Company Street Chronicles – October

Company Street Chronicles – October

Halloween, Jumbies and Company Street

Halloween came to the U.S. Virgin Islands with American popular culture during the last century, but the sanitized ghosts and goblins of the last day of October pale in comparison with the jumbie stories of Virgin Islands folklore.

So what is a jumbie? My friend and classmate Dr. George Franklin wrote a whole book about the spirits that can be good or bad and that can send a shudder down the spine of even the most learned and sophisticated among us. His book, Jumbie: A Bunch Ah Real…Stories Meh Son can be found at the University of the Virgin Islands bookstore on St. Croix and at Undercover Books in Gallows Bay www.undercoverbookstcroix.com. or of course at Virgin Islands public libraries www.virginislandspubliclibraries.org.. I suggest you get a copy if you want to know such things as: “What Is a Jumbie; What is a Good and Bad Jumbie; How to See a Jumbie and How to Stop a Jumbie From Following You.”

The jumbie story that I remember most vividly is that of the Goat Foot Woman, (Cow Foot to St. Thomians) who would stand on the side of the road, hiding her animal part, waiting to get children. My friend Michael Ware reminded me the other day, that the only way to dodge her was to walk on the asphalt or concrete, because she could only run on grass. I remember that story coming in waves during my childhood. There would be a sighting by one child and it would spread like wildfire through the whole school. Of course, when the rumors got to friends and neighbors from other schools it would spread throughout the island and for about two weeks, everyone would be very afraid and would go straight home after school.

So what do jumbies have to do with Company Street, Christiansted? On the western end of Company Street lies the Christiansted Cemetery, where generations of East people have buried their dead. It is the final destination of the funeral processions that begin at the Anglican, Moravian, Catholic or Lutheran Churches in the town. These processions, which include the deceased and their family, friends, neighbors and associates, used to parade slowly and solemnly down Company Street. The street would be lined with mourners and the curious who would come to say goodbye to the dearly departed. Some storeowners would even close their doors as the funeral procession passed by, Today, more people drive than walk and most people, except for those from the oldest of families, are now buried at the much larger Kingshill Cemetery in the middle of the island.

In a town that is more than 275 years old, where many of the properties have been abandoned by their owners due to migration, hurricane damage or financial lack, I am quite sure that there are many jumbies, spirits both good and bad, wandering not only

 

Company Street, but Hill, East, Fisher, the Cross Streets and Strand as well. There are many untold stories and unresolved family and community issues that have put us all at the cross roads of how to resurrect a still beautiful, but once vibrant town again.

Also at the western end of Company Street, Deanna James heads the St. Croix Foundation that has spearheaded several initiatives to bring life and people back into town. The Foundation has helped to spruce up buildings in need of a paint job, revitalize the Sunday Market area and work with the Frederiksted Health Center to provide services for the homeless who congregate a block before the Christiansted Cemetery. While the struggle to address what ails Christiansted and Company Street is one that is steeper than the hills surrounding the town, James also sees signs of hope sprouting from the cement sidewalks and asphalt streets. “When we look at Company Street and what is happening there, we see things that have an impact on all our priorities including public safety, housing, homeownership and entrepreneurial opportunity for young people.” She points to the new, food-trendy restaurant, balter, as a sign of new life on Company Street. “They have tried to capture everything that community development is,” she said. “I see the potential of Company Street as a collective community vision, with cultural heritage embedded in everything that we do.” She points hopefully to the Christiansted Town Plan and the key initiatives included in it: bringing residents back into the town to live and work, and restoring the residential-small business model that sustained it for most of its existence. James also points to the work of the Christiansted Community Alliance as another sign that the town won’t be abandoned to the roosters and iguanas.

For those of you who have history in Christiansted, not only on Company Street, but on any of the others, there a few ways that you can reconnect to the town and maybe participate in its restoration. You can research the history of the property where your grandmother lived or your family owned at the St. Croix Landmarks Society Research Library and Archives www.stcroixlandmarkssociety.com or you can visit the Christiansted Cemetery and clean your family’s gravesites or get Public Works to do it more regularly or you can contact family members and come up with a plan to breathe new life into the property that an ancestor passed down to you.  I know, it takes time, money, patience and talking to that cousin that you stopped speaking to 20 years ago. However, I am sure that if we start looking at Christiansted and Company Street as part of our future instead of our past, I am sure that many Christiansted jumbies will begin to rest in peace.

As the world we live in is global and interactive, I would like to hear from you who know and love St. Croix who may have stories, pictures or memories to share about Company Street. Contact me at info@bluegaulinmedia.com.

Monique Clendinen Watson is a writer and public relations specialist who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands and who lives in Virginia. She owns a public relations firm, BlueGaulin Media Strategies, www.bluegaulinmedia.com  and is a U.S. Virgin Islands Ambassador. Photos by Chalana Brown.