St. John, USVI
Brown Bay Trail

You do the entire trail to get here or simply take a short cut and start at East End.

14. Brown Bay Trail

Length: 1.6 miles. Time: about 2 hours each way. Difficulty: 2-3. Trailhead: This spur turns off to the east 0.7 miles from the beginning of the Johnny Horn Trail. Seeing even less traffic than Johnny Horn, this pathway is not maintained.

The trail descends through a hot, dry valley, borders Brown Bay for a time and then ascends to overlook Hurricane Hole. It comes out on East End Road 1.2 miles east of the Emmanus Moravian Church at Coral Bay on the south shore.

Brown Bay contains the ruins of an estate house dating from 1872. Look for the concrete plaque with the date. Also present are extensive ruins of a sugar mill from an earlier period.

These include 2 horsemills, an old well, copper boiling pot and cisterns for distilling rum. You're almost guaranteed to see wild donkeys somewhere along this trail.

From East End to Brown Bay: If your main interest is to see only the ruins, it's just a 0.8-mile walk to them from the Brown Bay trailhead at East End. To find the trailhead, drive 1.2 miles east of Emmaus Moravian Church.

First you'll pass Estate Zootenvaal and then cross a concrete bridge. Take an immediate left after the bridge and park. The dirt road soon forks; the trail on the right will take you to Brown Bay.

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