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Christensen first submitted legislation for a feasibility study -- a prerequisite for becoming a park -- back in 2006. But the Gasperi family, one of the main landowners in the area, first broached the idea at least as far back as 2003. The park service is conducting a feasibility study and has already held several public meetings to get input from residents.
“Castle Nugent is home to some of St. Croix’s greatest agricultural, cultural, historical and ecological treasures,” Christensen said in a statement from her office. “My bill calls for the preservation of 2,900 acres which include a Caribbean dry forest, a pristine coastal barrier coral reef system, and a pre-Columbian and post-European settlement. All of these aspects are worthy of preservation for future generations.”
The proposed park site abuts the parcel by Great Pond slated for the Golden Gaming casino development and is roughly bordered by the Howard M. Wall Boy Scout Camp, Estate Fareham and Manchenil Bay, just west of Ha’Penny Beach. Inland, it runs as far as Lowrys Hill and Laprey Valley. The bill says it will include associated submerged lands out to the three-mile territorial limit, comprising the largest coastal fringe reef in the territory.
The Castle Nugent property has a long agricultural history dating back to the 1730s, when the Danish estate house, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was constructed. For the past several decades, the property has been used to raise Senepol cattle, according to Christensen's office. Senepol are a breed developed on St. Croix and prized for their resilience in tropical climes.
The bill, submitted Oct. 6 and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, would help ensure continued rearing of Senepol cattle with a provision that guarantees a continued relationship with the University of the Virgin Islands supporting ongoing scientific research of the cattle.
The feasibility study for the proposed park is one of two going on right now.
The other is for a memorial to Alexander Hamilton in Estate Grange. There is presently no national monument to the first secretary of the Treasury, who grew up on St. Croix.
Should there be a park, it will be a unit of the National Park System and managed by the Park System's existing St. Croix offices, according to the bill.