Explore St. Eustatius from 1750 to 1800, where booming warehouses, bold rebellions, and hidden stories of enslaved women intersect. Historian Dr. Allain reveals sweeping Caribbean upheavals while shining a light on how women quietly resisted an oppressive system. Discover the “First Salute,” recognizing American independence, and witness a fierce hurricane that exposes the island’s fragile success. 

Throughout, pressing questions echo: Where were the women in the archives, and why are their voices so rarely heard?  Part 1 of “Golden Rock Dreams and Nightmares” challenges the usual accounts, pushing us to look beyond the usual tales of wealth and uncover the hidden truths that shaped this remarkable slice of colonial history.

—

Produced by Simpler Media

>> : We were known as the Golden Rock, but it was

a golden rock with not such a nice history. When you

reflect more deeper, it is not

such a beautiful story.

The foundation on which our economy

was based back in those times was

based on the trading of

human lives.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Welcome M to Whispers of the Past. I'm your host,

Fi de Vitamins. In this episode, we travel

through the years 1750 to

1800, a time when

Syntostatius was known as the Golden Rock.

From a colonial perspective, it was an era of

immense prosperity. Ships piled high

with goods, merchants flocking from every corner

of the globe. And new alliances forged in

the shadows of revolution. Yet

behind that glittering facade lay the

continuation of a darker narrative, one

defined by fierce power struggles, massive

upheavals, and the brutal reality of

slavery. As we continue

exploring how this tiny island stood at the heart

of world shaping events that are often

overlooked by contemporary history, we

also honor the voices that were habitually

silenced, especially those of women.

Our human capacity for sympathy can

flicker. While we recoil at the horror of

slavery, we often overlook just how long

it truly lasted. The

enslavement of African descent people in the

Caribbean lasted roughly 250

years, encompassing entire

lifetimes that stretch across multiple

generations. To give you a number,

it's somewhere between eight or 10

generations. So let's pause for a

moment and reflect on the sheer

duration. Imagine that

staggering timeline began with you. That

would mean your children, your

children's children, and so on.

One generation after another, each

born into the system that refused to let you

go. And though faint echoes of

hope were beginning to stir throughout the

region, unfortunately for the enslaved on

Sintostatius, they still remained bound by the chain

of bondage. Because so many

pivotal developments took place on Sint Eustaceous

from 1750 to 1800, we

divided this era into two episodes. In

this first part, Golden Dreams and

Nightmares, we lay out the broader Caribbean

landscape that profoundly shaped the island. We

begin with historian teacher Dr. Elaine, who

offers a regional overview of this period before we

zoom in on Sintostacia's own unfolding dreams

and its nightmares.

>> Dr. Elaine: 1750 to 1800. So

let me start by saying this. Over the course of the 18th

century, there were many slave uprisings in

the Caribbean. And of course, the, you know, the most famous

one was 1791 and Saint

Domingue, which led to the first phase of the Haitian

Revolution. Um, and the role of

women in these uprisings has been

analyzed and debated by historians.

Historians have noted that across the Caribbean, we

don't have a ton of evidence of Women playing major roles

in armed rebellion. For example, there was a major

slave up, uh, rising in berbice in, uh,

1763. But most of the rebels were

men, and the majority of women remained non

combatants, uh, neither siding with the colonial

authorities, the Dutch, nor the rebels,

probably because they believed that this would increase their chances

of survival. In other contexts, it's

possible that women played a greater role in

rebellion than meets the eye. But because of

gendered assumptions about female passivity,

their involvement didn't get recorded.

Despite this, we do have some

documentation of women engaging in

armed rebellion. And, for example, the

Haitian Revolution was kind of catalyzed in

1791 by a ceremony in which

a voodoo priestess, a mambo named

Cecile Fatiman, led a ceremony in which she

sacrificed a pig. So this is one example

of a woman kind of engaging in rebellious

activity. But it's important to note that even when

women weren't engaging in armed rebellion,

they were often resisting slavery in different

ways. For example, they were

ensuring the strength of and the survival of

their communities by caring for members of their

communities. Sometimes they were engaging in what's called

everyday resistance, which could take the form of,

for example, feigning sickness to get

off from work, or feigning injury to get off from

work, or sabotaging equipment

on the plantations, stealing from plantation authorities,

and so on. So we shouldn't assume that women didn't engage in

rebellion, but this is just an interesting kind of

lacuna. In the archive, I'll also

mention that the mid to late 18th century is

the period in which the abolitionist movement really starts

getting off the ground. In England, most

abolitionists were white, or most people who were,

like, formally part of the

abolitionist movement were white. But some were

black. Whites had more access to the

written word, to power, to influence

in society. Some were black, though, and a

sizable number were women and abolitionists.

Abolitionists didn't all have the same goals and the same

strategies, but one generalization we can

make about them is that they focused very heavily

on the ill treatment of women in their campaign

to end slavery. So a lot of

abolitionist propaganda, and here I'm not using the

word propaganda in a negative sense, but

merely to describe any material that's intended

to convince an audience of a particular political

viewpoint focused on how

slaveholders beat enslaved women

and separated enslaved mothers and

children. Abolitionists, uh, knew that homing in on

the treatment of enslaved women would provoke a

lot of outrage.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Dr. Elaine lays out a sweeping account

of unrest, resilience, and the rising current

of abolition through the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Life on Synthesius took a different

course. Even as faint calls for ending slavery

began circulating elsewhere. The

island's colonial power seemed far more focused on

exploiting the Golden Rock economics potential.

A booming trade fueled by rapid growth.

Next we turn to Mrs. Tsutakao, a long term

resident and one of the founders of the island center for

Archaeology and Research, who recalls Sinto

Stacia's astonishing expansion during this era

and the mythical warehouse number that once lined

Stacia's shores.

>> Ms. Sutekau: But this is the time period Station was really

growing. We had established a reputation

as a trading colony and we were

expanding rapidly. This was also the

time period when the first

English North American

started coming down here and

beginning what was called the black market in the

United States. So there were

people from the English colonies in

North America coming down here, buying good

illegally, according to the

English, and then taking them back and selling them in the

United States. Which is one reason that by the outbreak of the American

Revolution, we knew about it all

through the mid 17. In the late

1700s, we were called the Golden Rock Group,

the emporium of the Caribbean.

There were over 100 warehouses on the

waterfront. The numbers of warehouses had increased

tremendously. We were having a lot of

trade, um, going on in this

period in the 1790s, there were

supposedly 600 warehouses on the

waterfront. That number really can't be confirmed.

And we aren't knowing whether they're calling

a warehouse what was actually a house because there

were some houses on the waterfront also. So.

But most of those houses were above warehouses.

Um, that number we cannot

confirm. But we know there are many, many

warehouses that are no longer visible

because they're buried under the cliffs,

as we have seen when they've done road work

recently. There were many houses that were

or warehouses that were revealed that

were buried in the cliffs. We also know

there are many warehouses buried in the

slides from the cliff. Like was found

on the, um, Orange Battery

Hotel site where we found a

whole warehouse. So the exact numbers we know

they were on both sides of the road and also in the water.

Remember that land was reclaimed from the sea.

And over time a lot of those warehouses had been

reburied in the sea that were there.

So an exact number is

hard to come by. You see

several numbers about how many there actually

were, but I don't know that there's a real

count of them. But There were over 100

warehouses for the waterfront.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Legends can spring up like wildflowers, especially

when an island's prosperity seems limitless.

Rumors of 600 warehouses and talk of

a population of 20,000

reflects how easily facts can, can merge with

fable. This is also why folklore and

recorded history must always be approached with a critical

eye. Over time, details can be

distorted, romanticized, or even

downplayed. It is up to us to remain

curious and not take every claim at face

value. With that in mind,

Mrs. Sutekau now continues as she unpacks

these legendary figures and the lingering uncertainty

that surrounds them.

>> Ms. Sutekau: Um, that 600

warehouses is a number that we've been

told it's like the 20,000 residents of

Stacia. When I first came here, I was told

that the population of Stacia in the early

1700s, 1740s,

1750s, 1760s, with over

20,000 people. That number cannot be backed with

anything. The largest population we really know about

was around 9,000 in the

1790s.

We do know that large numbers of people

died of smallpox epidemic in

1775 and again

in the hurricane of

1780.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Whether the true number of warehouses was

100 or 600 or somewhere in between,

one fact is undeniable.

Synthastacias attained a level of prosperity

rarely matched by other Caribbean islands of the 18th

century. Yet prosperity can be

fragile. Natural disasters sometimes bring even

the mightiest ports to their knees. Before we

delve into, uh, the devastating hurricane of 1780,

Mrs. Tutakow, uh, shares a reflection of the lady of

Quality, whose accounts reveal a

bustling and occasionally off putting trading hub

a window into Stacia's vibrant yet hectic

life.

>> Ms. Sutekau: There was a wonderful book written by

Janet Shaw, we call her lady

of Quality, who was here in the

early 17, uh, 70s.

And she talks about the island and how the trade

was going on. She called it a very

disgusting place because she thought the whole

island was the warehouses on the

waterfront and the trade. But she

talks about the multiple,

um, articles that

were available for trade. She

describes many French articles,

other articles from around the world, Mincemeats,

Madeira port. She

describes the people who were in their native

costumes, many of them from

Eurasia, also the Greek, the

Turks, and as well as the Europeans

that were trading on the waterfront. So she gives a

really good description of how

Stacia had grown and become a very international

place during this time. Um, those people

weren't just trading here, they were living here. So

Stacia at this point in time was really

expanding.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Amongst the bustle of trading houses, constant

ship arrivals from various empires, and a

rapidly growing population, Sintostatia

seemed unstoppable. Its enormous

warehouses and steady exchange of goods made

the island a magnet for merchants around the

globe. Meanwhile, across the

Atlantic, the American colonies were fighting for their

own independence from Britain. Due to

Sintostacia's neutral stance and thriving trade

network, the island would soon find itself playing

a pivotal role in that monumental conflict.

Synthastacia's Heritage Inspector M. Mr. Richardson

explains how this small island became such a vital

player in one of history's most significant

revolutionary dramas.

>> Mr. Richardson: So we're now in the middle of the

17, um, hundreds and we're going to go into

the 1800s. And what is interesting is that of course

there's the war in the United States going

on. The 13 colonies are fighting the British

for their independence. They want their freedom. The British

were raising taxes. The Boston Tea Party

happened. The whole works of any independent nation

and their struggles. And of course heroes emerged

like George Washington and all the other founding

fathers. So what you see of course is they

need an ally and they need an ally that's

kind of visible but invisible, you know,

because they're fighting the British and the British in Europe and

you know, they're surrounded by the French and the French and the

British hate each other at that time. Time. So that's

also interesting for the America who then has,

you know, a, uh, friendship with France. But one of their

big friends of course are the Dutch. The Dutch now

who was known for their trade and their

neutrality. So the Dutch was kind of the country

that would sell the British the guns, but also sell it to the French

while the British and the French fight each other off. You know, that

was just the Dutch, you know, like not taking aside is

like we're selling everyone everything and we are not in it. It's like

the Switzerland of the Caribbean. And that you see the Dutch are really doing

that. You know, it's like imagine we're surrounded by British

and French islands, but Stusages is trading

the hell, uh, out with the USA.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Mr. Richardson highlights how the Dutch, renowned for

their neutrality, sold arms and goods to both friends

and foes, turning Sintustatias into

a sought after port for those waging war,

those seeking profit, and anyone hoping to

keep a low profile while colonial powers clashed.

But what made Stacia so essential to

merchants, especially from North America?

Archaeologist Dr. Steltson, who has

first hand experience working on the island, offers us

a closer look. Drawing on shipping records and

maritime links, he explains how the

small Caribbean hub became indispensable to

traders across the Atlantic.

>> Dr. Stelton: I think it also has to do with the fact that historically

speaking, Stacia, uh, was much more connected

to North America than it was to Europe. Even

though technically, uh, the Europeans,

the Dutch were the colonizers and

they laid claim to the island. But if you look at

for example at the shipping records, there was a lot more trade

between Stacia and North America, the Eastern

seaboard, places like Boston and Philadelphia and New

York and the Carolinas, than there was

with big Dutch cities like Rotterdam and

Amsterdam. There's a few ships a year coming from those ports and from big

British ports, but there's dozens and dozens of ships

coming in from the eastern seaboard of North America. There's a

much stronger connection with the English speaking world

further north. But then there's also a very strong connection with

the English speaking world around them. Right.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As uh, Dr. Stelton shows, shipping records

reveal Syntostacia's strong tie to North

America. Ties even greater than those

with Europe. Constant traffic from places

like Boston, Philadelphia and beyond also

grew some of the most influential figures in early

American history. While a few merely passed

through the islands, others left behind documents

and personal connections that shaped Stacia's

Golden Rock legacy. To

delve into these personal links and the island's pivotal

role during the American War of Independence,

we turn once again to Sintustacia's heritage

inspector, Mr. Richardson.

>> Mr. Richardson: So they're having all their supplies or coming through

stages to aid the American war of the

independence trade, even the safety of

letters to France. Everything is passing through central

stations because it's the most trusted partner. Also,

many founding fathers of America you would

see, would have also, you know, station roots or

semi station heritage, even to a point

of having lived on the island. So even the

famous Alexander Hamilton, who's accredited to

being born on Nevis, he

actually lived here and probably would have known more

about St. Eustatius because he recorded it in his

records of his time here on Stasis. His Jewish

teachers, etc. Very interesting book. But also

you would see that many other founding fathers, like even

Benjamin Franklin, had his male rooted true

saints that would go to France and go to England, et

cetera. So you see there's a whole link going

on. And then in that period it's like we're

at the peak. It's like the balloon before it pops.

You know, the trade is going. And think in mind that

the island is already changing hands again over and

over and the trade is still blooming. The island

is at its Golden Rock period. That's where we get the name

from.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Synthesia's role wasn't limited to selling goods under

the table. It also Made symbolic gestures of

solidarity, like the so called first

salute, a recognition of American

independence that would resonate for

centuries.

Mississutikau recounts this pivotal day along with

intriguing and important documents that might have ended

up on this island. A signed copy of the

Declaration of Independence.

>> Ms. Sutekau: Well, the first salute is an episode

of an ongoing

story. We take

it as a separate

story by itself because of, uh, the

day of the arrival of the Andrew doria,

which was November 16,

1776. One of the

things that we are learning is

that the American involvement, or

the peoples that will become the Americans,

involvement with Stacia was going a

long time before the first loot actually

happened. And one of the reasons the first loot

happened is that many of the founding fathers in the

United States, uh, actually had involvement

with St. Eustatia. Not just Alexander

Hamilton, who we know now lived here longer than we thought

he did, but many others of the founding

fathers had involvements with St. Eustatia.

But the first saloon, November

16, 1776, was about

a naval ship whose

merchant's name happened to be the

Defiance. But when she became an official

naval ship, her name was changed with

Andrew Doria. She

came here being captained by a man named

Isaiah Robinson, with papers

to be signed by the island governor

to establish relationships between

the new colonies and station for the purpose of

trade. Um, the

stories that we know about it

only tell us really about what happened

that day and what went on afterward.

But the story itself is much

broader. They incorporate a lot more

history in the United States. And St. Eustace,

that is the story we really need to get

out before

2026.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): While the first salute remains a key milestone in

Stacia's ties to America, there are other intriguing

pieces of history connecting the Founding Fathers of

America and a possible signed copy of the

declaration of independence. Mr.

Tsutakow now explains how this document reached

Interstatius and the mystery of where it may have

gone.

>> Ms. Sutekau: This is one of the most fascinating

things about the Declaration

of Independence. The founders

and the writers of the Declaration of

Independence actually knew in their

heart that they had written a

document that would go down in history.

Now, I want you to think about that. You're

asked to write an essay or a report

or any kind of paper, and

when you produce it in your

own heart, you know

this paper will last

forever. That is an amazing

thing to have. The Founding fathers in

the United States knew that. And one of

the things they did to protect that document

was, was they made copies of that

document. These were all handwritten. Remember,

these were not put on a printing press and they

were all hand signed by all the

signers of the Declaration of Independence. And

these copies sole purpose

was so that the original could not be found.

One of those copies was

sent to St. Eustatia, the

governor, um, Johannes de Grau, in

appreciation in a thank you

and as a gift

for his agreeing to allow the United

States to trade.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): What happened to it?

>> Ms. Sutekau: Well, we've been trying to find out that for

a long time. Unfortunately,

oftentimes when Station

was being under threat of capture, we

burned our own archives.

A lot of times our archives were kept in

Europe or they were kept in, uh,

Curacao or other islands. Later on,

we have no record of what happened to them.

You must remember that copy had gone to

Johannes de Ro. He probably kept

it within his family. If it stayed within

the family, it could have well been burned.

It could still be around. We might find a hidden

treasure one day, which we all

dream of doing. Probably

it was destroyed at one time or another and it

could have even been traded off island. Or if the

family left the island, it might have gone with the

families. So it's very difficult to say what

happened to it. Unless we find it.

Then we'll know.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): By saluting an emerging republic and possible

safeguarding a copy of its founding document,

Sinter Statius gained both admirers and

enemies. Yet amongst its rise

in prestige, nature soon struck a devastating

blow. As Mrs. Sutekow explains, the

hurricane of 1780 shattered the island. Hard won

gains, reminding everyone that even

the golden rock was at the mercy of the sea

and the sky.

>> Ms. Sutekau: We all know the stories about the American

Revolution and our agreement

here on Station to trade with the American

colonies, um, and provide them

their arms, their ammunition, their other things that they needed

during the war. But this was

the biggest period of Stacia's

growth then with the hurricane

of 1780, which had greatly

affected the population of October of

1780. A lot of people

died during that hurricane and a lot of

houses were destroyed and Station had to rebuild.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): This hurricane became a defining moment for the island,

devastating its bustling lower town and

renowned warehouses in one single night.

Beyond lost cargo and buildings, it

claimed countless of lives, revealing just

how fragile prosperity could be.

Mr. Richardson now shares a firsthand

recorded account that offers a, uh, glimpse of the

havoc that left in the storm's wake.

>> Mr. Richardson: Saint Eusatius was one of the places that lost

the most lives in the great hurricane of 1780.

And what is interesting is that the governor wrote in his

letter to the Hague to the colonial chamber at the

Time saying, you know, he went to sleep at

night with a gentle breeze off the east, and

all he saw was about 200 ships in the harbor

still flickering. And after the destruction

through the night and partly losing the roof of his

residence, which we believe would have been the Gadot house at the

time, he comes down into the

administrator's office, which is then the

fort, Fort Oralnia, and he looks

over into the roadstead and is

horrified of what he sees because it's like he

has never seen a naval

battle that has provided as much

destruction as the great storm of 1780.

And all of these ships that were in the harbor are

now no more. You can see that some of them are recently

sunk. It looks like some of them have been set

afire. He looks in the lower town. It's a mess.

There are ships everywhere. The sea had

claimed half of the buildings. There were produce everywhere.

And he gives a pretty good description of what

happened. And let's not talk about the upper

town. It's a mess. It's like a hurricane, probably

we would have labeled it a Category 5 based on the

records. And more than a thousand people lost their lives

on Chinji Seishi's.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As we conclude part one of the Golden

Dreams and Nightmares, we find Syntostatius at the

crossroad of triumph and tragedy, Its

fortune shaped by global trade, colonial powers,

plays, and the brutality of enslavement.

We touched on pivotal moments. The first

salute to a rising new nation of the United

States of America, rumors of a

vanished declaration copy, and the

devastating hurricane that brought the island to

its knees. Yet in all these

grand narratives, one question

persists. Where were the women?

Archival records celebrate governors,

merchants, rebel leaders,

predominantly men. While the names of women

who lived, worked, and resided here are rarely,

if ever, mentioned.

We know they faced the same storms and endured

the same social upheavals. But why do their stories

remain hidden? And how can we

ensure their voices are finally heard?

As we reflect on the island's prosperity,

it ties to American independence

and its struggle under the weight of slavery,

we must consider these.

Whose perspectives are we missing?

And what does that mean for our understanding of this

era? Because

so much happened on St. Eustatius Between 1750

and 1800, we divided this era into

two episodes. In our next episode,

part two of Golden Dreams and Nightmares,

we'll continue the journey into the latter half of this era,

revealing how the island once again confronts shifting

empires and the global call for abolition.

As we delve deeper into the late 18th century,

a time when empires clashed, fortunes soared,

and crumbled, and women's legacies were often

unrecorded. We remind ourselves that no

history is truly complete until every

voice is.