Whim Greathouse History For Everyone

 By Ann Fisher


 It's a clear Cruzan morning. The grounds of Whim Great-
house are alive with school boys and girls in gray and plaid and
blue, darting out toward the mill or the cookhouse, or quietly
sitting under the tamarind tree. The great blue shutters are just
opening and a group of fourteen youngsters rapidly line up on
the steps to the entrance of the greathouse itself; the others find
a shady spot to wait their turn.


Students are admitted free to the Whim Greathouse when accom-
panied by their teacher, and enjoy seeing a slice of St. Croix's
history come to life.

 Whim is education that is painless and fun. The questions
start almost before young eyes have adjusted to the shady interior.
Who owned this house? Is that his wife (pointing to a portrait)?
How high is the ceiling? Is there ever water in the moat? And, as
the tour progresses, why don't we grow sugar any more? How
many people lived on this plantation? How long did it take cane
to grow? And on and on! Some of them have visited Whim before
and are quick with answers for their friends. Others, coming for
the first time, are amazed to learn that molasses was used in the
construction of the walls, that the cooking was done outdoors in
a special house, that it took over a year to get a crop of cane
ready for harvest.







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 Whim Greathouse itself is a most unusual building which
 demonstrates the elegant lifestyle of the rich plantocracy of cen-
 turies long past on St. Croix. The original owner was Christopher
 MacEvoy, Jr., a Dane, and member of a prominent island family.
 In 1803 the estate was named "Whim," although the reason for
 this name choice is obscure. According to historical information,
 the one-bedroom estate home belonged to a man of unusual
 wealth and distinct taste. MacEvoy's home was built with a moat
 surrounding it and the house with its semi-circular ends, has walls
 three feet thick built of cut stone and coral bound by lime and
 molasses -- a common method in those days.

 Furnishings for the greathouse have been collected from all
 over the island and from as far away as Copenhagen, where much
 of the Crucian furniture was removed when its owners returned
 to their country of origin. The wood, usually tibet and mahogany,
 was chosen to resist termites, but some of the fine furniture
 pieces originated in Europe, including one oak wainscott chair
 found underneath the house dating from 1685.

 Aside from home gardens, sugar cane was the only agricul-.
 ture St. Croix knew for over one hundred and fifty years. Although
 other crops, such as cotton were tried, cane was what the island
 knew and could grow. It is part of the Cruzan heritage and at
 Whim, young and old can learn something of what it was like to
 live in the days when everyone's livelihood depended on the cane
 crop.

 In addition to the greathouse itself, visitors have a choice of
many other buildings to visit, including the mill with its huge
paddles and functioning machinery for cane grinding. The Museum
has an ever-changing display with a magnificent permanent collec-
tion of old photographs and maps as well as artifacts of the earlic
era: Other outbuildings include the cookhouse, a bathhouse and
a beautifully reconstructed Apothecary containing the very fine
complete collection from the old Merrill Apothecary on Company
Street in Christiansted.

 Over five hundred school children visited Whim during the
1979-80 school year and Whim is hoping to welcome more this
year. Always admission is free for school groups, provided the
teacher or principal calls ahead. With advance notice, too, the
staff can make sure there is something to drink for all hands,