St. Johns (or St. John's) is a settlement on the island of Saba, in the Caribbean Netherlands. It is located between the island's two largest settlements of The Bottom and Windwardside. St. John's is the smallest of Saba's four villages, with a population of 186 (in 2001). The village was the birthplace of Cornelia Jones, the first woman to hold public office in the Windward Islands. It is the current location of Saba's primary and secondary schools, making it the center of the Island's education. It is also one of the island's seismic monitoring sites.

Geography

Upper Saint Johns is located on St. Johns Hill, and Lower St. Johns is located on a promontory called St. Johns Flat. St. Johns Flat is one of Saba's multiple volcanic domes, about above sea level. St. Johns also includes the unpopulated Thais Hill.

History

Between 400 and 1450 A.D., St. Johns was the site of a small village. Three other villages on the island during this era were in The Bottom, Windwardside, and Spring Bay. St. Johns was settled by Europeans mostly of Irish descent. By the 1860s, St. Johns was one of 7 main districts, with The Bottom, Windwardside, Booby Hill, Hell's Gate, Mary's Point (Palmetto Point), and Middle Island. St. Johns district had its own elected head, as did the other districts. In 1951, "The Road", which had connected Fort Bay to The Bottom, had extended to St. Johns and Windwardside. The following year, St. Johns was the site of Saba's first aircraft landing, when a helicopter from a Dutch aircraft carrier landed there.

In 1980, Princess Irene Hospital was converted into Saba's secondary school, Soon thereafter, Saba's primary school was transferred to its present-day location in St. Johns. starts in St. Johns and goes to the stop of Thais Hill. It has views of The Bottom and Fort Bay, as well as St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, and Nevis.

  • Dancing Place Trail (20 minutes one-way) is located between the villages of Windwardside and St. Johns. It begins on The Road by the monument to "The Road that Couldn't Be Built". It has views of Giles Quarter and Saba's southern coast, as well as St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, and Nevis.

Volcanic monitoring

Saba's volcano is currently dormant, and St. Johns Flat is one of the island's sites for seismic monitoring. This includes a Seismic Broad-Band (3D) monitoring Station. they installed a second GNSS instrument at the airport the following year.

<gallery>

File:Charles Stellrecht bij de zendmast op St John's op Saba, Bestanddeelnr 252-8233.jpg|Photo of St. Johns, taken from Thais Hill (1947)

File:View of St. Johns, Saba, from Thais Hill (2024).jpg|Photo of St. Johns, taken from Thais Hill (2024)

</gallery>

See also

  • Mount Scenery

References