Pic Paradis, Mountain summit in Saint-Martin, France.
Pic Paradis is the highest mountain on the island of Saint-Martin and rises 424 meters (1,391 feet) above sea level. The summit offers views across the entire island and surrounding waters.
In the 1700s the Loterie Plantation, covering 135 acres, was established on Pic Paradis and operated as a sugar plantation until slavery ended on the island in the mid-1800s. It then became a dairy farm, which closed in the 1960s; the land was bought by Nelly Fleming Engle and managed by William Welch as the Loterie Farm eco-tourism site. From 1788 to 1866 the sugar estate on its western flank at 270 m was named Paradis.
Pic Paradis is named after the Paradis sugar estate that stood on its western flank at 270 m from 1788 to 1866; a neighbouring property was called Garden of Eden. The 205 hectares from 300 m to the summit were recognised as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International in 2007, and a 2004 winter survey in Loterie Farm's dry forest counted 29 bird species, 16 of them migratory.
A paved road reaches the summit via the Rambaud locality, though it is steep and has a tight bend. The massif is a junction of hiking trails crossing the ridges and valleys, and the upper reaches are private land with paid trails managed from Loterie Farm.
The land snail Pleurodonte guadeloupensis martinensis, a subspecies found only on Saint-Martin, was first collected on Pic Paradis. The massif is also one of the few places on the island where Antillean cave bats and Lesser Antillean tree bats live.
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