In the Guapimirim venue it is possible to identify several ruined structures, probably terraces of an old farm, where it is believed to have existed an economic production system (planting, harvest and processing) of Quina Calysaia. According to the Park Management Plan, Fazenda Barreira do Soberbo, where the Visitor Center currently operates, belonged to Henrique Dias, received financial support from the Empire in 1844 for the cultivation of cinchona, from which quinine is extracted , a drug used until today to combat malaria.
In 1876, Emperor D. Pedro II personally came to evaluate the production, which supplied the Brazilian Army during the Paraguay War. In 1880, there were 12,000 cinchona plants and 10,000 seedlings in nurseries. In the ruins, a wall was identified that seems to have belonged to the containment or drying structure of the cinchona or to a water reservoir. One of the stone channels found would be to collect and channel water from the highest part of the property to the area where the cinchona was planted to extract its active principle. Possibly, the construction technology of the wall can be the same for the constructions in the Tijuca Forest.
Between 2002 and 2003, a preliminary survey conducted by archaeologists of the National Museum-UFRJ made an assessment of the site where the ruins are located and there is a possibility that these structures are remnants of the aforementioned cinchona production system. This survey demonstrates the potential of the area for archaeological research, allowing for the elaboration of research projects to recognize the ruins found as an Archaeological Patrimony, and whose data illuminate a little more the history of the region and of Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century; highlighting also the importance of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park for the conservation, research and dissemination of the Brazilian Cultural Heritage.