Hassel Island (also sometimes Hassell Island) is a small island of the
U.S. Virgin Islands, a
United States territory
In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...
located in the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
. Hassel Island lies in the
Charlotte Amalie harbor
just south of
Saint Thomas and east of
Water Island, with which it is part of the
sub-district of Water Island.
The roughly island was once a peninsula of Saint Thomas, known as Orkanhullet (Hurricane Hole). Hassel Island was separated by the
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
government in 1860, and named for the Hassel family who owned much of the estate.
In March 2012, the MTV's reality TV series ''The Real World'' was filmed for its twenty-seventh season on Hassel Island. It is the only season that the television series has filmed in the Caribbean. The season completed its filming two months later in May 2012. In 2015, that land was purchased to be used as a lot for a home. There are under five homes built on this island. It does not seem to be a fast growing populous place, but rather a more secluded and private island.
History
Careening Cove, a bay on Hassel Island, appears on maps as early as 1687.
![FortWilloughbyHasselIslandUSVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/FortWilloughbyHasselIslandUSVI.jpg)
The Danish used Hassel Island's strategic location to defend the busy Charlotte Amalie harbor in the 18th and 19th centuries.
![FortWilloughbyGarrisonHouseHasselIslandUSVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/FortWilloughbyGarrisonHouseHasselIslandUSVI.jpg)
The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
occupied Hassel Island during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
.
The ruins of several British buildings remain on Hassel Island, including Fort Willoughby, which was built on the site of the older Prince Frederik's Battery (Fort Frederik),
Fort Shipley (Shipley's Battery),
and
Cowell's Battery.
All three were constructed around 1802.
![CrequeMarineRailwayHasselIslandUSVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/CrequeMarineRailwayHasselIslandUSVI.jpg)
In the 1840s, the St. Thomas Marine Railway Company constructed the St. Thomas Marine Railway Slip. Later renamed the
Creque Marine Railway The Creque Marine Railway, formerly the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility", is an inclined-plane ship railway on Hassel Island, in the bay of Charlotte Amalie off the coast of St. Thomas Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its site is below Fort ...
, it is one of the earliest steam-powered
marine railway
The patent slip or marine railway is an inclined plane extending from shoreline into water, featuring a "cradle" onto which a ship is first floated, and a mechanism to haul the ship, attached to the cradle, out of the water onto a slip. The m ...
s in the western hemisphere and perhaps the oldest surviving example of such a railway. The
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
-based Boulton Company built the railway's steam engine.
![CrequeMarineRailwayPowerHouseHasselIslandUSVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/CrequeMarineRailwayPowerHouseHasselIslandUSVI.jpg)
In the 1860s, the Danish government dug a channel that separated Hassel Island from Saint Thomas and improved the circulation of the Charlotte Amalie harbor.
The
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot, James MacQueen. The line's motto was ''Per Mare Ubique'' (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping group ...
operated its
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
hub on Hassel Island from about 1850 until the 1870s.
In 1871, the
Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...
set up a
coaling station
Fuelling stations, also known as coaling stations, are repositories of fuel (initially coal and later oil) that have been located to service commercial and naval vessels. Today, the term "coaling station" can also refer to coal storage and feedin ...
on Hassel Island.
There was also a
leprosarium
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
on the island.
The channel was widened by the
in 1919, shortly after the United States purchased the
Danish West Indies
The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
.
The
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
also established a naval station on the island, which was in operation during World War I and World War II.
In the middle of the 20th century, most of Hassel Island was owned by the prominent local
Paiewonsky family. The Royal Mail Inn, a small hotel located on Hassel Island, built by the Paiewonsky family may have been the hotel immortalized in
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ' ...
's novel ''
Don't Stop the Carnival''.
The Creque Marine Railway and a
signal station A signal station is a form of Aids to Navigation that is defined by the IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad definition would include coastal radio stations and fog signa ...
at Cowell's Battery were in operation until the 1960s and 1970s, respectively.
The southern portion of the island was inscribed as a historic district on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1976. In 1978, the historic district was expanded to cover the remainder of the island as well.
In 1978, the
Virgin Islands National Park
The Virgin Islands National Park is an American national park preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlo ...
purchased most of the island from the Paiewonsky family. The rest of the island is divided between the territorial government and a few private residences.
Since around 2004, the Saint Thomas and Hassel Island Preservation Trust, the Virgin Islands National Park, the
Saint Thomas Historical Trust
St Thomas Historical Trust (also Saint Thomas Historical Trust), is a non-profit located on Saint Thomas island, in the United States Virgin Islands.
Programs
The Trust's headquarters and history museum are located in the Roosevelt Park area of ...
and other organizations have been working to restore and preserve the island's historic sites. There are limited guided
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
and
hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
tours of the island.
Hassel Island is also the location for ''
The Real World: St. Thomas'', the twenty-seventh season of the reality show ''
The Real World
Real World or The Real World may also refer to:
* Real life, a phrase to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds
Television
* ''The Real World'' (TV series), 1992–2017
* "The Real World" (''Stargate Atla ...
''.
References
External links
Virgin Islands National Park: Hassel Island
Hasselisland.org — Hassel Island history and preservation organization*
ttp://www.northamericanforts.com/East/vi.html Northamericanforts.comSt. Thomas Source.com: "Hassel Island's makeover uncovers historical riches"
{{NRHP in Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands
Islands of the United States Virgin Islands
Landforms of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
National Register of Historic Places in Virgin Islands National Park
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States Virgin Islands