Mount Healthy

When we went to Sage Mountain a couple of weeks ago, HB and I had anticipated spending two hours or so exploring the park. Instead, we spent about 45 minutes. As a consolation prize, we took a second trip to Mount Healthy National Park, which is about halfway between our house and Brewer's Bay.

Mount Healthy is known primarily as the site of the ruins of an old sugar mill, and has become a popular place for picnics, especially for tourists.

The windmill part of the mill is still standing, although it's lost its blades. Various other ruins of the mill-works are scattered through a 1/4 square mile area nearby, including portions of the old cisterns and storage sheds. The windmill is by far the easiest to access though, as it doesn't involve tramping through overgrown bush or meadow, quite possibly across someone else's land. 

The ramp was used by teams of horses or cows to pull wagon-loads of cane into the mill for milling. HB was doing quite a good job taking pictures of the mill, until I absent-mindedly strolled through his shot like an undersized sasquatch. 

We wandered around for about twenty minutes, enjoying the springy grass under our feet, taking pictures of the flora. This tree (I think it's ironwood, but I'm not sure) was showing signs of recovery from Earl, putting out plenty of new, bright-green leaves less than three weeks after being stripped by the winds. 

For those looking for a little outdoor recreation, other than the beach, Mount Healthy offers a little history, a pleasant stroll, and an excellent picnic location.