most Caribbean vacations: Sipping rum drinks on the veranda in the evening as we watched the cattle walk down to the watering trough. Starry nights with the heavy moist trade winds blowing. A nighttime symphony of frogs and crickets.

No matter what your measuring stick, St. Croix has had an unusual history. The Dutch, English, Spanish, French, even the Knights of Malta, all ruled here at one time. The Danes were here the longest, nearly 200 years. We had not only seen some of that colonial legacy, but at Castle Nugent we had actually stepped back in time to experience it.

All content © 1999 PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER and © 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc, and may not be republished without permission.

Castle Nugent Farms has been breeding Senepol since 1957 on our ranch on St. Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, a territory of the U.S. At Castle Nugent, genetics and free range have kept the breed’s qualities at their highest level through the years. Selection and improvement are a constant active goal on our ranch on the East end of St. Croix, (where climatic conditions are harsher than on the West end of the island) to always reach for the top in fertility, performance and conformation.

Much of the beef produced here at Castle Nugent is sold locally. Popularity of Senepol beef continues to rise as health conciousness does; more people are demanding grass-fed, hormone-free low-fat beef that is naturally rich in flavor and nutrients.

Traffic stops as a herd of Castle Nugent cows
with young calves crosses South Shore Road.

Exportation of Senepol from Castle Nugent Farms for breeding purposes has been steady during the past 10 years. (Embryos and semen are also exported.) Castle Nugent Farms is considered a Genetic Bank for the Senepol breed. Live animal shipments have been consistently intense in recent years to all the Sun Belt States (Florida through Texas) and Australia, with the result that CN brand is quite common on many ranches with Senepol cattle.

For more information about renting our Guesthouse or to request a brochure, call or send address to:

Caroline Gasperi
Castle Nugent Farms
Phone/Fax (340) 773-1508
POB 969 Christiansted St.Croix VI 00821