The "SXM: A Visit With Jenn & Mark At Amuseum" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I along with native island friends Dee and Barbara are having our evening meal at Le Piment in Orient Village when this young couple enter and sit close to our table.  Soon they are making a visit to our table to say Hi! to Dee and Barbara as well as introduce themselves to Carol and me.  

The Old House or the new Amuseum Naturalis in French Quarter.

Jenn and Mark are the new resident owners at what they are now calling Amuseum Naturalis which to most is known as "The Old House" which is located on the hill at the end of French Quarter as you enter Orient Village in St. Martin.  For years I have admired the old house that sat on the hill along the road above Le Galion
Beach that takes passengers from the French Quarter to Orient Bay.  

Not a very pleasant photo, but it shows a pile of dung
covered with white butterflies known as St. Martin snow.

A couple of days after our evening visit with new friends Jenn and Mark, I actually pulled into the driveway to make a visit to the old house now known as Amuseum Naturalis which is now a free museum of local nature, history and culture developed by the Les Fruits de Mer Association with an all-volunteer team.  

This is the caterpillar that hatches into the butterfly.

After pulling off the road you are greeted by a restored 18th century green-and-black plantation greathouse on what at one time was a sugar plantation.  The Old House's interior replicates the life of a typical planter and shows period furniture and original family portraits and personal objects from six generations.  I pulled up to the house and hopped out of my rental.  

Stairway to the front door of The Old House.

Searched the grounds for someone and after not seeing a soul, began my own tour.  The view of the house was obstructed at first by a wall of white which I later learned was call St. Martin Snow.  It is the early hatching of thousands and thousands of white butterflies.  They were everywhere.  About 10 minutes after I began my self-tour a car pulled next to mine and out jumped Jenn and Mark.  They apologized for not greeting me, but they had a delivery to make before heading to The Old House.  We walked to the front door of The Old House, but I was told the interior of the house had suffered severe damage during last year's Hurricane Irma and still isn't safe enough to enter.  

Looking inside the front door yields this beautiful view.
I could go no further due to the floor being weak.

They told me The Old House has been part of the landscape for hundreds of years.  It was built in 1766 of wood on a stone foundation and was a valuable estate for years.  Originally there were coffee plants, banana trees and acres of cotton, potatoes and cassava.  It was farmed primarily by slaves for many years.  By 1793 the land was used to grow sugar cane.  A mill had been built in the valley across the road.  

These old wheels may have been part of a vehicle or perhaps
part of a machine for processing sugar or even salt or cotton.

The owners of the property were the Hodge family who were from nearby Anguilla.  In 1819 a hurricane destroyed the home which was rebuilt on the same foundation of wood.  By the late 1830's the house was in decline and in 1843 was purchased by Daniel Beauperthuy who had rights to produce salt on the Orient Bay salt pond.  

Don't you wonder what went on behind the many doors of The Old House?

Since the house was in terrible shape, Mr. Beauper- thuy set it on fire.  Took two weeks to burn it down.  The concrete house that is seen today was built in 1935 by Adolph Artsen.  The Bearperthuy family still lived in the house as they managed the salt production on Orient Bay until the 1950s.  

This old slide bolt may have been touched by the owner,
a worker or even a slave who lived at The Old House.

Pierre Beauperthuy transformed the house into a museum of history and culture in the early 2000s.  As I was searching for information I found that Pierre was murdered, but never found an outcome of the investigation.  The remaining Beauperthuy family eventually asked Jenn and Mark if they would take over the property and make it into the Amuseum it is today.   In 2018 the Les Fruits de Mer Association began restoring the property and finally opened it as a free museum.  My visit was interesting, but the short time I had wasn't enough to explore everything.  On my next visit to the island I will make another visit to The Old House to explore at greater lengths.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.