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The Josiah's Bay plantation is a ruin of an old plantation house on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) which has recently been restored. Between the mid-18th and 19th centuries, sugar plantations covered the hillsides of the British Virgin Islands. Most of these are now totally destroyed or have fallen into such disrepair that restoration is impossible. The exception to this is the lovely, Josiah's Bay Plantation - restored as a project of the heart, by the present owner, Freddie Freeman. Located on the northern shore of Tortola, just a short walk from Josiah's Bay, this serene spot now houses a notable art gallery, featuring paintings and prints by local and Caribbean artists, a craft & antique furniture shop and an outdoor restaurant. ==History== The history dates from the early 18th century. Developed as a sugar plantation by Isaac Pickering, a British sugar cane planter, the original estate comprised some when combined with Lambert Bay, which was also owned by Pickering. The estate remained under Pickering's ownership until the BVI Emancipation in 1834. At that time indentured servants, slaves who were promoted to overseers and given a portion of land, were given legal title by the first BVI legislative body. The first private known owner of what is now Josiah's Bay Plantation was David Fonseca, who bought the property as both a business and a home in the 1930s. Fonseca, an engineer, converted a portion of the land into a rum distillery, which included a boiler house, around the time of Prohibition. In an interesting history, rum was taken from the distillery at Josiah's and smuggled into the Danish Virgin Islands to be shipped to North America for underground distribution. Boats used for this operation were Island Sloops, hand crafted by local shipwrights, that were both rowed and sailed. The rum aboard was covered with charcoal, also locally made, to disguise the scent of alcohol and thus avoid detection. Freeman's father, Samuel, bought the property from Fonseca in the mid-1940s to use as a functional rum distillery. It thrived for a while and then ceased due to low profitability. Falling into disrepair since the early 1960s the property became inaccessible, due to bad roads and overgrowth. The young Freeman never had the opportunity to see the distillery in operation, although he had heard about the property during his childhood. Leaving to attend university in the United States during the late 70s and early 80s, Freeman studied accounting and finance with the intent of returning to the BVI to participate in the family business. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Josiah's Bay plantation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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