History
One Hundred Years ago the locals called this piece of land “William’s Retreat”. When I bought the land I had no idea this is what it was called. In October of 2002 I stopped to talk to Guy Benjamin, a man in his 90′s that is an historic icon of St John. This was the day I found this out. Guy Benjamin was a teacher in St Thomas and St John and eventually a Principal at the school in Coral Bay. He did so much good in the community they decided to name the school after him. He has a stand by the road in front of his house where he sells plants, fruit and his book “Me and my Beloved Virgin”. This particular day he was not at his stand, he was giving the many animals that reside at his home water. There are large bird cages filed with doves and goats roam free everywhere. Chicken are loose and some are caged. He feeds them all.
this pic can be found at www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org
We sat by a tree and talked for almost a half hour about life on St John around my property that is down the road from his home.
He told me the man that lived there was a tailor (he sewed sails and such). They lived there up until the hurricane of 1913 knocked the house down. It was actually two houses and two different families; the Vessups and the Sewers. Vessup was a tailor and Albert Sewer was a basket maker. All that is left of the homes are about a one to two foot outer wall and some concrete steps that were added toward the end. The cistern is over 2/3′s there. We found about 3 very old irons and some hoes. Lots of shards (broken pottery), even a 3 inch porcelain doll with its head missing.
Guy Benjamin told me this story.
Mr Vessup had a love that he was with for years. She died. There was a wake at the house. It went all night back then. Everyone would come to the house with lots of drink and food and party into the morning. All night long the man would flirt with this woman and that woman. Right before the night turned to day, “He went out to pee and never came back,” Guy Benjamin told me. ”Some say her ghost struck him dead because he was flirting. Others say he couldn’t live without her and he died a broken heart.”
He then went on to tell me they called that area (my land) Williams Retreat and he doesn’t know why. This struck me as strange and eerie. Strange because he doesn’t know my last name is Williamson. The son of William. What makes it eerie is that we bought the land to turn it into a retreat.
