St. Croix Landmarks Society’s Discover Camp to Hold Closing Ceremonies

St. Croix Landmarks Society’s, Discover St. Croix Camp will hold its closing ceremonies on Saturday, August 11 at 8:30 am on the Estate Whim Museum grounds. Campers will showcase their new skills and share camp experiences in a program for family members and the community. One of the highlights of the program will be a Cariso song, campers wrote with the assistance of Camille “King Derby” Macedon named “Ah love deh Camp”.

During the five-week camp, participants learned to dance the Bamboula, make instruments, write and sing, Quelbe, Cariso and Calypso, author their own books, prepare traditional foods and crafts and play traditional games. Besides the usual summer camp activities of going to the beach and historical sites, campers went on a very special field trip to Gallows Bay. Campers experienced a day in the life of one of St. Croix’s oldest communities, by learning how to cast a fishing line, clean fish and roast their catch over a wood fire.

Discover St. Croix Summer Campers explored sites of cultural and historical importance while learning the stories of those who lived and worked there. Curriculum highlights for the camp included: Native Trees and Medicinal Plants, Who Am I? (Family Research and Genealogy), Masquerading and Moko Jumbies and Who Wants to be A Millionaire? (Wilhelm A. Leisdesdorf and other Crucian Successes). These experiences helped the campers to write a skit that encompasses all the knowledge they acquired in camp. The skit will be part of the closing ceremonies and take place at the Museum’s new exhibit, on the porch of “My Granny House”. Modeled after a typical Virgin Islands cottage in the mid 1930’s, the gingerbread porch will welcome you to the home of a working Crucian family.

This summer the Discover St. Croix Camp was enriched by three graduate student interns from the University of Puerto Rico. The interns, learned about the history and culture of St. Croix, while assisting campers with daily activities. “Like all St. Croix Landmarks Society Education Programs, the camp’s goal is to help children develop a strong sense of SELF, PLACE and RESPONSIBILITY. Our goal is to prepare future Historians, Preservationist and Educators” said SCLS Executive Director, Sonia Jacobs Dow. Discover St. Croix Camp is sponsored by the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.