The Crystal Palace

Description:

• This is one of the few B&Bs on St. Thomas. It occupies a building that was rebuilt in 1932 on early-19th-century foundations after a series of fires and hurricanes that left other parts of the island homeless. Today, its owner is the kindly but crusty Ronnie Lockhart, president of the St. Thomas & St. John Friends of Denmark Society, Inc., who showcases the home he was raised in as a genuinely historical but somewhat battered mansion. There's a stateliness to this elegant antique building. Views from the covered balconies sweep out over the city and the harbor. Furnishings include a mixture of the modern, prosaic, and serviceable and the genuinely antique, scattered rather formally amid souvenirs from the Lockhart family of long ago. Only two of the building's five accommodations contain a private bathroom -- the others are shared facilities in the corridors.

• © Frommer's 2012