Hato – Rais.cw

Hato is unique as one of only two plantations on Curaçao — the other is San Pedro — where running water was and is always present. With a total of 9 water sources, Hato is still one of the most water-rich former plantations on the island. At 1,400 hectares it was also one of the largest plantations on Curaçao and already existed as such in 1700. It was owned by the West India Company and also served as a country house for the governors of Curaçao.

Ro'i Rincon, which lies west of Hato, and the Vlakte van Hato (Plain of Hato), which lies in the middle section of the north coast of Curaçao, also belong to this former plantation. The Vlakte is 5 kilometres long and is flanked on one side by the rugged north coast and in the south successively by the former plantations / present neighbourhoods Mahuma, Suax, Gatu, Papaya, Grote Berg and Daniel.

Hato finally borders San Pedro in the west. As for the eastern part, Hato borders plantation Noordkant, and in the south-east Sint Jacob.

Finally, the present Seru Fortuna, the neighbourhood Juan Domingo behind Esperamos Supermarket on the Jan Noorduynweg, and a large part of the Rooseveltweg also formerly belonged to this enormous plantation.

History

East of the Hato plantation house there were three important natural water sources: two permanent springs, Boca de Leeuw and Bak Ariba, and one that is active only during the rainy season. There are also various other smaller springs, which is why Hato was always called the "principaalste waterplaetse" (principal watering place). As a result of the abundant water it had been inhabited by Indians since ancient times, and Hato had a very productive plantation and the best grazing lands. Many Indian drawings were also found here in the niches, and 2 skeletons of these early islanders were also come across.

Hato means "cattle place" or "herdsmen's camp" in Spanish and for a long time was a cattle plantation with an extensive herd of cattle, sheep and goats. There were also large maize fields here, and various crops were grown, among other things for camps for enslaved people at Zuurzak and Sint Joris.

In 1717 the West India Company (WIC) already leased out all its plantations, except Hato, which remained in its ownership until the WIC was dissolved in 1792 and Hato was sold to private individuals for the first time in 1797. In the last years that the WIC still existed, it was its largest plantation holding.

Health resort

The governors of Curaçao, such as Isaac Faesch from 1740 to 1758, liked to stay here and invited (lodging) guests such as senior military officers and officials to the country residence at Hato.

Because of the abundant water, water basins were built here, so that people could make use of the healing effect of the spring water. Thus the later Monsignor Niewind, who suffered from a liver complaint, also came to Hato for a cure, and in 1818 the plantation house was fitted out as a bed, bath and breakfast. In 1843 lodging was offered, including meals, bath, horse and carriage.

Slave uprising

The plantation was also used as an entrepôt for enslaved people when the usual reception centres at Zuurzak and Sint Joris were already full. In 1750 the second* uprising on Curaçao broke out here, this time among 59 enslaved people from Elmina, who had been on the island only a short time. The rebels were armed with, among other things, pickaxes, an overseer was killed, and that same day the uprising was bloodily put down. Many of the rebels committed suicide in the numerous nearby niches of Seru di Mahuma or by jumping from the rocks at the wild Noordkant. Others were put to death in gruesome ways.

Burial grounds

Near the Hato plantation house there are still various historic monuments. East of the house lies a small walled cemetery with 6 cylinder graves and one "normal" grave, very probably of former plantation owners. The cemetery, a protected monument, was restored in 2016 but unfortunately damaged in April 2023 by the clearing of a nearby piece of land for building. It lies right next to the ruin of the director's house, a two-storey dwelling where in earlier years the directors of the spring-water purification plant at Hato lived.

Next to this little cemetery an unmarked burial ground for enslaved people was also discovered by chance during earlier excavation work on the site.

Other monumental buildings near the plantation house are a small prison — whose bars can still be seen — with a small spring next to it. The former hofje of Hato with an enormous Palu di Mangel (mango tree) is also located here. On either side of the prison run slave walls, the southern part of which continues to the director's house.

Rincon

West of Mahuma, opposite Aerocargo, lies Roi Rincon, which because of its water sources was already inhabited by Indians 4,500 years ago. After Rif Sint Marie it is the oldest dwelling place of Indians on Curaçao. Roi Rincon is dealt with extensively on another page of this website.

The Weg naar Hato (Road to Hato)

The workers at the government plantation Hato were almost all over 60. Government-owned enslaved people had the best chance of being freed, because the WIC was more inclined to grant a letter of manumission than private plantation owners.

Thus in 1773 there were 100 enslaved people at Hato, the majority over 50, among them a certain Maria who was as much as 100 years old. It was the governors who gave their workers, for "faithful service" or diligence shown, a letter of manumission, often together with a sizeable piece of government land as a "bonus". In this way various plantaadjes arose around the former Weg naar Hato, the present Rooseveltweg. These plantaadjes are now subdivided into neighbourhoods that often still refer to the names of the first owners, former enslaved people of Hato: from the roundabout at Thorenquest (a surname, near plantation house Morgenster) in the direction of Hato one finds on the left and right of the road, among others: Luis Paula, Calabare, Juan Hato, Baas Gracie, Guanapa, Nanie, Gora, Jenefoe, Kanga and Juan Nota.

Juan Domingo and Seru Fortuna

Two larger plantations that arose from Hato in the same way are Juan Domingo (75 ha) and Seru Fortuna (150 ha), as a donation from the departing governor Du Fay.

Juan Domingo, behind Esperamos Supermarket, was given to Juan Domingo: "…on 15 January 1731, for faithful service rendered to the West India Company, a piece of land west of the road to Hato and directly opposite plantation Lugtenberg (Mahuma), with the house standing on it."

In the same year the "free" Francisco Beltran also received a piece of land from the governor, which he called his fortunate possession "Seru Fortuna". Beltran was certainly fortunate: governors were afterwards pointed out that they should no longer be so generous with government lands.

After having had various private owners, the plantation Hato came back into the hands of the government in 1924, which wanted to build water-supply installations here. This plan did not go ahead immediately, after which the airfield was laid out in 1929. After the Second World War the spring-water purification plant was built after all.

Military base

During the Second World War there was only one access road to the American air force base at Hato. It lay at the end of the Weg naar Hato, near the present Cabo Verdeweg and between two hills: Seru di Bórdo (steep rock face), as the north-east corner of Seru Mahuma is called, and the opposite Seru Rondó, a round little hill with a limestone top. The two hills formed a natural defence at the entrance of Hato: the Porta di Hato. The Archaeological Working Group found remains of an unpaved road on Seru di Bórdo, and on Seru Rondó ammunition from around 1950 and also a lot of earthenware from earlier times.

Around 1942, during the Second World War, German submarines were in fact very active in the Caribbean, and the Americans stationed search aircraft at Hato. Their main aim: to track down submarines and sink them in order to protect tankers and the oil refinery in connection with the necessary production of aviation fuel. The oil refineries on Curaçao and Aruba accounted during WWII for the production of 70% of the jet fuel of the Allied air forces.

Bull's Eye

And further on the plain of Hato a bull's eye was installed as a practice ground for the American bomber aircraft (see video on this page by Greyan Films).

Between 1945 and 1953 the first station building arose at Hato. Close by there were probably also buildings for the production of asphalt and other building materials needed for the large military airfield. Hato was one big air force base: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (hence the name F.D. Rooseveltweg, which ran from the refinery to the airfield) sent 7,000 soldiers to Curaçao.

At Roi Rincon too, across from the airfield, foundations of American barracks can still be found.

The location of Seru di Mahuma near Hato was also of strategic importance: searchlights were installed here and the military exercises were followed with excitement by the young people of that time, who are now the older residents of Mahuma.

One of them is Janshi, Johannes Virginie, who as a 17-year-old had a job as a kitchen helper at the American base, where he had to wash up enormously large pots and pans. He tells that at Hato there were three kitchens, one in the west that was called "Fifty Nine", and Sixty Six, which lay in the east, and the third, which lay approximately in the middle of the military base. The soldiers first gave remains of meals to the neighbourhood residents as pig feed, but later they also received meals for their own use. At Hato the soldiers had a small church, a cinema and many barracks, some of which can still be seen as converted dwellings around the road from Hato to the Meteorological Service on Seru di Mahuma.

Like so many families in Mahuma, Janshi's father also had a kunuku at Hato, but during the soldiers' stay they had no access to the location.

The Americans have nowadays installed the FOL — Forward Operating Location — in the western part of the airfield.

Pump house

According to the Werkgroep Archeologie, the spring-water purification plant at Hato was built shortly after the Second World War by the Land's Watervoorziening (LWV, the national water supply). The large spring of Hato was so important in this that a kind of little bunker was built around it. A pipeline was then laid from Hato to the airport, which was then experiencing rapid growth, and the immediate surroundings. In this the water from the large spring on the plantation was first purified in the plant: in a large tank, by filtration through a small bed of pebbles, the lime present was removed from the water, giving it the quality of drinking water. The pump house is still there.

The commemorative book of the LWV from 1928 to 1952 further mentions that the spring-water purification plant was built because Hato and the airport lay too far from the water distribution system of the city.

The singing greengrocer

Close to the large spring there are also the remains of a large, old, open water reservoir built of limestone.

East of the official cemetery there are also large catchment tanks that were connected to the spring "Bak Ariba" at Hato but are no longer maintained today. These catchment tanks were used for horticulture on the adjoining fertile Vlakte van Hato.

In the 1950s families from Seru Fortuna and Mahuma cultivated plots of rented land on the low terrace of the Hato plain west of the airfield, where good Maishi chikí (small maize) and vine fruits were harvested.

At the end of the 1990s the reservoirs were still used for horticulture by Rudy Plaate, "the singing greengrocer": on the flat terrain in front of the little cemetery he grew vegetables and fruit for years, using the spring for irrigation.

Curaçao Sauvignon

He was succeeded in 2014 by the Curaçao Winery, which combined the fertile horticultural land with the available water and managed to make delicious local wine. The Sauvignon grape variety in particular did well in the Curaçao climate and the lime-rich soil. In addition, bed & breakfast facilities were offered, so that, just like in earlier times, one could stay overnight in one of the 4 bedrooms of the plantation house.

Unfortunately the project was ended in 2016: Curaçao Airport Holding, the CAH, which manages the government grounds at Hato, including the plantation house, believed that the grapes would attract many birds that would pose a danger to aviation. After the closure of the Winery, both the plantation house and various outbuildings have fallen into disrepair. The spring water — actually also a precious monument on such a dry island — no longer flows over the fields where once vegetables, fruit and so many grapevines grew.

What will happen in the near future with the Hato plantation house and the monuments located around it is unknown.

Spilón

In the bend at Seru Bórdo, just before the entrance of the caves of Hato, lived an Aruban couple: Ma Nicha and Zjèn Koito. Zjèn was a horse trainer who had once fallen from a horse, which made him lame, but this did not stop him from continuing to do the work. His wife Nicha was one of the first guides of the Hato Caves. With a torch made of withered datu (cactus), she led visitors through Spilón, the former name for the Hato Caves, which actually lie in the middle of Seru di Mahuma, opposite the airfield.

The Hato Caves were formed more than 300,000 years ago by karst water and consist of various halls with dozens of limestone formations in every conceivable shape and construction and sculptures. Many sculptures have been given a name of their own over the years, such as the Holy Mary statue, the Sea Turtle and the Pirate's Head, but above all let your imagination run free; there are so many sculptures that are often interpreted differently.

Falling goats and flying mice

The natural monument reaches up to 60 metres above sea level, which makes it deliciously cool. In various places the cave is still alive, as shown by the karst water that still drips from stalactites on the ceiling. There is also a hall with a "Water Pool" in which karst water floats up. Very much alive too are the bats, which are missing from no cave on Curaçao and which at nightfall hold a happy hour: there is then a great bustle of these night animals, about 5 cm in size, flying in and out.

Above Spilón is the "bentana", an opening at the top of the largest hall, which is now covered with a grid because goats fell down through it… and through which the caves were discovered!

The "interior" of the hall can be seen even better because of the light falling in through the "bentana".

Accompanied by a guide you can visit the various halls here, and photos may only be taken at designated locations. Outside the Caves, too, a walking path has been laid out along the niche wall with signs describing the flora and fauna. At one niche a fence has been installed to protect Indian drawings on the rock wall, but you can see and photograph them well.

The black colour on the rocks is caused by weathered algae that grow on the rocks in the rainy season and die off during the dry season.

*The first uprising was in 1716 at Rif Sint Marie

The Hato Caves are managed by Carmabi, The Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity.

Curaçao Airport Holding, the CAH, a government-owned company (NV), manages the former plantation Hato including the plantation house, and there are plans to build a recreation resort here.