The tower at Blackbeard’s Castle has two names. The one on the sign is the one tourists remember — the connection to the pirate, the legend, the story the harbor towns of the Caribbean tell about themselves. The other name is the one the Danes gave it when they built it in 1679: Skytsborg.

Skytsborg translates, roughly, to “protection castle” or “defense fort.” The Danes who built it were not particularly romantic about naming things.

Why the Danes built it

By the 1670s, the Danish West India Company had established Charlotte Amalie as a trading post. The harbor was excellent — deep, well-protected, with clear sightlines to the channel — which made it attractive to everyone, including people the Danes would rather have seen coming from a distance.

The tower was built on Government Hill, the highest natural point above the harbor, for exactly that reason. A lookout posted there could see ships approaching from miles away and signal the town below. The 99 Steps — the stone staircase connecting the hilltop to the waterfront — were built as a sprint route. The idea was that a soldier could get from ship-on-the-horizon to cannon-loaded in the time it took to get down the stairs.

The Blackbeard connection

The pirate Edward Teach — Blackbeard — operated in the Caribbean in the early 18th century, roughly 30 to 40 years after the tower was built. The connection between Blackbeard and this specific tower is disputed by historians, but the name stuck, and St. Thomas kept it.

National Historic Landmark

Skytsborg is one of five National Historic Landmarks in the U.S. Virgin Islands — a designation that covers the tower itself, the 99 Steps, and the surrounding property. The tower is still standing, largely as built, after 345 years. It has been a watchtower, a storage building, a private residence, and now a public landmark. The view from the top is the same one the Danish lookouts had in 1679.