Central Aguirre

Central Aguirre was built from 1899 by an American sugar company on Jobos Bay, and it was a complete town: the mill, workers' housing, managers' houses on stilts with wide verandas, a hotel, a hospital, a school, a social club and a golf course, laid out on a plan and physically separated by class. The mill closed in 1990. Much of the wooden town survives, some restored and some decaying, and it is a national historic district.

What you actually see

• The wooden houses - managers' residences on stilts with wide verandas.
• The mill buildings - the industrial core, closed since 1990.
• The company institutions - the hotel, club and school built for the town.
• Jobos Bay - the bay and its mangrove estuarine reserve alongside.

When to go

December to April is the drier season and the most comfortable. The south coast is severely hot in summer. Mornings give the best light on the wooden buildings.

Honest expectations

Much of the town is private property and lived in; it is not an open-air museum. Several buildings are derelict and unsafe. There is little interpretation on the ground.

Nearby

Salinas is west, and Guayama is east along the coast.