A sad entry regarding Laurence Rockefeller, who in 1956 turned over property his family owned to create the Virgin Islands National Park on St. John as well as Caneel Bay, has died at 94. He will, we are sure, be missed, but not forgotten.

"In 1952, while cruising in the caribbean with his wife, Rockefeller put in at Caneel Bay, a cove fringed with frangipani, bougainvilla and monkey-no-climb trees on St. John's, the smallest and most unspoiled of the American Virgin Islands. Over the next four years he bought land eventually amassing 50,000 acres that he turned over to the Park Service as Virgin Islands National Park.

It was at Caneel Bay that Mr. Rockefeller opened the first of his RockResorts in 1956, seeking to test his belief that there could be an alliance between commerce and conservation. In design the place he determined that his guests were to swim, snorkle, sleep, eat well but not luxuriously and take nature walks. There would be no telephones, no air conditioning, no tipping."
-- New York Times

Posted by hudson at July 14, 2004 09:15 AM