Standing disused on a hilltop like a huge rusting iron skeleton, this former sugar mill, 5km south of Santa Cruz del Norte, was one of Cuba’s largest and a testimony to the country’s previous production clout. Opened in 1916, it once belonged to the Philadelphia-based Hershey Chocolate Company, which used the sugar to sweeten its world-famous chocolate. The Hershey Electric Railway used to transport produce and workers between Havana, Matanzas and the small town that grew up around the mill.
While the train still runs three times a day (and stops in the town center), the mill was closed in July 2002.
