THE VAL DES PITONS HAS A RICH AND VARIED HISTORY THAT DATES BACK MANY HUNDREDS OF YEARS
HISTORY
In 1778 the area now known as Sugar Beach was divided into four estates growing principally coffee, cocoa and sugar. A large waterwheel powered the cane crushing mill with water re-routed from the nearby stream along viaducts. The hotel’s Rainforest Walk winds through the ruins of the original dam and past these viaducts, while the ruins of the mill itself can be seen on the lawn near the hotel’s Sugar Mill rooms.
Old stone troughs are also visible throughout the resort and indicate there may have been a mill powered by oxen in the early days of the plantation.
When the British finally abolished slavery in 1834, the Sugar Cane industry started to crumble, with the forced sale of the La Jalousie Estate by auction in 1852.
A further blow was dealt to the sugar industry with the arrival of sugar beet in 1884, making it no longer economically feasible for St Lucian estates to continue full-scale sugar production.
With the fall of sugar cane, the estate reinvigorated its cocoa, copra (coconut product) and coffee production. The estate also provided limes to Roses - the UK-based lime juice and cordial producer. The limes were sent to Dominica where essential oils were extracted from the skin of the fruit. The old sugar mill, dam and viaducts were left to fall into disrepair and ruin.
In 1982, the Jalousie and the Beau Estates, which comprise the Val des Pitons, were bought by Lord Glenconner “The man who built Mustique”. He built his own home in the Beau Estate and sold the land for the Jalousie Plantation, which became a Hilton hotel in the 1990’s. In 2008 Roger Myers became the sole owner of the site and is now focusing on his vision to create one of the best hotel and residential developments in the world.
