USVI Historic Buildings Archive

Fort Frederik is a mid-eighteenth century Danish masonry fort located at the north end of Frederiksted, on the western end of St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. It is also known as Fort Frederiksted and Frederiksfort.
Fort Frederik was built to protect Danish colonial interests in the Caribbean and the western end of St. Croix against incursions by other colonial powers, prevent smuggling, protect shipping in the Frederiksted harbor from pirates and privateers, and maintain order among the colony’s enslaved people. The Fort is located overlooking a deep water bay. Before the Dutch purchased St. Croix from the French, earlier colonists had established a small fortification at this location, The gun battery was used to deter privateers and pirates from using this place as a landing site from which they could travel inland and attack the settlements.