CubaPLUS Magazine

Under the name of Angerona, Roman goddess of the virtue of silence and fertility, an old coffee plantation located in the current province of Artemisa, became the most important hacienda of its type in the western part of the country and the second most important in Cuba in the first half of the 19th century.

Although today there are only a few material vestiges that attest to their existence, they are lovingly preserved as a testimony to our roots and history. With a beautiful legend that highlights its productive successes and the beauty of its missing main mansion, its surrounding gardens and plantations absent, its fame remains intact to this day, spiced up by cradling a beautiful passionate love story between two emigrants of different origins, established in Colonial Cuba.

Although at present there are only a few material remains that mark its former splendor, on April 10, 1981, the National Monuments Commission resolved to declare National Monument the remains of Angerona. The German Cornelio Souchay Escher was the creator of the prosperous hacienda, from some lands that he acquired in the enclave in 1813. This young man had arrived in Cuba, coming from a family with resources, but who wanted to carve out his own fortune, at the same time to flee from the Napoleonic invasion campaigns in old Europe.

First, he works in a business house of which he soon became a partner, and in 1815 he meets the young free Haitian black Úrsula Lambert who, like him, was trying to make a fortune, with the interest of overcoming the slaver inequalities of that racist society.  This is the succinct letter of introduction of those two unusual beings who came to love each other with deep feelings and work together as successful businesspeople, established on a very productive and beautiful farm that they turned into a home, refuge, love nest, and place of accomplishments. and creative projects.

A life far ahead of its time that did not accept discrimination based on skin color and gender, or social status. Little by little and over the years, the Angerona farm, run jointly by Souchay and Ursula, highly experienced in coffee plantation work, reached 39 caballerias and 164 cordels of land (one cordel equals 20,352 m), under an unusually humanitarian and exquisite work project in detail. With their respective capitals increasing, they were able to dedicate themselves to other collateral projects such as cattle ranching on neighboring lands.

Although they had established ties long before, it was not until 1822 that Úrsula arrived in Angerona,  whom Cornelio could always trust and who took care of tasks in the economy, taught the slaves sewing and domestic work, and rebuilt the infirmary and the house of the criollos, where children were given special attention so that they would grow up healthy and strong. The coffee plantation had its own store where objects made of guano, clay, and cloth were sold to the slaves. In short, their labors, which were many, always benefited the farm. In the main building at the top of the hill, under the direction of both lovers, a working system governed by the prevailing slavery was established, which they could not avoid, but with a very humanized face.

An experience that many foreign travelers were pleasantly impressed. Self-sufficient with its own resources of everything necessary, its factories and buildings were a model in modernity and beauty, with the treasure of almost a million coffee plants and a beautiful main mansion adorned by sculptures, where culture and concerts also reigned. of classical music that embellished life.

With the death of Cornelio in Havana on June 12, 1837, the action of the inexperienced or ambitious heirs caused Angerona to decline, as did the national coffee production from the second half of the 19th century, for more important reasons. Then the sugar boom would begin in the colony. But that is another story. In any case, Angerona, in its glory and even its vestiges marked a beautiful time.