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To explore outside Charlotte Amalie, rent a car or hire a taxi. Your rental car should come with a good map and perhaps a GPS unit; if not, pick up the pocket-size Road Map St. Thomas–St. John at a tourist information center. Roads are marked with route numbers, but they're confusing and seem to switch numbers suddenly. Roads are also identified by signs bearing the St. Thomas–St. John Hotel and Tourism Association's mascot, Tommy the Starfish. More than 100 of these color-coded signs line the island's main routes. Orange signs trace the route from the airport to Red Hook; green signs identify the road from town to Magens Bay; Tommy's face on a yellow background points from Mafolie to Crown Bay through the north side; red signs lead from Smith Bay to Four Corners via Skyline Drive; and blue signs mark the route from the cruise-ship dock at Havensight to Red Hook. These color-coded routes are not marked on most visitor maps, however. Allow yourself a day to explore, especially if you want to stop to take pictures or to enjoy a light bite or refreshing swim. Most gas stations are on the island's more populated eastern side, so fill up before heading to the north side. And remember to drive on the left!
A peaceful place amid the town's hustle and bustle, the park has memorials for three famous Virgin Islanders: educator Edith Williams, J. Antonio Jarvis (a founder of The Virgin Islands Daily News), and educator and author Rothschild Francis. The last gave many speeches here.
A bronze bust of a freed slave blowing a conch shell commemorates slavery's end in 1848—the garden was built to mark emancipation's 150th anniversary in 1998. The gazebo here is used for official ceremonies. One other monument shows a scaled-down model of the U.S. Liberty Bell, with a plaque remembering the Virginia-bound English settlers who stopped here in 1607, a month before they established Jamestown.
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