HOUSE - HISTORY - HURRICANES

HOUSE - HISTORY - HURRICANES

Molly and Tom (Jahnige), with their two-year old daughter, Kathy, first came to St John in March of 1966, staying in a cabin at Cinnamon Bay.  They toured the island with Ms. Lucy in her taxi, and took a boat to Coral Bay (the roads were not so passable in those days).

Molly remembers vividly how the school children surrounded Kathy on the playground. There were no houses on St. Quacco and Zimmerman then, or any of the other ridges for that matter, and likely few white children on this side of the island. Electricity and the paving of Centerline Road came later. 

They fell in love with the island and returned each year, now also with Kathy’s younger brother Paul, building the first Spyglass Hill in the spring of 1970 after Tom was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The name “Spyglass Hill” comes from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, which Tom was reading to Kathy and Paul at the time. They came frequently to the house until Tom’s death in 1973.  St John was a place he loved and a haven for him during his years of illness.

The family still came yearly after that. In 1983, Molly and Don (Robinson) were married and Don’s sons, David and John, visited frequently along with Katherine and Paul making many friends and strong memories.

HURRICANE HUGO

On September 17, 1989 Hurricane Hugo swept through the islands as a category 4 storm causing terrible damage in many places.  St Croix was devastated. St John did not fair as badly, but about 20% of homes sustained substantial damage, and about 5% were completely destroyed. Sadly, Spyglass was in the latter category.  As winds gusting to 200 miles per hour swept from the east, that corner of the house with its gorgeous views, but week construction, failed, and the roof sailed away over the hill. With no roof, the timber frame exterior and interior walls blew out or caved in.  

By November of 1990, Molly and Don had rebuilt Spyglass.  This time with concrete slab floor, concrete block walls, a poured concrete “bond beam”, and a hip roof with hurricane clips and no overhang.  She was rebuilt with hurricanes in mind.

SPYGLASS TWO

The reconstructed Spyglass Hill added an additional room downstairs to create a suite, and also a “Star Tower” bedroom and upper deck above the upper cistern.

Over the years, many visitors, friends and neighbors have given to Spyglass and to St John with their time, labor, energy, art and love.  We are grateful.

IRMA AND MARIA

On September 6, 2017, Category 5 Irma slammed into the Virgin Islands.  Coral Bay and Tortola took the brunt of the storm. Devastation was widespread. Survivor stories are horrific.  While only 134 people lost their lives in Irma, by wind speed it was one of the most severe storms every to make landfall with “official” sustained winds of 185 mph, but recorded sustained winds on St John of 200 mph with much higher gusts. By damage cost, it was the second most destructive storm in history after Katrina…

…Until, twelve days later, September 18, 2017, when her sister, Category 5 Maria, barreled through the islands, and nailed Puerto Rico.

The St Quacco and Zimmerman neighborhood took a beating in these storms.  Most houses were seriously damaged, and several were completely destroyed.

Spyglass Hill was strong. She lost her roof, several doors and windows blew in, the interior furnishings suffered major water damage,  and a neighbor’s 2x4 pierced the Star Tower wall like a spear.

But our caretaker Jeremy was resourceful and the house was secure and water tight in record time.

We welcome you to our home.  We hope you will fall in love with the islands as we have. They will always be in the shadow of hurricanes, perhaps more so now with climate change. But they will also always be Island Strong.