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Villalba: Lake Toa Vaca and the Southern Coffee Slopes

Villalba is a municipality on the southern slope of Puerto Rico's Cordillera Central, where the mountains fall toward the drier south coast. It is known as la Ciudad de los Lagos for its two reservoirs, Lago Toa Vaca and Lago Guayabal, and as la Ciudad del Gandul for its pigeon peas. Coffee has been grown in its hills since at least the 1920s, and the preamble of the 2019 coffee law lists Villalba among the 28 municipalities of the island's coffee zone.

Where Villalba Is

The Cordillera Central seen from the lookout between Villalba and Orocovis, its forested ridges falling toward the sea on the horizon.

The Cordillera Central seen from the Mirador Villalba-Orocovis lookout in September 2010, its forested ridges falling toward the sea on the horizon. Photo: Ratzer1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Villalba borders Orocovis to the north, Coamo to the east, and Juana Díaz to the south and west. Its area is 95.9 square kilometres (37.0 square miles), of which 92.3 square kilometres is land, according to the Census Bureau's 2020 Gazetteer. The 2020 Census counted 22,093 residents, down from 26,073 in 2010. The land rises from about 100 metres at the Lago Guayabal dam to the peaks along the border with Orocovis, which follows the island's main divide.

Its highest point is Cerro El Bolo, on the border with Orocovis. The Puerto Rico government's relief map gives its height as 1,081 metres, and Villalba's own hazard-mitigation plan gives 1,070 metres (3,500 feet); the government map notes that its elevations may be out by 10 to 20 metres. The map ranks Cerro El Bolo 13th among Puerto Rico's highest peaks. The federal Protected Areas Database places the summit within the Toro Negro State Forest, although the forest's 2008 fact sheet does not list Villalba among its municipalities.

A Young Municipality

Villalba was a ward of Ponce until 1823, when it was attached to Juana Díaz, according to the Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico of the Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. By the mid-nineteenth century it had been divided into Villalba Abajo and Villalba Arriba, and its economy depended on sugar cane and minor crops. The historian Fernando Picó writes that droughts in the 1840s drove peasants from the south coast into the part of Juana Díaz that would become Villalba. In the census of 1899, Villalba Abajo had 1,363 inhabitants and Villalba Arriba 2,917, as wards of Juana Díaz.

Law No. 42 of 12 April 1917 created the municipality of Villalba. The Enciclopedia lists the wards taken from Juana Díaz as Hato Puerco Arriba and Abajo, Caonillas Arriba and Abajo, and Villalba Arriba and Abajo; the 1920 census also lists Vacas. The Enciclopedia names Villalba among the municipalities created in the twentieth century, after Jayuya (1911) and Guánica (1914).

The municipality's own plan lists four nicknames: la Ciudad de los Avancinos, la Ciudad de los Lagos, la Ciudad del Cooperativismo and la Ciudad del Gandul. A 1998 reference work, the Libro de Puerto Rico, says Villalba was the first town in Puerto Rico to establish a cooperative. A 2020 University of Puerto Rico study records a Cooperativa de Vegetales de Villalba of 1939, formed to market fresh tomatoes, and lists a Villalba Vegetable Growers' Cooperative Association as dissolved.

Coffee in Villalba

In the 1920s Villalba was described as producing coffee: the Espasa encyclopedia's entry of 1929 says it produced chiefly coffee and sugar cane, and Claudio Capó's survey of 1925 lists coffee among its products. In the 1970s, according to the Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, Villalba depended on gandules and coffee, with about 3,500 cuerdas of gandules and two coffee haciendas, El Limón and El Semil. The US Geological Survey's database of place names locates both haciendas in Villalba.

The 2012 Census of Agriculture recorded 75 farms in Villalba harvesting coffee for sale, on 531 cuerdas, with 2,106 hundredweight harvested. In 2007 there had been 94 farms on 699 cuerdas, harvesting 3,534 hundredweight. In 2012, 53 of the farms grew coffee in shade and 31 in the open; some farms grew both. The 2022 census, which published fewer figures by municipio, recorded 39 farms in Villalba selling coffee, out of 111 farms of all kinds. Villalba is in the census's Ponce region, which in 2022 had 193 coffee farms on 1,424 cuerdas, harvesting 3,291 hundredweight. A cuerda is 0.9712 acre, or 0.3930 hectare, and the census treats the hundredweight and the quintal as the same unit.

Villalba's farms also harvested 1,473 hundredweight of pigeon peas for sale in 2012, nearly a fifth of Puerto Rico's total of 7,934. The preamble of Ley 78 of 2019, which created the Oficina de Cafés de Puerto Rico, lists Villalba among the 28 municipalities of the coffee zone. Coffee prices, cooperatives and help for growers are covered in Puerto Rico Coffee Cooperatives and Economics.

Watch: El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico — Library of Congress

It was made by Russell Oliver, who received a 2022 Community Collections Grant from the American Folklife Center.

The Lakes

The Toa Vaca dam and Lago Toa Vaca in Villalba, Puerto Rico, seen from downstream, with the spillway chute at left and hills around the reservoir.

Lago Toa Vaca and its dam in Villalba, seen from the air on 1 April 2005, with the spillway chute at left. Photo: Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, via USGS / Wikimedia Commons, public domain (as marked by USGS).

Lago Guayabal, the older of the two reservoirs, was built in 1913 for irrigation; it lies in Juana Díaz and Villalba and is owned and operated by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Lago Toa Vaca, on the Río Toa Vaca just upstream of Lago Guayabal, was completed in 1972. It was built by the Electric Power Authority on behalf of the Commonwealth, first to irrigate the southern coastal plain, and is now owned and operated by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority. Its use became mainly public water supply. Its original storage capacity was 68.94 million cubic metres. The Villalba (Toa Vaca) water treatment plant supplies drinking water to Villalba, Juana Díaz, Santa Isabel and parts of Coamo and Ponce, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The concrete intake tower of Lago Toa Vaca in Villalba, seen through a chain-link fence, with green hills behind under cumulus cloud.

The concrete intake tower of Lago Toa Vaca in Villalba, photographed in August 2014 through a chain-link fence. Photo: Yarfpr / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Water for public supply is drawn from the reservoir through its intake tower.

Watch: Lago/Lake Toa Vaca, Lago Guayabal, Villalba P.R. 4K — MIGUEL RAMOS

The Dry South

The Cordillera Central blocks the moist north-east trade winds, so its northern slopes receive most of the rain and its southern slopes lie in a rain shadow. The US Geological Survey describes the southern third of Puerto Rico as semi-arid. A 1968 USGS study of the Juana Díaz area, which takes in Villalba's river basin, found that the land there at times has the look of semi-arid country. Average annual rainfall at Lago Toa Vaca is about 60 inches, against about 90 inches in the higher part of its river basin, according to a USGS report of 1991. Villalba's hazard-mitigation plan gives February as the driest month at the Villalba 1E weather station and October as the wettest. The driest months in the Toro Negro State Forest are December to March, according to the forest's fact sheet.

Hurricanes María and Fiona

A map of landslides triggered by Hurricane María across Puerto Rico.

A US Geological Survey map, dated 23 October 2017, of the landslides triggered by Hurricane María across Puerto Rico. Map: USGS / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Hurricane María crossed the south-east coast of Puerto Rico near Yabucoa on 20 September 2017. Hurricane Fiona made landfall over the extreme south-west of the island on 18 September 2022. The National Hurricane Center recorded 27.82 inches of rain from María at one Villalba gauge and 22.95 inches at another. From Fiona it recorded 24.31 inches at Lago El Guineo and 21.05 inches at Barrio Apeadero, both listed as near Villalba. The US Geological Survey mapped the concentration of landslides that María triggered across the island, as shown above.

Across the island, María destroyed about 80 per cent of mature coffee shrubs, according to a 2019 US Forest Service account citing World Coffee Research. Carlos Flores Ortega, then Secretary of Agriculture, said in 2019 that María destroyed 85 per cent of coffee farm harvests; in February 2018 he had said that 75 per cent of the shrubs survived. The figures measure different things and do not agree. Help available to growers after hurricanes and drought is described in Hurricane Maria and the Coffee Industry (2017): Devastation and Survival.

Visiting

Lago Toa Vaca in Villalba under cumulus cloud, with houses on the green hills across the water and scrub on the near bank.

Lago Toa Vaca in Villalba, photographed in August 2014, with houses on the green hills across the water. Photo: Yarfpr / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Villalba's two reservoirs are popular for recreational fishing and birdwatching, according to Discover Puerto Rico. Commercial fishing is prohibited in Puerto Rico's reservoirs, according to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and a 2004 law prohibits boats of more than 30 horsepower on lakes and lagoons. The ranger station for the Toro Negro State Forest is on Route 143 at kilometre 32.4 in Villalba, and hikers and campers are asked to visit it first, according to Discover Puerto Rico in August 2026. The same page lists the El Bolo trail, which leads to a stone tower on a mountain top, as open. The Mirador Villalba-Orocovis, a lookout between the two towns, was reported closed since Hurricane María by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in June 2023, although FEMA had obligated more than $121,300 for its repair in April 2021. No report of its reopening was found. Opening times and access change, so check before travelling.

Key Facts

  • Villalba borders Orocovis, Coamo and Juana Díaz.
  • Area: 95.9 km² (37.0 sq mi), of which 92.3 km² is land; population 22,093 in the 2020 Census.
  • It was created a municipality by Law No. 42 of 12 April 1917, from wards of Juana Díaz.
  • Highest point: Cerro El Bolo, given as 1,070 or 1,081 metres, on the border with Orocovis.
  • Reservoirs: Lago Guayabal (1913) and Lago Toa Vaca (1972).
  • Coffee: 75 farms on 531 cuerdas in 2012; 39 farms selling coffee in 2022.
  • The preamble of Ley 78-2019 lists Villalba in the coffee zone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Villalba an old coffee town? Coffee is recorded there from the 1920s, but Villalba became a municipality only in 1917; before that its land was part of Juana Díaz.

When was Villalba founded? By Law No. 42 of 12 April 1917.

How much coffee does Villalba grow? In 2012, 75 farms harvested 2,106 hundredweight on 531 cuerdas; the 2022 census counted 39 farms selling coffee.

What is the highest point in Villalba? Cerro El Bolo, on the border with Orocovis, given as 1,070 or 1,081 metres.

Can I visit the Villalba–Orocovis lookout? It was reported closed in June 2023, and no reopening was found; check before travelling.

Sources

Geography and population

History

  • Municipio de Villalba, Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, 4 June 2010 — Villalba's origins, Law No. 42, its wards, nicknames and economy.
  • Panorama general de los municipios, Rafael Torrech, Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, 3 May 2012 — municipalities created in the twentieth century.
  • "Report on the Census of Porto Rico, 1899" (Internet Archive digitised copy), US War Department, 1900 — the populations of Villalba Abajo and Villalba Arriba.
  • "Fourteenth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1920, Volume I: Population" (Internet Archive digitised copy), US Bureau of the Census — the wards that formed Villalba.
  • Fernando Picó, Historia general de Puerto Rico (Ediciones Huracán) — the movement of south-coast peasants after the droughts of the 1840s.
  • "Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana, vol. 68" (Internet Archive digitised copy), Espasa-Calpe, 1929 — Villalba's coffee and sugar cane.
  • "The Island of Porto Rico" (Internet Archive digitised copy), Claudio Capó, 1925 — the area's products.
  • Libro de Puerto Rico (1998) — Villalba and the first cooperative.
  • Cooperativismo agrícola puertorriqueño: un centenario (1920–2020), Parés Ramos, Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2020 — the Villalba vegetable cooperatives.

Coffee

Lakes and climate

Hurricanes

Visiting

Claims this encyclopedia could not source

  • That Villalba set up Puerto Rico's first cooperative. One reference work of 1998 says so; no other source was located.
  • A single height for Cerro El Bolo. Sources give 1,070 and 1,081 metres, and the government map allows an error of 10 to 20 metres.
  • Whether Cerro El Bolo lies inside the Toro Negro State Forest. The federal database places it inside; the forest's 2008 fact sheet does not list Villalba.
  • Coffee figures for Villalba from the 2018 census of agriculture. That census published no coffee table by municipio.
  • Coffee losses in Villalba after Hurricane María. No municipal figure was located.
  • A distinctive flavour for Villalba coffee. No cupping study was located.
  • Whether the Mirador Villalba-Orocovis has reopened. No report after June 2023 was located.

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