Back in April 2022, we shared a post about the National Trust’s Hands-On Preservation Experience (HOPE) Crew team traveling to Estate Little Princess (which is part of the The Nature Conservancy) on St. Croix for a special project. This former sugar plantation and hospital became a space for teaching the practice of stone masonry restoration to five local Crucian participants. The estate serves as the primary location for Virgin Island coral restoration efforts.
The partnership between The Nature Conservancy and Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism‘s (CHANT) Invisible Heritage Pre-apprenticeship Program was created to train the local workforce in preservation trades skills so they can work on historically and culturally important sites in their own community such as this one on the estate. See the photographs from the project and read and great article about it here. Under the tutelage of masonry expert David Gibney, the participants learned about mortar analysis, inappropriate parging removal, repointing, stone carving, and resetting on the site’s old hospital building.
All participants excelled, adopting the new preservation trades skills, and allowing HOPE Crew to connect them with future employment opportunities.
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