Leinster Bay recognized for significance in the history of resistance to enslavement
Congratulations to the VI National Park team that did the work to get Leinster Bay Plantation accepted into the National Park Service Network to Freedom Program. The Network to Freedom Program tells the story of resistance against the institution of slavery through escape and flight.
Extract from Daily News article:
The Leinster Bay waterfront joined nearly 700 other sites, programs, and facilities last week on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, a National Park Service program that honors, preserves, and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.
The Leinster Bay waterfront is situated close to what used to be the largest sugar plantation on the island. Leinster’s proximity to Tortola, where emancipation occurred in 1834 — 14 years before emancipation in the Danish West Indies — also made it a launching point for enslaved people to attempt to escape to freedom.
It’s estimated that around 100 enslaved people successfully reached Tortola from Leinster Bay.
“Only 1.3 miles across the sea, freedom was a reality,” said Virgin Islands National Park Supervisor of Interpretation Laurel Brannick, who completed the application to add the Leinster waterfront to the Network to Freedom.
