Hacienda Santa Ana was established in 1787 on two thousand four hundred acres granted Spanish Navy Captain Fernando Fernandez, born in Santander, in recognition for his service to the Spanish Crown.  It was adjacent to the lands of Hacienda Santa Bárbara which later became Central Union. In 1846 Fernando's younger son Manuel Fernandez Martinez (1807-1873) inherited Hacienda Santa Ana.  His elder son, José Ramón Fernandez Martinez Marqués de la Esperanza (1804-1893) was also involved in the sugar industry as owner Hacienda La Esperanza and part owner of Central Canóvanas.

By 1845 Hacienda Santa Ana consisted of about one thousand acres of which about one hundred fifty were used to grow sugarcane.  In his 1902 book Biografia de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico, José Ferreras Pagán does not list Hacienda Santa Ana as an operating sugar factory.  In his write up for Central Unión, Ferreras Pagán indicates Central Unión leased the lands of Hacienda Santa Ana whose sugar factory was not in operation and abandoned. 

Manuel Fernandez Martinez had at least two sons, Fernando Fernandez Umpierre Marqués de las Claras (1839-1898) owner of Central Las Claras and and Pedro F. Fernandez Umpierre (1849-1921) who studied chemical engineering at the École Centrale Paris. While in France, he became a fan of French brandies and cognacs and began studying formulation processes involved in their manufacture and aging.  When he returned to Puerto Rico, he combined that knowledge with his family’s existing rum production and in 1880 Pedro F. began making Ron del Barrilito here at Hacienda Santa Ana.   

Pedro F. married his cousin María Latimer Fernandez (1856-1908), the daughter of William Henry Latimer and Bárbara Fernandez Dorado, the daughter of José Ramón Fernandez who as mentioned above, was owner of Hacienda Esperanza and part owners of Central Canóvanas.  After the passing of Pedro F. Fernandez Martinez, his son Edmundo B. Fernandez Látimer (1895-1991) took over the business and incorporated it as Edmundo B. Fernandez, Inc.  As stated in this article on the webpage GotRum?, the company is now owned by a member of the Bacardi family who continues to produce and expand the Ron del Barrilito brand the same way it has been for over a century.

During the prohibition years, the distillery was dismantled and the operation was directed to producing Alcoholado Santa Ana which is also elaborated and bottled here.  Alcoholado, or Bay Rum, is a rubbing alcohol base infused with natural plants and other essential oils primarily bay rum, eucalyptus, piper marginatum, pathchouli, ginger, limpia stoechadifolia, yellow sage, sweet scent, peppermint, and camphor.  Once prohibition was over, rum production resumed but then only blending, bottling and aging were done on premises. 

Today the remains do not include acreage but include the manor house built ca. 1780-1800 and the sugar factory windmill built in 1827.  The windmill structure is only one of six remaining on the island.  The facilities are open to the public and tours conducted on a daily basis.