Bettys Hope, U.S. Virgin Islands

Bettys Hope is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.

History
Bettys Hope is a former sugar cane plantatin. It was founded in 1750 by the Schottish planter Robert Stewart. He gradually increased the size of the plantation through the acquisition of more landto 182 hectares. The next owner of the plantation was Thomas Tompson. The plantation remained in the hands of his descendents for more than a hundred years.

In 1905, Bettys Hope and the adjacent Coopers Negro Bay (56 hectares) were sold at auction for 20,000 dollars to Niels Vilhelm Thornberg. Thornberg was born in Svaneke on the Danish island of Bornholm in 1869 as the son of a saddler. He moved to St. Croix in 1883. In 1901, he became manager of the plantation River. In 1908, he also purchased the plantation St. Georgs Hill. Most of the land was ised for the cultivation of sugar cane. In 1907, he also began to grow cotton on part of the land. The production of sugar at Bettys Hope varied tremendously from year to year, peaking with 152,525 t in 1911 and reaching an all-time-low with 3.331 t in 1915. On 12 April 1918, Thornberg sold Bettys Hope to the West India Factory.