Hacienda Buena Vista
Encyclopedia
Hacienda Buena Vista, also known as Hacienda Vives (or Buena Vista Plantation in English
), is a coffee plantation
and estate
in Ponce, Puerto Rico
, established in the 19th century. The plantation was started by Don Salvador de Vives in 1833. It is now owned by the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust (Fideicomiso de Conservación), who operates it as a museum
. It is located on 81.79 acres (330,992.7 m²) of fertile land that includes a humid subtropical forest some 7 miles (11.3 km) north of Ponce on Route PR-123, in Corral Viejo, a sub-barrio of Barrio Magueyes
. The plantation house was built in the Spanish Colonial style, with the surrounding buildings being builtin the local Criollo
style. It receives some 40,000 visitors every year.
in July, 1994.
The second reason Hacienda Buena Vista is significant is that it offers one of the best remaining examples of a Puerto Rican coffee plantation
. This is important because in the latter part of the nineteenth century the coffee produced in Puerto Rico and exported to Europe and the United States was considered among the finest in the world. It is said to have even been the favorite at the Vatican
at the time. Hacienda Buena Vista is also significant because it shows the evolution of the coffee industry in the region. Various periods can be appreciated. These range from the cultivation of produce such as plantains (1833–1845); to the production of flour (from rice and corn) (1847–1872). These products were staples for the subsistence of the local population.
and avocados, by Don Salvador de Vives
in 1833. De Vives was a Catalonian immigrant arriving from Venezuela
and he set up the farm to sell its produce in the Ponce market
and in the sugar cane estates along the southern coast. Originally, the Vives estate covered 500 acres (2 km²).
In 1845, the son of Don
Salvador added a corn mill operation to the profitable fruit and vegetable production. Later, Don Salvador's grandson oversaw the addition of coffee
growing and processing to the plantains and cornmeal, taking advantage of the great coffee-growing boom of the 1880s and 1890s. Don Salvador's son and grandson introduced some of the most innovative farm machinery on the island, powered by a nearby 100 feet (30.5 m) waterfall. Eventually Hacienda Buena Vista would become one of the most successful plantations in the mountains of Puerto Rico.
A series of hurricanes and the failing coffee market brought operations at the Hacienda to a standstill by 1900, and gradually Hacienda Buena Vista fell into disrepair and was partially abandoned.
By 1937 agriculture
had seriously declined in Puerto Rico, and the plantation was abandoned, becoming mostly a weekend country house for the Vives heirs. Worker barracks, outbuildings and equipment deteriorated rapidly under the humid tropical climate and rainfall.
In 1984, the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust bought 86 of the original 500 acres (2 km²), with the intention of restoring it. Despite the grave deterioration of the coffee-processing machinery and the farm buildings, the Conservation Trust managed to restore the estate so that it could be used to educate the public about the golden era of fine coffee growing in the mountains of Puerto Rico. The original owners donated many of the furnishings, and the Conservation Trust purchased other authentic pieces.
Hacienda Buena Vista is today a well-known educational destination. The machinery of the original Hacienda has been put in motion again, farm animals roam the grounds, the farmhouse rooms have been furnished, and the scent of freshly roasted coffee fills the surrounding air. Visitors can take tours through the old Vives country home and explore the plantation buildings and grounds. Authentic 19th-century farm machinery is exhibited that shows how a coffee plantation worked in the 1880s.
in Spain, who had been stationed in Caracas, until he was forced to leave after the defeat of the Spanish Army in the battle of Carabobo
in 1821. It was thus that Vives traveled from Venezuela to Puerto Rico on June 27, 1821 with his wife Isabel Diaz and son Carlos. Accompanying him were also two slaves. He settled in the southern port city of Ponce, where the sugar industry was booming.
, to the north of the city of Ponce, and near the Canas River.
The land consisted mostly mountainous terrain with thick forest, and far from the town. Fortunately, Vives was able to purchase the lands relatively cheap for the lands in greatest demand at that time were the rich flatlands near the coast that provided the perfect conditions for the sugar-growing industry. The development of a new road in that area, PR-123, would also guarantee that products from Vives' future farm could be bought down for sale to the marketplace in Ponce
with relative easy. The construction of the farm-to-market PR-123 road would prove to be a factor in the success of Vives' hacienda.
s, bean
s, yam
s, and corn
which were bought at Plaza del Mercado Isabel II in Ponce by the area sugar plantation owners to feed the slave labor force of their plantations. The hacienda also grew other crops, including cotton
, coffee
, and rice
and it also raised cattle
, oxen, mule
s and horse
s in the limited lower pastures of the hacienda, in the vicinity of the hacienda's buildings complex. Initially, the hacienda's principal crop was plantain (Musa acuminata × balbisiana
). By 1845 there were 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) growing this crop. This acreage grew steadily from the mid 1820s to the early 1840s. Between 1852 and 1860 the production of plantains at the farm had increased from 329,200 to 475,380.
built, and he arranged for the official coat of arms of the city from the Spanish crown.
, the warehouse, and the carriage house
with stables for horses and mule
s."
from the West Point Foundry
, in Cold Spring, New York
. The turbine was patented in the United States, in 1843, by James Whitelaw
, of Scotland
. The flour from Hacienda Buena Vista gained islandwide prominence due to its excellent quality. From 1847 to 1873, the corn flour of the hacienda reigned supreme over other local mills. Shortly afterwards, a corn mill to pulverize the corn was mounted, and the hacienda's white and yellow corn flour received the gold medal for excellence in the second public exposition celebrated in San Juan
in June 1855." In 1860, the hacienda won awards again at the Puerto Rico Exposition Fair.
basis for the continued success of the hacienda."
Some of the best Puerto Rican coffee was produced in the central mountain area of the island around Yauco, Ponce, Lares
, Maricao, Utuado, and Cayey. The Vives’ family hacienda lands were also ideal for coffee production. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Hacienda Buena Vista produced and processed over 5 tons of coffee a year, just for export to Europe. The good days of coffee production at Hacienda Buena Vista, however, came to an end during the dawn of the 20th century when a series of three yearly natural and politico-economic disasters took place, and coffee production in all of Puerto Rico fell from 338 tons to only 8 tons per year.
In 1899, hurricane San Ciriaco
struck a hard blow to coffee production in Puerto Rico. After this hurricane, Puerto Rico would never become a coffee exporter again. To exacerbate this, in 1900 the worldwide price of coffee fell to levels that made it considerably more difficult to compete. The third blow came in 1901, when Puerto Rico was included into the United States Customs System, setting the local coffee production at a competitive disadvantage over its European markets. It also dropped Puerto Rico's favored status in US markets. To compensate, the Salvador Vives switched to a successful orange growing program for the New York City market. This new phase of agriculture continued until 1956.
, in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico at between 160 and 460 meters above sea level. The hills near the hacienda buildings are excellent for cultivating corn
, coffee
, and fruits. The nearby Canas River provides the power for the power needed to run the hacienda's mills.
The hacienda today is made up of an 87 acres (352,076.8 m²) agricultural complex. Its main buildings are grouped together in a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) central area and the property includes 11 original buildings: the hacienda manor house, the carriage house, the horse stables, the mule stables, the caretaker's house and office, two warehouses, a hurricane shelter, the corn mill, and the slave quarters. There is a water canal system that is still operative, an aqueduct
, and a house garden. The coffee bean processing building was rebuilt to look like the original 1892 building.
is a 2-story 60x50ft building. It was built in 1845. The ground floor was designed to be used for storage. The second floor contains three bedrooms and a living room. The eastern half of the manor house is made of brick and includes a courtyard, the kitchen, two more bedrooms and a bathroom. The manor house also has garden surrounded by a wrought iron
-and-brick fence. The garden served two purposes: "Historically, this garden served as the formal entrance to the hacienda complex; however, it was most often used as a private family place."
Dependent on horses for managing the hacienda, its administrators also built a carriage house, stables, and a small caretaker's house. In addition mule stables and caretaker's office were also built.
Located opposite the manor house, is the hurricane shelter
. It is a solid brick structure measuring 15 ft (4.6 m). x 25 ft (7.6 m), and built 3 ft (0.9144 m). above ground. Its walls, floor and ceiling were made to withstand or dissipate the destructive tropical storms that are common in this region.
s for the 58 acres (234,717.9 m²) that comprise the area of the Canas River to pride for his canal. The use of the River for the hacienda was authorized by the Spanish Colonial Government in Puerto Rico. The canal and aqueduct were finished in 1851. A series of manifolds are used for diverting the water according to the needs of the hacienda agricultural production: one gate diverts water to the water wheel and the corn mill water turbine, another gate diverts water to the fermentation
tank, the ornamental washbasin, and the bath, and a third gate diverts water to a race which sends water back to the Canas River.
in this building was processed here. Grinding of the corn into corn meal occurred here. It was also packer into bags here. One of the canals of the aqueduct system ran underneath this building to power the corn mill above.
As required for the production of ground coffee, a bean drying station was also built. Thus building dates from 1847. The building had previously served as slave quarters, but after the abolition of slavery
in Puerto Rico in 1873, it was converted into a bean drying building. The pans used for drying the coffee beans were kept in this building as well.
in Cold Spring, New York
. The purchase was made through the Maitland and Phelps Company, also of New York. The turbine follows the design patented by James Whitelaw
and James Stirrat, of Paisley, Renfew, Scotland
, in 1841."
"The Scotch-type turbine on the pit's floor of the corn mill is a unique piece of hydraulic technology machinery, recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Although the turbine is not a classic 17th-century Baker's centrifugal or reaction turbine wheel it might be a transformed one, since this "Buena Vista Turbine" does not fit within the Baker's description. Nevertheless, the wheels have an element in common since their arms are very similar in so far as it refers to shape, position, and function. On the other hand, it is not a Scotch turbine either, being this a modification of the Baker turbine. Apparently, the Buena Vista turbine builder used the Scotch turbine principles to make the one in situ, adapting at the same time parts of the Baker's design with added improvements of its own. It is significant that in the mid-1840s—while the hacienda was being developed—the Scotch turbine was being patented in the United States after European designs (particularly the La Cour's centrifugal wheel). R. L. Johnson assessed the "Buena Vista Turbine" in the following way:
Only the three Scotch turbines—first patented in the 1840s—are known to exist in the United States.... This acute shortage of extant early hydromachinery is the principal reason why the technological history of the water motor remains obscure and relatively poorly documented…Recently, however, the discovery of a unique turbine located on a plantation at Ponce, near the south coast of Puerto Rico, promised to open a new window on the past…The turbine at Hacienda Buena Vista…is the only pre-Scotch type-known to exist and is the sole extant example of a pioneer and historically important machine that was invented at the close of the 17th century by Dr. Baker.... The Buena Vista turbine is, in effect, a missing link in the evolution of mechanical artifacts better known to the historians of technology.(The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, Vol. 4, No. 1 [1978], pp. 55–58)."
presented a plaque to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust designating the Hacienda Buena Vista's hydraulic turbine as a National Historic Monument of Mechanical Engineering. The award was given in recognition not only of the value of the turbine but also of the extraordinary work carried in its restoration.
and the water channel system. But even these were also acquired by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico in 1984. The Trust restored the hacienda to much of its past glory and turned it into a museum. It opened in 1987. The museum has operated continuously for 23 years. It is the only such museum in Puerto Rico. The coffee mill was entirely reconstructed, to its 1892 look. The Vives family rebuilt their coffee mill after 1928. The coffee mill was reconstructed, by the Trust, in 1988, to resemble the coffee mill of 1892.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
), is a coffee plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
and estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
, established in the 19th century. The plantation was started by Don Salvador de Vives in 1833. It is now owned by the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust (Fideicomiso de Conservación), who operates it as a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. It is located on 81.79 acres (330,992.7 m²) of fertile land that includes a humid subtropical forest some 7 miles (11.3 km) north of Ponce on Route PR-123, in Corral Viejo, a sub-barrio of Barrio Magueyes
Magueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Monte Llano, Portugues, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian...
. The plantation house was built in the Spanish Colonial style, with the surrounding buildings being builtin the local Criollo
Ponce Creole
Ponce Creole is an architectural style created in Ponce, Puerto Rico in the late 18th and early 19th century. This style of Puerto Rican buildings is found predominantly in residential homes in Ponce that developed between 1895 and 1920...
style. It receives some 40,000 visitors every year.
Significance
The Hacienda is significant for various reasons. First, it contains the only remaining example of the Barker hydraulic turbine. The Barker hydraulic turbine was the first reaction type turbine ever made. It was nominated as a Mechanical Engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical EngineersAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....
in July, 1994.
The second reason Hacienda Buena Vista is significant is that it offers one of the best remaining examples of a Puerto Rican coffee plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
. This is important because in the latter part of the nineteenth century the coffee produced in Puerto Rico and exported to Europe and the United States was considered among the finest in the world. It is said to have even been the favorite at the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
at the time. Hacienda Buena Vista is also significant because it shows the evolution of the coffee industry in the region. Various periods can be appreciated. These range from the cultivation of produce such as plantains (1833–1845); to the production of flour (from rice and corn) (1847–1872). These products were staples for the subsistence of the local population.
Brief history
Hacienda Buena Vista was started as a truck farm to produce mostly plantains, bananas, cornMaize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and avocados, by Don Salvador de Vives
Salvador de Vives
Salvador de Vives Rodó was a Puerto Rican politician and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico from 1840 to 1842 and then again from 1844 to 1845. He was the son of Quirse Vives and Ana Maria Rodo. He was a wealthy coffee plantation owner who established the now historic Hacienda Buena Vista. Under de...
in 1833. De Vives was a Catalonian immigrant arriving from Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and he set up the farm to sell its produce in the Ponce market
Plaza del Mercado de Ponce
The Plaza del Mercado de Ponce, or, formally, Plaza del Mercado Isabel II is a historic marketplace building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was inaugurated in 1863 by Ponce Mayor Don Luis de Quixano. The building was designed by famed engineer Timoteo Luberza...
and in the sugar cane estates along the southern coast. Originally, the Vives estate covered 500 acres (2 km²).
In 1845, the son of Don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Salvador added a corn mill operation to the profitable fruit and vegetable production. Later, Don Salvador's grandson oversaw the addition of coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
growing and processing to the plantains and cornmeal, taking advantage of the great coffee-growing boom of the 1880s and 1890s. Don Salvador's son and grandson introduced some of the most innovative farm machinery on the island, powered by a nearby 100 feet (30.5 m) waterfall. Eventually Hacienda Buena Vista would become one of the most successful plantations in the mountains of Puerto Rico.
A series of hurricanes and the failing coffee market brought operations at the Hacienda to a standstill by 1900, and gradually Hacienda Buena Vista fell into disrepair and was partially abandoned.
By 1937 agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
had seriously declined in Puerto Rico, and the plantation was abandoned, becoming mostly a weekend country house for the Vives heirs. Worker barracks, outbuildings and equipment deteriorated rapidly under the humid tropical climate and rainfall.
In 1984, the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust bought 86 of the original 500 acres (2 km²), with the intention of restoring it. Despite the grave deterioration of the coffee-processing machinery and the farm buildings, the Conservation Trust managed to restore the estate so that it could be used to educate the public about the golden era of fine coffee growing in the mountains of Puerto Rico. The original owners donated many of the furnishings, and the Conservation Trust purchased other authentic pieces.
Hacienda Buena Vista is today a well-known educational destination. The machinery of the original Hacienda has been put in motion again, farm animals roam the grounds, the farmhouse rooms have been furnished, and the scent of freshly roasted coffee fills the surrounding air. Visitors can take tours through the old Vives country home and explore the plantation buildings and grounds. Authentic 19th-century farm machinery is exhibited that shows how a coffee plantation worked in the 1880s.
Migration from Venezuela
Salvador Vives arrived in Puerto Rico from Venezuela fleeing the struggle for independence going on in that country at the beginning of the nineteenth century. At the time he was a 12-year Spanish career officer from the province of CataloniaCatalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
in Spain, who had been stationed in Caracas, until he was forced to leave after the defeat of the Spanish Army in the battle of Carabobo
Battle of Carabobo
The Battle of Carabobo, 24 June 1821, was fought between independence fighters, led by Simón Bolívar, and the Royalist forces, led by Spanish Field Marshal Miguel de la Torre. Bolívar's decisive victory at Carabobo led to the independence of Venezuela....
in 1821. It was thus that Vives traveled from Venezuela to Puerto Rico on June 27, 1821 with his wife Isabel Diaz and son Carlos. Accompanying him were also two slaves. He settled in the southern port city of Ponce, where the sugar industry was booming.
Early Puerto Rico years
With no capital to buy sugarcane-growing land, Salvador Vives worked for the municipal government of Ponce during the 1820s and 1830s in assisting other displaced Spanish emigrants and also as a public notary. By 1838 he had enough money to purchase 482 acres (2 km²) of hilly, undeveloped, tropical forest land in barrio MagueyesMagueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Monte Llano, Portugues, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian...
, to the north of the city of Ponce, and near the Canas River.
The land consisted mostly mountainous terrain with thick forest, and far from the town. Fortunately, Vives was able to purchase the lands relatively cheap for the lands in greatest demand at that time were the rich flatlands near the coast that provided the perfect conditions for the sugar-growing industry. The development of a new road in that area, PR-123, would also guarantee that products from Vives' future farm could be bought down for sale to the marketplace in Ponce
Plaza del Mercado de Ponce
The Plaza del Mercado de Ponce, or, formally, Plaza del Mercado Isabel II is a historic marketplace building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was inaugurated in 1863 by Ponce Mayor Don Luis de Quixano. The building was designed by famed engineer Timoteo Luberza...
with relative easy. The construction of the farm-to-market PR-123 road would prove to be a factor in the success of Vives' hacienda.
Vives’ Hacienda
As a fruit hacienda
Hacienda Buena Vista grow plantainPlantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
s, bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
s, and corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
which were bought at Plaza del Mercado Isabel II in Ponce by the area sugar plantation owners to feed the slave labor force of their plantations. The hacienda also grew other crops, including cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and it also raised cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, oxen, mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s in the limited lower pastures of the hacienda, in the vicinity of the hacienda's buildings complex. Initially, the hacienda's principal crop was plantain (Musa acuminata × balbisiana
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
). By 1845 there were 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) growing this crop. This acreage grew steadily from the mid 1820s to the early 1840s. Between 1852 and 1860 the production of plantains at the farm had increased from 329,200 to 475,380.
First mill is installed
In 1837 Vives purchased a corn mill, a coffee depulper, a cotton gin, and a rice husking machine, all animal-powered, to process its agricultural goods. During the 1840s the hacienda's economic activity had diversified into produce production and corn flour distribution throughout Puerto Rico's central coastal region. The purchase and installation of the corn mill proved to be a great investment for Vives. Not only did his financial earnings multiplied, but he was also able to gain enough prominence to be elected mayor of Ponce, between 1841 and 1845. He served three terms as mayor. During his terms as mayor, Vives had the District Court Tribunal Center moved from Coamo to Ponce, he also had the City HallPonce City Hall
The Ponce City Hall is located on Calle Degetau, across from Plaza Las Delicias in the Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The building serves as the seat of the executive branch of government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, including the office of the Mayor of Ponce. It is the...
built, and he arranged for the official coat of arms of the city from the Spanish crown.
First water-powered corn mill
After Salvador Vives' death in 1845, his son Carlos took over the management of the hacienda. "Carlos perceived the production of corn meal to feed sugar plantation slaves would be of enough economic importance to finance the construction of a water-powered corn mill to replace the animal-powered corn mill built by his father. Built between 1845 and 1847, the new corn mill installed by Carlos Vives had a sixteen-foot-diameter wooden water wheel that moved the gears for the grinding stones of the corn mill. Carlos powered the new corn mill with water derived from the waterfall on the Canas River that traveled through a 2600 feet (792.5 m) water canal, which was begun in 1847 and completed in 1851. Within the corn mill structure, Carlos also built a corn toasting room where corn was dried before it was milled. Carlos completed many of the hacienda structures and buildings that today are part of the complex, including the slave quarters, the manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, the warehouse, and the carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
with stables for horses and mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s."
The turbine-driven corn mill
The building of the now-historic Barker engine also came under son Carlos Vives tenancy: "In 1847, with the demand for milled corn rising given the increase in sugar plantation slaves around Ponce, Carlos constructed another building for a new corn mill powered with a hydraulic turbineTurbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
from the West Point Foundry
West Point Foundry
The West Point Foundry was an early ironworks in Cold Spring, New York that operated from 1817 to 1911. Set up to remedy deficiencies in national armaments production after the War of 1812, it became most famous for its production of Parrott rifles and other munitions during the Civil War, although...
, in Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring is a village located in the Town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York. The population was 1,983 at the 2000 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville...
. The turbine was patented in the United States, in 1843, by James Whitelaw
James Whitelaw
The Rev. James Whitelaw was an Irish historian, writer, statistician and philanthropist.-Life:He was born in County Leitrim and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated in 1771. He was ordained in the Church of Ireland and became rector of St. James and then St. Catherine's in Thomas St....
, of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The flour from Hacienda Buena Vista gained islandwide prominence due to its excellent quality. From 1847 to 1873, the corn flour of the hacienda reigned supreme over other local mills. Shortly afterwards, a corn mill to pulverize the corn was mounted, and the hacienda's white and yellow corn flour received the gold medal for excellence in the second public exposition celebrated in San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
in June 1855." In 1860, the hacienda won awards again at the Puerto Rico Exposition Fair.
Rise and fall of coffee as a main product
Carlos Vives died in 1872. Around this time the sales volume of corn meal, one of the hacienda's primary products, began to decline. Instead of demand for corn meal, world demand for Puerto Rican coffee, was starting to become as significant an export crop as sugar for which Vives could not afford the price of the lands. Envisioning a future for coffee production, in 1892 Carlos’s eldest son (also named Salvador Vives like his grandfather) installed coffee depulping and bean husking machine in the old corn mill and ran them both using the original mill wheel. "Production of corn meal and coffee provided a diversified economicDiversity (business)
The "business case for diversity" stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960's. The original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing strength from the law and a need to comply with equal employment opportunity objectives...
basis for the continued success of the hacienda."
Some of the best Puerto Rican coffee was produced in the central mountain area of the island around Yauco, Ponce, Lares
Lares
Lares , archaically Lases, were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries or fruitfulness, hero-ancestors, or an amalgam of these....
, Maricao, Utuado, and Cayey. The Vives’ family hacienda lands were also ideal for coffee production. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Hacienda Buena Vista produced and processed over 5 tons of coffee a year, just for export to Europe. The good days of coffee production at Hacienda Buena Vista, however, came to an end during the dawn of the 20th century when a series of three yearly natural and politico-economic disasters took place, and coffee production in all of Puerto Rico fell from 338 tons to only 8 tons per year.
In 1899, hurricane San Ciriaco
1899 Hurricane San Ciriaco
1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, also known as the 1899 Puerto Rico Hurricane, was the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane and the eleventh deadliest tropical cyclone in the basin. It was an intense and long-lived Atlantic Cape Verde-type hurricane which crossed Puerto Rico over the two day period August 8...
struck a hard blow to coffee production in Puerto Rico. After this hurricane, Puerto Rico would never become a coffee exporter again. To exacerbate this, in 1900 the worldwide price of coffee fell to levels that made it considerably more difficult to compete. The third blow came in 1901, when Puerto Rico was included into the United States Customs System, setting the local coffee production at a competitive disadvantage over its European markets. It also dropped Puerto Rico's favored status in US markets. To compensate, the Salvador Vives switched to a successful orange growing program for the New York City market. This new phase of agriculture continued until 1956.
Description of the hacienda
Hacienda Buena Vista is located in Barrio MagueyesMagueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Monte Llano, Portugues, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian...
, in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico at between 160 and 460 meters above sea level. The hills near the hacienda buildings are excellent for cultivating corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, and fruits. The nearby Canas River provides the power for the power needed to run the hacienda's mills.
The hacienda today is made up of an 87 acres (352,076.8 m²) agricultural complex. Its main buildings are grouped together in a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) central area and the property includes 11 original buildings: the hacienda manor house, the carriage house, the horse stables, the mule stables, the caretaker's house and office, two warehouses, a hurricane shelter, the corn mill, and the slave quarters. There is a water canal system that is still operative, an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
, and a house garden. The coffee bean processing building was rebuilt to look like the original 1892 building.
Manor House and related structures
The manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
is a 2-story 60x50ft building. It was built in 1845. The ground floor was designed to be used for storage. The second floor contains three bedrooms and a living room. The eastern half of the manor house is made of brick and includes a courtyard, the kitchen, two more bedrooms and a bathroom. The manor house also has garden surrounded by a wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
-and-brick fence. The garden served two purposes: "Historically, this garden served as the formal entrance to the hacienda complex; however, it was most often used as a private family place."
Dependent on horses for managing the hacienda, its administrators also built a carriage house, stables, and a small caretaker's house. In addition mule stables and caretaker's office were also built.
Located opposite the manor house, is the hurricane shelter
Emergency shelter
Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they can't live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific type of situation, such as natural or man-made disasters,...
. It is a solid brick structure measuring 15 ft (4.6 m). x 25 ft (7.6 m), and built 3 ft (0.9144 m). above ground. Its walls, floor and ceiling were made to withstand or dissipate the destructive tropical storms that are common in this region.
Canal and aqueduct
A main attraction of the Hacienda is the brick-and-mortar canal which is (18 in. deep by 12 in. wide) and runs some 2600 feet (792.5 m). A water drop of 360 meters provides the energy needed to run the mills in the hacienda. Vives paid 360 Spanish pesoPeso
The word peso was the name of a coin that originated in Spain and became of immense importance internationally...
s for the 58 acres (234,717.9 m²) that comprise the area of the Canas River to pride for his canal. The use of the River for the hacienda was authorized by the Spanish Colonial Government in Puerto Rico. The canal and aqueduct were finished in 1851. A series of manifolds are used for diverting the water according to the needs of the hacienda agricultural production: one gate diverts water to the water wheel and the corn mill water turbine, another gate diverts water to the fermentation
Fermentation (biochemistry)
Fermentation is the process of extracting energy from the oxidation of organic compounds, such as carbohydrates, using an endogenous electron acceptor, which is usually an organic compound. In contrast, respiration is where electrons are donated to an exogenous electron acceptor, such as oxygen,...
tank, the ornamental washbasin, and the bath, and a third gate diverts water to a race which sends water back to the Canas River.
Coffee de-pulping and husking mill
The coffee de-pulping and husking mill is a 2-story wooden building located to the northwest of the Hacienda manor house. It originally housed the 1845 corn mill but in 1892, with the need for processing the coffee beans produced by Hacienda Buena Vista, the structure was modified to become the coffee husking mill.Corn mill
A second corn mill at Hacienda Buena Vista was built in 1854. It is a two-story wood frame structure measuring 16 ft (4.9 m). wide by 25 in 4 in (7.72 m) long. The actual corn-milling work took place on the floor of this mill. Dried corn making it thru a hopperHopper
Hopper may refer to:-Mechanical parts:* A general term for a chute with additional width and depth for temporary storage* Hopper , a large container used for dust collection* Part of a combine harvester...
in this building was processed here. Grinding of the corn into corn meal occurred here. It was also packer into bags here. One of the canals of the aqueduct system ran underneath this building to power the corn mill above.
As required for the production of ground coffee, a bean drying station was also built. Thus building dates from 1847. The building had previously served as slave quarters, but after the abolition of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
in Puerto Rico in 1873, it was converted into a bean drying building. The pans used for drying the coffee beans were kept in this building as well.
The historic turbine
"The hydraulic turbine for the corn mill was ordered by a Mr. Bennet, in August 1853, as agent for Don Carlos Vives, from the West Point FoundryWest Point Foundry
The West Point Foundry was an early ironworks in Cold Spring, New York that operated from 1817 to 1911. Set up to remedy deficiencies in national armaments production after the War of 1812, it became most famous for its production of Parrott rifles and other munitions during the Civil War, although...
in Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring is a village located in the Town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York. The population was 1,983 at the 2000 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville...
. The purchase was made through the Maitland and Phelps Company, also of New York. The turbine follows the design patented by James Whitelaw
James Whitelaw
The Rev. James Whitelaw was an Irish historian, writer, statistician and philanthropist.-Life:He was born in County Leitrim and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated in 1771. He was ordained in the Church of Ireland and became rector of St. James and then St. Catherine's in Thomas St....
and James Stirrat, of Paisley, Renfew, Scotland
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
, in 1841."
Technology at the hacienda
Hacienda Buena Vista stood out from among the other haciendas in the region for the use of sophisticated machinery:"The Scotch-type turbine on the pit's floor of the corn mill is a unique piece of hydraulic technology machinery, recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Although the turbine is not a classic 17th-century Baker's centrifugal or reaction turbine wheel it might be a transformed one, since this "Buena Vista Turbine" does not fit within the Baker's description. Nevertheless, the wheels have an element in common since their arms are very similar in so far as it refers to shape, position, and function. On the other hand, it is not a Scotch turbine either, being this a modification of the Baker turbine. Apparently, the Buena Vista turbine builder used the Scotch turbine principles to make the one in situ, adapting at the same time parts of the Baker's design with added improvements of its own. It is significant that in the mid-1840s—while the hacienda was being developed—the Scotch turbine was being patented in the United States after European designs (particularly the La Cour's centrifugal wheel). R. L. Johnson assessed the "Buena Vista Turbine" in the following way:
Only the three Scotch turbines—first patented in the 1840s—are known to exist in the United States.... This acute shortage of extant early hydromachinery is the principal reason why the technological history of the water motor remains obscure and relatively poorly documented…Recently, however, the discovery of a unique turbine located on a plantation at Ponce, near the south coast of Puerto Rico, promised to open a new window on the past…The turbine at Hacienda Buena Vista…is the only pre-Scotch type-known to exist and is the sole extant example of a pioneer and historically important machine that was invented at the close of the 17th century by Dr. Baker.... The Buena Vista turbine is, in effect, a missing link in the evolution of mechanical artifacts better known to the historians of technology.(The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, Vol. 4, No. 1 [1978], pp. 55–58)."
Legacy
On July 16, 1994, Robert B. Gaither of the American Society of Mechanical EngineersAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....
presented a plaque to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust designating the Hacienda Buena Vista's hydraulic turbine as a National Historic Monument of Mechanical Engineering. The award was given in recognition not only of the value of the turbine but also of the extraordinary work carried in its restoration.
Later and current use
In 1956, the government of Puerto Rico expropriated most of the lands of Buena Vista, as a result of a new law to provide land to local farmers. Only 87 acres of land remained with the Vives, including the manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
and the water channel system. But even these were also acquired by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico in 1984. The Trust restored the hacienda to much of its past glory and turned it into a museum. It opened in 1987. The museum has operated continuously for 23 years. It is the only such museum in Puerto Rico. The coffee mill was entirely reconstructed, to its 1892 look. The Vives family rebuilt their coffee mill after 1928. The coffee mill was reconstructed, by the Trust, in 1988, to resemble the coffee mill of 1892.
External links
- National Parks Service Images
- Full Text of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers—Barker Turbine at Hacienda Buena Vista: A National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark
- Hacienda Buena Vista
- Pictures of the Hacienda in Ponce's Website
- Hacienda Buena Vista in iExplore
- Hacienda Buena Vista at Planetware
- Hacienda Buena Vista at Frommer's
- Buena Vista: life and work on a Puerto Rican hacienda, 1833–1904. By Guillermo A. Baralt