Anna's Retreat: History, Art and Shopping

Anna's Retreat combines an unusual local history with a practical connection to shopping. For culture enthusiasts, the broader destination of Tutu offers an additional area of interest. If you’re looking for a vacation rental, you can first decide whether history, shopping, or cultural offerings will be the focus of your trip.

A former dairy farm turned retreat

In 1959, newlyweds Rhoda and Jim Tillett moved to St. Thomas. In Anna's Retreat, they bought an abandoned Danish dairy farm and transformed it into a retreat focused on art and music. The local history thus links a specific farm with a clear cultural focus.

The transformation from a farmstead into an art- and music-focused retreat is what makes this story distinctive. It offers more than a general description of the area’s cultural themes: at its heart are two people, a specific place, and their vision for how they wanted to shape it. For travelers who enjoy learning about a destination’s history, this is a compelling point of interest.

Art and stages in the broader destination of Tutu

In the broader destination of Tutu, Tillett Gardens was designed by Jim and Rhoda Tillett as a retreat focused on art and crafts. It has been around for more than 50 years. Its connection to the same designers makes Tillett Gardens another cultural point of interest, while the story of the abandoned dairy farm specifically concerns Anna's Retreat.

Tillett Gardens is home to the Pistarckle Theater, a venue for live performances. The Art Explorium, also located there, offers weekly wine-and-paint classes. The offerings appeal to different interests: the theater is dedicated to live performances, while the classes are for those who want to paint themselves. If you’d like to plan a painting class, check the current schedule beforehand.

This gives you a clearer picture of the cultural offerings in the broader destination of Tutu: they include both a venue for live performances and a studio with regularly scheduled painting classes. When planning your trip, the distinction between wanting to see a performance and wanting to paint yourself is more specific than a general search for “culture.” The classes are described as weekly, but you should still check the schedule for your visit.

Shopping at Tutu Park Mall

Tutu Park Mall in Anna's Retreat has more than 60 stores. This makes it a different point of interest from the area’s cultural history: it offers a wide range of shopping options, rather than the farm’s history or the cultural spots in the broader destination of Tutu. The number of stores may change. If you’re going for a particular offering, check what’s currently available beforehand.

There are several different ways to decide which aspect of the destination interests you most: the Tilletts’ history in Anna's Retreat, the mall’s shopping options, or the specific cultural spots in Tutu. This distinction helps you clarify the purpose of your stay without conflating the different locations.

Choose a vacation rental based on your destination

When looking for a vacation rental in Anna's Retreat, the local history and Tutu Park Mall can be your first points of reference. If you’re especially interested in the cultural offerings mentioned here, also consider the broader destination of Tutu. This way, you can start by choosing based on the themes that appeal to you, rather than assuming a connection between the different places.

If you’re planning a painting class, check the current schedule before planning your trip around it. Then you can focus your vacation rental search on the destination that best fits your planned activities.

For the broader travel overview: Tutu.