When the United States snapped up Denmark's Caribbean colony for a cool $25 million in 1917, it was a steal, even then. It required just a strong application of good old Yankee ingenuity to transform the trading ports and run-down sugar plantations of the three main islands - St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix - into "The American Paradise."
About the size of Manhattan, St. Thomas historically lacked plantations because its rocky terrain was unsuitable for agriculture. It has proved fertile ground, however, for a bumper crop of resort hotels and vacation condos.
