Destination List > Virgin Islands National Park
Virgin Islands National Park
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The history...
The Virgin Islands National Park is preserves about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor.
The park is well known for scuba diving and snorkeling, and has miles of hiking trails through the tropical rainforest.
Cruz Bay is the gateway port to the park, as well as the visitor center location.
Two category 5 hurricanes impacted the Virgin Islands in September 2017, Irma and Maria. The park received 112,287 visitors in 2018, after having received 304,408 visitors in 2017, and an average of more than 450,000 visitors per year in the preceding ten-year period from 2007 to 2016. The park was reopened in December 2017 with all roads, trails and beaches declared accessible to visitors.
Fun Fact
In 1956, Laurance Rockefeller donated most of the island of St. John to the National Park Service protecting the land from future development.