Global InformationHacienda Lealtad information
| Hacienda Lealtad | |
|---|---|
 Hacienda Lealtad renovated structures | |
 La Torre barrio | |
| Town/City | La Torre, Lares, Puerto Rico |
| Coordinates | 18°14′00″N 66°53′03″W / 18.2332883°N 66.8840655°W[1] |
| Established | 1830 |
| Owner | Edwin Noel Soto Ruiz |
| Area | 600 cuerdas (582.73 acres) |
| Produces | Coffee |
| Status | Operating as museum, hotel, agrotourism; open to the public, tours by reservation |
Hacienda Lealtad also known as Hacienda La Lealtad,[2] and Hacienda la Esperanza (Lealtad Plantation in English) is a historic coffee plantation in barrio La Torre, Lares, Puerto Rico. A large hacienda, it was founded in 1830, by Juan Bautista Plumey, a French immigrant, who arrived in Puerto Rico with enslaved people. (Juan Bautista Plumey was born in France on September 8, 1797, and named Jean Baptiste Henri Plumey.)[3]
It would become the largest coffee plantation in Lares, with over thirty slaves and hundreds of day laborers working the 69 cuerdas of coffee farm. For many years the plantation was a large producer and exporter of coffee. Day laborers, jornaleros or braceros from Lares worked in the coffee fields of the hacienda. In 1880, it was owned by Miguel Marquez Enseñat.
It is now owned by Edwin Soto and his family, who invested millions into its restoration and operate the hacienda as a hotel, coffee shop and a living museum recreating the historical setting of the height of coffee production in Puerto Rico. Coffee growing in Puerto Rico has seen a resurgence and Hacienda Lealtad produces coffee under the brand Café Lealtad. The Café Bistro Hacienda Lealtad on Puerto Rico Highway 128 kilometer 55.8, is where groups meet for the start of their tour of the 19th century coffee plantation.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Hacienda Lealtad
- ^ "Lares: Antigua hacienda La Lealtad" (in Spanish). EnciclopediaPR. 7 January 2010.
- ^ "Plumey Family Tree". ancestors.familysearch.