“In
this bright future you can’t forget your past.” –Bob Marley
For
a brief orientation on what is most wonderful about Jamaica and its people one
need look no further than the Jamaica National Flag. It was designed by a
committee of the Jamaica House of Representatives and first flew on August 6,
1962, Jamaican Independence Day. The three colors and four triangles used in
the design are representative of the nations’ past and future. Two green
triangles on the top and bottom stand for the hope of the people and the
country’s agricultural bounty. The gold swaths that separate the triangles
embodies the wealth of natural resources and the sunlight that bathes the
island in a gilded aura and the two black triangles symbolize the people and
their legacy of strength and creativity.
All
of these qualities can be found all over the island but to visit Kingston is to
explore the most culturally diverse and culturally rich area in the country.
Situated on the southeastern coast of the island the Jamaican capital is also
its largest city. Kingston was founded on July 22, 1692 after an earthquake and
tsunami destroyed Port Royal, leaving more than 2,000 dead and for any survivor
to relocate. Port Royal was established in 1518, 174 years before Kingston, but
Jamaica’s biography begins long before that.
Jamaica
is part of an extensive string of volcanic mountains that line the bottom of
the Caribbean Sea with mountaintops that, in some cases, rise above the water
and form islands. Jamaica rose and submerged several times during its formation
and limestone covered vast areas forming caves and hidden rivers. The entire
Caribbean is referred to as the West Indies with Jamaica being one of a subset
of islands known as the Greater Antilles.
The
Arawak, or Taino, Indians arrived on the island around 2,500-years ago from
South America. They settled along the shoreline and fish became a dietary
staple. They grew cassava, cotton, tobacco and vegetables and named the island
Xaymaca after its chief resources, “wood and water.” On May 4, 1494 Christopher
Columbus sailed into what is now St. Ann’s Bay on his second voyage but was
unable to land. He sailed on to Discovery Bay where he landed and claimed the
island for Spain. Jamaica for the next 15-years served as a provisioning base
and point from which the Spanish could mount conquests. Columbus named the
island Santiago, St. James, but the original name is the one by which it has
always been known.
Governor
Juan de Esquivel and a group of settlers founded Sevilla la Nueva in 1509
followed by other small villages. In the 1520s, St. Jago de la Vega was
developed as the first capital with trade and government functions taking place
there. Esquivel was responsible for the earliest slave trade when he
immediately began enslaving the island’s indigenous people and sending most to
Hispaniola and Spain, but retaining some to labor on the island. Eventually,
when the Arawaks and indentured servants proved inadequate as workers the
Spanish turned to Africans, when were seen as cheaper and in a seemingly
endless supply. The chief crop of the island, and most of the Caribbean, was
sugar, a crop that was so labor intensive that the life expectancy was only 7
years for workers.
King
Ferdinand granted permission for Christian blacks to be transported from Spain,
not Africa, to Jamaica as slaves in 1501. Africans were not brought into the
colony until an asiento, a contract, allowed importation of 4,000 blacks
annually from Africa over a 4 year period. King Charles I signed it in 1518 and
by the early 17th-century the island’s population was 50 percent free and
enslaved blacks. It is estimated that more than one million slaves were
transported to Jamaica directly from Africa before the slave trade ended in
1834. British forces landed in Jamaica on May 10, 1655 under the leadership of
Adm. William Penn, father of Pennsylvania’s founder, and Gen. Robert Venables
and claimed it for England.
The
Jamaican Assembly first met in Kingston in 1755 but, curiously, documents fail
to tell us where. In 1814 the Assembly moved to Hibbert House and the
government purchased the structure in 1872. Headquarters House, as Hibbert is
now known, was the Legislature’s home until 1960 when it was relocated to
George William Gordon House. Hibbert House now houses the National Trust of
Jamaica and the 2 story Flemish-bond residence has been extensively remodeled.
jnht.com
The
house, a masterpiece of 18th-century Jamaican architecture, was constructed by
Thomas Hibbert to win a bet as to which of four planters could build the most
stunning mansion. The prize was the hand in marriage of the town beauty.
Hibbert came to Jamaica in 1734 to protect his family’s interests in the slave
trade and became personally wealthy doing it. He won the bet in 1755, but
declined the marriage and opting to form a relationship with his beautiful,
educated, enslaved housekeeper Charity Harry. Charity and Thomas had three
daughters, all well educated, one of whom was an art student of Sir Joshua
Reynolds. Hibbert continued to own nearly 1,000 slaves on his plantation
properties. Charity was at his bedside when he died.
Gordon
House, the Jamaican Parliament, Building, is located adjacent to Hibbert House.
The two story. L-shaped, contemporary building is named in honor of national
hero George William Gordon. Born of an enslaved mother and a planter he became
a self-taught lawyer, landowner and political activist who urged resistance by
the underprivileged. He was charged with insurrection and treason in relation
to his supposed role in an insurrection at Morant Bay. He was executed on
October 23,1865.
George
Stiebel, Jamaica’s first black millionaire, built Devon House in 1881 on the
foundations of St. Andrew Parish Church’s rectory. Stiebel was the son of a
black Jamaican housekeeper and a German Jew. He left school at 14 to become a
carpenter’s apprentice and in his 20s his father gave him money to help him
purchase a ship to engage in trade. He soon purchased more ships and engaged in
legal trade as well as gun running. In the 1850s he was aboard one of his ships
when they sank, washing him ashore in Venezuela. He became a peddler there and
accumulated enough profit to become a gold trader and purchase shares in a gold
mine. Rich once more, he returned to Jamaica and bought 99 properties because
the law did not allow ownership of 100.
The
Jamaican Georgian Devon mansion is a consistent recipient of TripAdvisor’s
“Certificate of Excellence” and has been visited by numerous international
luminaries including Queen Elizabeth. Heritage Tours are offered on weekdays
and include 14 of the 24 rooms. The rooms are fully furnished and highlights
include an elegant staircase in the vestibule, the Ballroom adorned with an
original Wedgewood ceiling and the Sewing Room featuring a staircase that could
be pulled up hide an upstairs gambling area. Outbuildings have been repurposed
to serve as Courtyard Shops. Both the food and libations are renowned and
National Geographic designated Devon House the “4th Best Place to Enjoy Ice
Cream”.
Lady
Musgrave Road links many of the heritage sites but not Devon House. When George
Stiebel constructed the mansion Governor Lord Anthony Musgrave’s wife took
umbrage at having to ride pass the home of a black man. Her husband had a road
cut for her, Lady Musgrave Road, so that she would not have to feel humiliated.
devonhousejamaica.com
National
Heroes Park is one of the most visited of the 36 National Heritage Sites in
Kingston. The area was once the site of the Kingston Race Course and on August
2, 1838 a large celebration was held here in recognition of the total
eradication of slavery and apprenticeship. In 1973, it became the National
Heroes Park and monuments were erected to honor the island’s seven heroes,
Nanny of the Maroons, Paul Bogle, Alexander Bustamante, Marcus Garvey, George
William Gordon, Norman W. Manley and Sam Sharpe. Bustamante, Garvey and Manley
are interred there.
In
July 2003, Laura Facey’s controversial “Redemption Song” Statue was dedicated
in Emancipation Park. Two 7-ft. bronze nudes, a male and female, stand facing
each other looking skyward. The dome-shaped base is etched with Garvey’s words
that were incorporated in Marley’s Redemption Song, “None but ourselves can
free our minds”.
Marcus Garvey Monument
(Photo: Renée S. Gordon)
Although
slavery officially ended in the 1830s, the underprivileged and disenfranchised
failed to gain opportunities. In 1914, Garvey established the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA) and Back to Africa Movement. In 1930, Ras Tafari
Makonnen, Haile Selassie, ascended the throne of Ethiopia and was viewed as the
fulfillment of a prophecy made by Garvey. It is believed that Leonard Percival
Howell founded Rastafarianism in 1935, he wrote the first book on the subject,
“The Promised Key,” and he is recognized as the first Rastafarian. Originally
one of Garvey’s most important followers he deftly blended the teachings of
Garvey, veneration of Haile Selassie and inspired preaching to grow the number
of followers.
The
most famous Jamaican and Rastafarian is Robert Nesta Marley, OM. He was born in
1945 in Nine Mile, Jamaica but his life is well interpreted in Kingston where
he spent the majority of his life.
Jamaica’s
Central Housing Authority erected government housing on 200-acres in the 1940s
called Trench Town. Renters were provided with water, electricity and a shared
kitchen and bathroom facilities for a nominal fee. Apartments consisted of one
or two 10-ft. by 10-ft. rooms. Trench Town Culture Yard (TTCY) area was part of
the “U” block of homes, 16 rooms with 16 families, around a communal courtyard.
It was here that 11-year old Bob Marley and his mother moved in 1956 and it was
here that his legend began.
Bob
Marley was taught to play the guitar by one of the residents, Vincent Ford, the
Wailers were formed here, he and Ford composed No Woman No Cry and he recorded
his first album, Catch a Fire. In 2007 TTCY was granted protected National
Heritage status. www.bobmarley.com
Guided
tours are regularly scheduled and are a wonderful experience. Several of the
rooms form a museum that exhibits photographs, artifacts and makes clear the
fact that a number of noted musicians, activists and artists lived here, Marley
was merely the most famous. On exhibit is Marley’s first guitar. Two rooms of
particular note are Ford’s room, outfitted with a bed, walls covered with
Biblical scripture, his personal Bible turned to psalm 68 and the kitchen that
was used by Bob Marley as a bedroom featuring his original bed. Marley’s
father, Captain Norval Marley, was a white Englishman in his 50s and his mother
was 16. He never met his father and, as an adult, he sought out his English
family but they refused to acknowledge him. Captain Marley’s photograph is
displayed.
In
the courtyard guests can take pictures with a statue of Marley and the remains
of his first car. Marley’s early recording studio still functions and if you
visit on a recording day you are welcome to enter the studio and watch.
trenchtowncultureyard.com
The
Bob Marley Museum is part of a complex that includes a theater, recording
studios, café, exterior art exhibits and Marley’s home from 1975 until his
death from cancer at the age of 36 in 1981. The house was purchased from his
manager and retains original bricks, marble steps and sashes.
Guided
interior tours are 1.5-hours and showcase Marley’s awards, honors, career,
personal items and lifestyle. Tours begin with the biographical murals on the
exterior and the statue in front of the residence that includes portraits of
Garvey and Selassie. Also highlighted are his favorite spot to compose music
and the place on the porch where he held interviews. Showcased areas inside the
museum are a room wallpapered with articles that relate his career from 1973 to
1981, a stage backdrop, bedroom in which he died, his kitchen still filled,
with his personal utensils and the studio in which he recorded three albums.
The last stop on the tour is a visit to the rehearsal room where the
assassination attempt was made on his life in December 3, 1970 accessed through
the yard. bobmarleymuseum.com
Bob
Marley founded Tuff Gong International in 1965 and gave the enterprise his
nickname. It is a full-service, state-of-the-art recording studio and tours can
be arranged. tuffgong.com
The
Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM) is a section of the Institute of Jamaica. The
exhibits are undergoing installation and will reopen in 2016 to continue its
mission to serve as the national repository for information and artifacts
interpreting all genres of Jamaican music and music heritage. jamm-ioj.org.jm
Now
that you have toured Jamaican musical history it is time to experience it.
Redbones Blues Café, a Jazz & Blues themed Caribbean Fusion Cuisine
Restaurant & Bar is renowned as both an entertainment and dining venue. It
opened in 1996 with a name that reflects Jamaica’s mixed racial heritage with
private gardens and terraces, casual elegance and gourmet cuisine add to the
ambiance. redbonesbluescafe.com
Knutsford
Court Hotel provides perfect accommodations for the Kingston portion of your
visit to Jamaica. It offers 143 rooms and suites with all the amenities
including free WIFI, complimentary full buffet breakfast and electronic key
access to rooms and secure areas of the hotel. The Knutsford is located five
miles from the airport in the heart of downtown and within walking distance of
many sites and shopping. The Melting Pot, the onsite restaurant, looks out on a
tropical garden. Service throughout the hotel is exemplary. knutsfordcourt.com
Several
airlines are offering sale fares to Jamaica and this is the time to go.
Meteorologists predict that our winter will be extremely cold. I predict that
you will find a warm welcome in Jamaica. Visitjamaica.com
Originally published October 2015
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