Columbus Landing Site at Salt River Point

Columbus landing site at Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve in 2012.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix, USVI

Significance:

the site where members of Columbus’s second voyage landed on November 14, 1493

Designation:

National Historic Landmark

The beach at Salt River Point (also known as Columbus Landing) is recognized as the site where members of Columbus’s second voyage landed on November 14, 1493. This place is one of two documented sites on what is now U.S. territory where a Columbus expedition made landfall. Cape of Arrows, on the east side of Salt River Bay, near Salt River Point, is distinguished as the site where the expedition skirmished with Amerindians, making it the site of the first recorded conflict between Europeans and Amerindians in the New World. The beach at Salt River Point remains an important local cultural resource for community use. This portion of the park is currently owned by the Government of the Virgin Islands and is co-managed with the National Park Service.