Little Jost Van Dyke

Little Jost Van Dyke lies so close to its namesake that you can wade there. Little Jost, a 155-acre (0.25-square-mile) island, is most famous as the birthplace of Dr. John Coakley Lettsome, the esteemed Quaker doctor and founder of the London Medical Society. Lettsome was born on Little Jost in 1744 while the islands were beginning their transition from cotton and indigo production to sugar. Lettsome was one of a pair of twin boys—reputedly the seventh pair delivered by his mother and the only to survive! Lettsome was schooled in England and returned to the Virgin Islands [1] as a young doctor for six months in 1768, during which time he freed the family’s slaves and quickly earned the princely sum of 2,000 pounds, which he used to further his education when he returned to England.

Dr. Lettsome never returned to his birthplace again, and the ruins of the Lettsome estate remain virtually untouched on Little Jost Van Dyke. They sit atop the low hill on the far western point of the island and are visible from Jost Van Dyke [2]. In 2008 archaeologists from the United States began a project to study the Lettsome ruins as well as pre-Columbian settlements on the island.

You can wade across to Little Jost from Big Jost on your own (wear water shoes or booties) or go with a guide on a daylong snorkeling or kayaking trip. Charter yachts will also find quiet anchorages.