Blackbeard's Castle, St. Thomas

What Blackbeard's Castle is, and why the Danes built it

For two reasons, by the National Park Service's landmark study. In 1679 Governor Jørgen Iversen had a tower raised on the hill north of the fort so that no enemy could haul guns onto that high ground and pound the fort below, and he built it high enough to peer over Hassel Island to the open sea, an early warning of any ship approaching. The Danes called it Skytsborg. Iversen wrote the next February that since the watchtower went up, he no longer feared a sudden attack so much.

It is a squat, round tower of rubble masonry, limestone, volcanic stone and coral, with brick around the door and the gun ports, 20 feet across at the base and 31½ feet high, and in 1688 a later governor had embrasures cut for two cannon to cover the harbor. The landmark study calls it the only unmodified seventeenth-century fortified tower in the Caribbean, and possibly the oldest unaltered structure on St. Thomas. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

Did Blackbeard ever use the castle?

No. The National Park Service's study says the tower gathered three erroneous legends in the nineteenth century, the first that buccaneers built it and Edward Teach, Blackbeard, later used it, and that Blackbeard was never known to have visited St. Thomas. The castle's own site now says the connection is more story than record. Before the pirate's name stuck, the tower went by its owners' names: Fogarthy's Castle around 1800, then Kjaer's Castle, when an observatory sat on its roof.

The legend is still the draw, and the grounds lean into it with life-size pirate statues. For the real pirate history of these waters, the BVI pirate history guide separates what the record shows from what the islands tell.

Is Blackbeard's Castle open, and what does it cost?

Yes. The castle opens every day from 9 am to 5 pm, last admission 4:30, per its own site as of October 2026. A ticket is $15, children under 10 go free, USVI locals free with ID, and seniors 60 and over and the military pay $10. It covers the tower, which you climb on your own up 36 stairs, the grounds and pirate statues, the pool and lounge, and a rum tasting. The castle's booking page also lists guided tours, the tower with the historic homes beside it and a rum tasting among them, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The confusion comes from the Department of Tourism. Its own listing calls the castle a landmark and boutique hotel open daily, but three of its guide pages, undated, still say it is closed. Go by the castle's site, or call its front desk at (340) 715-6199. Jolly Roger's, the bar on the grounds, needs no ticket for a drink; the Charlotte Amalie eat-and-drink guide lists it with the rest of town.

Climbing the 99 Steps to Government Hill

The walk up is the 99 Steps, the brick step-street that climbs Government Hill from the town below. The Department of Tourism calls it an 18th-century street built of brick that came over on Danish ships, and counts 103 steps, not 99. The castle sits at the top, so the climb is the price of the view, and on a hot afternoon it is a real one, with the tower's stairs still to come. Anyone who would rather not climb can, by our read, take a taxi up Blackbeard's Hill, the castle's own address, instead.

Getting to Blackbeard's Castle from the cruise piers

Ships berth at Havensight, east of town, and at Crown Bay to the west, and neither is at the foot of the hill. From Havensight it is 12 minutes by car to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, and from Crown Bay 9 minutes by car to the waterfront or a 40-minute walk to the center of town, by our measurement. On the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, the ride from Havensight to Charlotte Amalie is $6 a person and from Crown Bay $8 for one rider or $6 each for two or more. The cruise port guide covers the piers, and the taxis page the other fares.

What you see from the top of Skytsborg

The harbor, which was the point. The landmark study describes the tower overlooking Charlotte Amalie and St. Thomas Harbor, and the castle sells it as a view over the town and the cruise ships. Hassel Island lies across the mouth of the harbor, the line the Danish lookouts watched past for ships, and Havensight's cruise piers sit on the eastern side of the same water.

Fort Christian and the old town below the castle

The castle is the top of a walk through the oldest part of St. Thomas. Fort Christian, the red fort on the waterfront that Skytsborg was built to guard, is at the foot of the hill, with Emancipation Garden beside it and the St. Thomas Synagogue a few streets up. The shops of Main Street fill the lanes in between, which the shopping guide sorts out, and the Charlotte Amalie guide covers staying in town. The rest of the island's sights are on the St. Thomas things to do page.