More than 500 years ago, Columbus landed on St. Croix and called it a Lush Garden.

It has a lush forest in the western mountains, undulating hills in the interior and, on the eastern end, spiny desert vegetation and rocky red cliffs.  Skirting the edges of the countryside are gorgeous white-sand beaches, and just offshore to the northeast lies pristine, Buck Island.

While Christopher Columbus came upon St., Croix in 1493 during his second voyage to the Americas, the Dutch and English were among the first to establish themselves on St. Croix; both powers had a presence on the island by 1625. The two colonies coexisted without major incident until 1645, when the islands Dutch governor killed his English counterpart. The English then retaliated by killing the Dutch governor, which sparked a long series of battles over possession of the island.

In 1917, the United States purchased St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas from the Danish government to prevent their becoming a German submarine base during World War 1. St. Croix first fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy and was later granted territorial status. By 1936, St. Croix's agricultural sector was failing, and attempts to revive the sugar industry were fruitless. A period of uneven economic recovery followed, continuing until the 1950s, when tourism became the leading industry of the island.

St. Croix is the largest of the three principal Virgin Islands, measuring some 28 miles long and 7 miles wide and located about 40 miles south of St. Thomas and St. John. Its two main towns are Frederiksted, on the west coast, and Christiansted, on the north shore.