The “King of Tintamarre” wasn’t a king, but his story remains one of St. Martin’s most popular tales. What is his story, and how has it remained so intriguing? Diederick Crestiaan van Romondt was known as D.C., and his family was considered the wealthiest and most powerful family on St. Martin at the time. He …
This year, non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer is working on an ambitious project to relaunch their free museum, Amuseum Naturalis. The Amuseum’s new home is the site of the former Old House museum between French Quarter and Orient Bay. In addition to exhibits about nature, the new museum will feature local heritage and culture. “This is …
Non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer is getting ready to launch their biggest project ever, a brand new museum for St. Martin. The group, which has previously focused on wildlife education, is taking their latest project in a surprising new direction. “After two successful years of our nature museum, Amuseum Naturalis, the obvious next step …
A photo that’s claimed to be a boa constrictor in Grand Case is causing quite a commotion on Facebook this week. The person who posted it said that a man claimed to have released four of them after Hurricane Irma. If true, this could be the start of a serious problem for the island. Of …
Does every name have a story behind it? If not every name, surely most do. Some are beautiful, some are terrible. But one thing that many have in common is that we become so used to the names, we forget the stories. Consider Philipsburg—it’s named after John Philips, but what do we really know about …
St. Martin’s status as a two-nation island is often recited as a piece of trivia. It is called the smallest island split by two countries, though strictly speaking that’s not true. Although we know that the split is something that makes the island unique, we don’t always give context to this fact. What is the story …
On the frozen Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores the seeds of almost half a million plants, including about 90,000 food crops. Deliberately remote and frozen, it exists to safeguard the genetic heritage of the world’s plants, particularly those we depend on. We only eat a few varieties of potato, corn …
The relaunch of Amuseum Naturalis has been progressing in many ways. Our volunteer days have been getting more and more busy with loads of people coming out to help. Luckily, we have plenty of work to do! Here’s a short video from Saturday: Our next clean-up is Saturday, March 24th from 9am to noon with …
Amuseum Naturalis was a free nature museum in Grand Case that was open the last two years. This year, the Les Fruits de Mer association is relaunching the Amuseum at the former site of The Old House museum in French Quarter. The scope of the museum is expanding to include heritage and culture, with the …
A wild explosion of green broadcasted a message of recovery from the hilltops of St. Martin this winter. Hurricane Irma battered and bruised, but the tropical sun and wet season rains were like a green machine. The island was still alive. Six months later, a closer look reveals a more complicated situation. Not all parts …