Welcome to Wingfield Estate, once home to Sam Jefferson, the great-great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the U.S.A.

Wingfield Estate was established in 1625 and can boast many firsts:-

 - In 1624, the first land grant given by the King of England in the entire  English speaking West Indies.

 -  Has first examples of British masonry in the entire New World.

 - First established to produce tobacco. Switched to sugar cane after a devastating hurricane in the     mid 17th century.
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-  First Rum Distillery in St.Kitts (recently excavated)

Wingfield is unique. It used several methods to crush cane and extract the juice.

 - 17th century – animal power.

 - 18th century – water power, the water wheel was removed in the early 20th century  to help with the     World War effort.  It was melted down to be made into bullets etc.

 - 19th century – steam driven.

 - 20th century – centralized and crushed by the modern combustion engine.

In the late 17th century, Sam Jefferson sold part of Wingfield Estate to the Earl of Romney.  Romney Manor was established and the estate was known as “Romneys”.  It remained with the Earls of Romney for over 200 years.  Romney Manor is now the home of Caribelle Batik.

Visitors will be welcomed to Historic Wingfield Estate from Fall 2010.  From this time, visitors will learn the unique history of the area as well as see how sugar and rum were produced in the 17th century from sugar cane.

Sugar Cane is a tropical crop that prefers lots of sunshine and water.  The typical maturity time span for sugar cane is 12 months.  It is harvested by chopping down the stems but leaving the roots to re-grow in time for the next harvesting season.
The processing of sugar goes through a few stages:

STAGE I
The cane juice is usually extracted by crushing the sugar cane in a series of large rollers.  The collected juice is pretty dirty because it usually contains soil, small fibers and plant extracts. 

STAGE II
The juice is cleaned up easily with the use of lime (a chalk relative).  This process causes a lot of the impurities to settle and easily be removed. 

STAGE III
The purified syrup is then placed in large pans for boiling.  This boiling process allows for water to boil off until conditions are right for sugar crystals to form.  The sugar crystals form at the top and the molasses (a by-product of sugar cane) settles on the bottom.  Once the crystals have formed, the resulting mixture is placed in “drip pans” to separate crystals from remaining liquid.  A final dry using warm Caribbean sunshine completes the production of sugar.

As well as sugar, a by-product called molasses is obtained.  This product is usually turned into cattle food or more delightfully distilled to createRUM.