Hacienda Margarita also known at one time as Hacienda Ballester, was established in 1874 by Spanish immigrants from Mallorca, brothers Damián, Cristóbal and Nicolás Magraner Morell.  In 1874 Hacienda Margarita consisted of two hundred ninety three acres and in 1884 it had grown to fie hundred acres and produced one hundred twenty quintals of coffee, making it one of the three larger coffee producers in Lares.  In 1894 records show that Margarita belonged solely to Damian Magraner Morell who by the end of the century had returned to Mallorca where he retired.

Ca. 1928 the hacienda was acquired by Spanish immigrant from Sóller Juan Ballester Castañer (1879-1957) and was known as Hacienda Ballester. Ballester grew it to one thousand eight hundred cuerdas by adding among others Hacienda Los Velez which remains today lie West of SR-4431. After the death of Juan Ballester in 1957, it was inherited by his grandson Juan Colón Ballester who sold Hacienda Margarita to Joaquin Oronoz and Emiliano Ruiz. Oronoz and Ruiz lost the property in foreclosure in 1964.  On or about 1966 when it consisted of about one thousand three hundred cuerdas, the hacienda was acquired by Francisco Levy who owned the nearby Hacienda Rio Prieto.  

The remote location of Hacienda Margarita makes it unique.  It is reached through a paved road that begins toward the north just west of the bridge over Quebrada Achiote at km 6 of PR-431 and then through a 1¼ mile dirt trail some sections of which are quite steep.  The dirt road is very narrow due to the dense forest which made it impossible for us to reach the remains of the old hacienda. 

In the valley near the river just at the end of the paved road and still part of Hacienda Margarita, there was a small sugar plantation and a sugar mill.  Of the mill, the only remain is an axle of the three mass crusher made by The Blymer Iron Works Co. in Cincinatti, OH.  According to a neighbor, the axle lies near where the chimney and the Jamaican Train were located until the 1990s, but unfortunately now no longer there.  

​The Conservation Trust, now known as Para La Naturaleza, acquired Hacienda Margarita in 2018 with the intention to restore it as they have done with Hacienda Esparanza and Hacienda Buena Vista.​  There last four pictures in the gallery below were taken in 2019 by and made available courtesy of Para La Naturaleza.  They show the state of deterioration of the hacienda's facilities at the time.  The aerial picture below is made available courtesy of Archeologist Dr. Luis Pumarada O'Neill and the black and white pictures are from a 1987 study by Dr. Pumarada, obtained at the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office.