St. Croix, Virgin Islands

Frederiksted is often referred to as "Freedom City" by locals. This nickname has to do with the fact that the town was the site of the emancipation of slaves in the then-Danish West Indies. Frederiksted is both the town and one of the two administrative districts of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a grid planned city, designed by surveyor Jens Beckfor, originally to 14x14 blocks but built 7x7 to enhance the island commerce in the 1700s. Frederiksted has fewer than 1,000 people in the town proper, but nearly 10,000 in the greater western side of the island. Christiansted (mid-island on the north) is about 30 years older but commerce was limited by its natural, shallow protective reef. Frederiksted was built in the leeward side of the island (shadow of the wind) for calm seas and a naturally deep port. It is home to Fort Frederik, constructed to protect the town from pirate raids and attacks from rival imperialist nations and named after Frederick V of Denmark, who purchased the Danish West Indies in 1754.