When Cleve Jacobs was young, he and other Boy Scouts would pack overnight bags and camp in once-remote areas of St. Thomas and St. John. They’d learn about local vegetation and interact with farm animals. Although many of those sites are now parking lots or retail outlets, Jacobs hopes his family land in undeveloped and somewhat remote Estate Neltjeberg gives Virgin Islands youth a hands-on understanding of the outdoors.
Stretched over three parcels, the 2.5 acres of flat or gently-sloped beachfront or beach-adjacent property is available for lease to the right tenant — one that celebrates Virgin Islands culture, nature, and education, he said.
“We definitely don’t want to see no big-time development down there. But some type of ecotourism, camping, glamping, hiking trails, a farm, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all,” Jacobs said. “What I would like to have is an eco-friendly business.”
Once a thriving agricultural estate on the north side of St. Thomas, Neltjeberg has been in the Moolenaar family hands for nearly two centuries. Jacobs, a Moolenaar descendant, said the time was right to put the property to good use without destroying its natural beauty.
“Why we getting bananas from Ecuador when we have all this property. So once again I want to have a farm down there,” he said. “A lady tried charging me $7 for avocado!”
While the Neltjeberg output had been sugarcane, molasses, and rum, Jacobs hoped a farm on the property might grow avocados, bananas and other fruits and vegetables.
“In addition to a farm, it would be great if someone had a petting zoo. My little nieces don’t even know the difference between a goat and sheep. That’s the kind of thing I’d like to have on my property,” he said. “A lot of kids have never touched a donkey or a horse. There’s so much stuff that could be done on our property.”
Tours through the area’s hiking trails and historic guts could help educate both locals and tourists, Jacobs said. The flat beachfront area would be a great spot for coal-pot cooking lectures and other demonstrations of local flavor.
“One of the parcels is on the beach and it would be great if we had someone with events about V.I. culture,” he said.
Jacob’s property, located in front of Inner Brass, does not include the nearby Neltjeberg ruins that lay about 1,000 feet to the east, he said.
“I would like to see our site return to that. You go down there with some tents and you rough it for the weekend.”
