Oct. 21, 2004 – Joyce Hurd takes pride in being born at Sprat Hall Plantation, and she shows that pride with enthusiastic hospitality for her guests. Her guests show their appreciation by returning year after year to the plantation greathouse turned inn on the West End of St. Croix just a few miles north of Frederiksted.
Sprat Hall, according to Hurd, was built around 1650 during the French occupation. For the last 79 years of its history it has been in her family's hands. It has spent the last 54 as an inn.
Two rooms in the former greathouse are currently used as guest rooms, and there are also three guest cottages.
One is called the Honeymoon Cottage, but it is used for much more than that. According to Hurd, 77, some guests have come back to celebrate anniversaries and even 50 years of marriage.
The décor of the inn takes one back to a different time. The rooms are furnished with original pieces of furniture, such as husband-and-wife cane sofas in the parlor. Some of the furniture in the parlor came from the Government House in Christiansted when it was remodeled.
Hurd also proudly shows off her Staffordshire China collection in a built-in china cupboard. The dining room, where breakfast is provided, is light, airy and welcoming. The bedrooms have beautiful canopy beds where one can dream of a different time and relax. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. Fresh-cut flowers are placed all around the inn, and the breezes are scented with oleander.
There is a sense of tradition at Sprat Hall no matter where you go – on the patio, inside the greathouse or out in the gardens.
Weddings are held at the sugar mill located on the grounds, a very romantic place for such events. Hurd said recent renovations efforts have focused on the mill.
Her parents, Miles Merwin and his wife Marguerite, purchased the plantation in 1925. Miles was a shipping agent in Frederiksted. Joyce grew up at the great house. She had a tutor until the age of 10, then went to school on Antigua and high school in England.
In 1949 Joyce and her husband Jim Hurd took over ownership of Sprat Hall and turned it into an inn. This makes it the longest operating inn of its type on St. Croix. Up until April 2002, when Jim passed away, the couple had other businesses and ran the inn at the same time. She had a car business and ran the Sunset Restaurant on the beach. Jim also had a fishing boat. They raised four daughters at Sprat Hall. The surviving three, Jennifer, Jill and Judith, still reside on St. Croix.
The inn still maintains a close relationship with the nearby Sunset Restaurant, although the family no longer operates it.
For information on rates and reservations call 772-0305, or 1-800-843-3504.
Jill Hurd runs Paul and Jill's Equestrian Stables at the Hall, offering beach rides, nature tours, rainforest rides and Danish sugar plantation ruins rides. For reservations, call 772-2880.
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