National Parks 2021: Salt River Bay National Historic Park & Ecological Preserve

It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

National History – Eastern USA
National History – Western USA
Indigenous Culture
Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

On the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Whose land does it reside upon?

In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by all three major pottery-making cultures found in the Virgin Islands. Around AD 1425, the Caribs took control of the islands that currently make up the Virgin Islands. This was an area Columbus “discovered,” so once the 1490s hit, the Indigenous population was subjected to colonization, disease, slavery, and other horrors of western civilization.

When was it established?

February 24, 1992

Why is it amazing?

Salt River Bay NHP & Ecological Preserve is both a natural history and a human history wonderland. It’s home to many mangrove forests (Mangroves are “landbuilder communities,” they extend shorelines via systems of prop roots, trunks, pneumatophores, and saplings that trap and stabilize erosional terrestrial sediments. It has been reported that in some fringing mangrove systems, prop roots can result in anywhere from 25 to 200 meters of coastal accretion a year.), as well as a barrier reef that provides protection, and a submarine canyon. This park is also a comprehensive example of human habitation in this part of the world. Every major period of human habitation in the Virgin Islands is represented: several South American Indigenous cultures, the 1493 encounter with Columbus, Spanish capture and removal of the island’s Amerindian peoples, attempts at colonization by several European nations, and enslaved West Africans and their descendants. Since 1880, over a dozen major archeological investigations and much archival and historical research have revealed this area’s remarkable story.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you scroll down to the photo of the corals growing on the walls of the submarine canyon on this page, you’ll see where we got our inspiration: https://www.nps.gov/sari/learn/nature/natural-features-and-ecosystems.htm