May 2, 2006 — As part of Virgin Islands Historic Preservation Month activities, Commissioner Dean C. Plaskett of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and State Historic Preservation Officer, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands State Historic Preservation Office (VISHPO), invites the public to a presentation by Ms. Emily Yates entitled "Wealth in Ruins: Rich History of a Caribbean Plantation." Yates is an archaeologist for the National Park Service's Southeast Archaeological Center in Tallahassee, Fla.
This lecture and series of images will present the fascinating results of the 1998 archaeological investigations on the Carolina Point Plantation, an 18th- and 19th-century working plantation on Water Island.
These investigations resulted in information that has shed light on social interactions, lifestyle, and subsistence strategies among the inhabitants of the plantation over several generations as reflected in the remains of their material culture. VISHPO is sponsoring this lecture series as part of the May 2006 Virgin Islands Historic Preservation Month activities, whose theme is "Historic Preservation in the Virgin Islands: Sustaining Our Quality of Life."
The first lecture will be at 6:30 p.m Wednesday, May 3, on Water Island at the Honeymoon Beach Pavilion .
The second presentation of this lecture will be held at the VISHPO conference room at 17 Kongens Gade, St. Thomas, on Thursday, May 4, at 6 p.m.
The final lecture will be at 6:30 p.m Friday, May 5, on St. Croix at the Florence Williams Library in Christiansted. Each lecture is expected to last an hour and a half, including a brief question-and-answer period.