When Christopher Columbus sailed up St. Croix's Salt River looking for fresh water, he encountered the fierce Carib Indians, from whose name we get—you guessed it: Caribbean. And whose taste in meat gave us the word cannibal, in a less obvious etymology. In the ensuing centuries, the island's residents have revised their appetites and their welcomes, which are several degrees warmer - that is to say, friendlier.

At first glance, the town of Christiansted is an 18th century throwback.