Reef Bay Petroglyphs

When we hiked the ranger led Reef Bay trail on St. John’s in the Virgin Islands, one of the sights that we saw were the petroglyphs. They were on a side trail, from the main one, where there were spring fed pools. Carved into the rocks were various images and symbols that we studied while eating lunch. The ranger wet the rocks to make them easier to see. The face on the left is supposed to be that of a bat and has been used as a logo by various island businesses. Most famously by the once luxurious, but now defunct resort Caneel Bay. Wiped out by a combination of twin hurricanes and bad business practices, this resort was underinsured and couldn’t afford to rebuild. The resort’s proprietor was also a tenant of the US Government and was left stranded, without sufficient time left on its lease to profitably rebuild the resort. The Native Americans who carved these petroglyphs are believe to have done so around 1300 AD. These people had already departed by the time that Western explorers arrived on the island. In another year or two the existing Caneel Bay lease will expire and a new outfit can come in and restore that place to its former glory.

For our walk today, we drove over to Tower Grove Park. If Forest Park is the front yard of Saint Louis, then Tower Grove is its backyard. Similar to what the city has done in Forest Park, where roads have been closed to cars, all of Tower Grove Park is now car-free. It being a Monday, the park was not very crowded and with its trails plus the empty roads, there was plenty of room to spread out. Once around the park was almost the perfect number of steps for us.