Home |
About the City |
City Map Accommodations | Attractions | Car Rentals | Restaurants TOURS - Discovery Bay | St. Mary |
Tour 15 - To Discovery Bay and the Dry Harbour Mountains Excerpted from the book, Tour Jamaica, by Margaret Morris |
West of Dunns River on the R Laughing Waters with a fine beach and exquisite
small waterfall is owned by the government of Jamaica and can be rented
for functions. The road L leads to Roaring River great house and on to what
used to be a spectacular waterfall - now harnessed to supply 3.8 megawatts
of power. At Mammee Bay, (named for the Mammee apple trees that used to
grow here in profusion) there is a luxury residential subdivision. Sandals Dunns River with a replica of the famous waterfall in one of
its swimming pools is one of the largest in the international Sandals chain.
The St. Ann Polo Club at Drax Hall has matches every Saturday. Polo, introduced
by the British army in the late 1800s, has been thoroughly Jamaicanized
and has a small but fanatical following. Polo at Drax Hall provides an unusual
spectator sport, a glimpse of the local gentry in their natural habitat,
delicious afternoon teas and moderate bar prices. The adjacent football field, donated by the owners of Drax Hall and frequently
crowded by spectators, provides a glimpse of more rootsy recreation. Drax
Hall estate was created in 1669 by William Drax, a planter from Barbados
- sugar, pimento, limes, coconuts and cattle have all been successfully
produced here for centuries. The current owners plan an 800 acre tourism/residential
development centred around a golf course, marina and the beach at Don Christopher's
Cove. The highway skims St. Anns Bay, and passing R St. Ann Artisan's Village
and waterfront restaurant called The Mug, then past a fisherman's beach
and roadside display of earthenware Flowers Pots produced by a pleasant
person known as "Potter Man". At Seville, the first Spanish settlement remains little more than a legend
despite sporadic archaeological investigations. Sevilla La Nueva was founded
in 1509 on orders from Diego Columbus, Governor of the Indies who chose
the site where his father Christopher had been marooned with two unseaworthy
ships for one year. The grand city planned never materialized and was abandoned
25 years later when the capital removed to St Jago de la Vega (now Spanish
Town). Seville is known to have had a cathedral, palace, and sugar factory.
Relics of these were unearthed in the 1950s by the late Charles Cotter,
an amateur but expert archaeologist and include exquisitely carved stones
from the Church of Peter Martyr of Anghiera - an absentee abbot who wrote
a book about the New World but never set foot in Jamaica. Attempts to uncover
the remains of Columbus' stranded vessels using the most advanced sonic
techniques have proved fruitless. Apart from signs erected by the Jamaica
National Heritage Trust, there is very little to see other than fragments
of ancient stone masonry but the eerie stillness of the swampy foreshore
does encourage reflections on forgotten dreams and the passage of time.
At Seville great house, L off the main road a UNESCO plaque commemorates
the 500th year since Columbus arrived in the New World. The anniversary
was ignored in the island since most Jamaicans, if they thought about it
at all, seemed to favour the view that Columbus was the first of the colonial
exploiters. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust and local Georgian society
have plans to refurbish the great house as a mini-museum. At Priory the huge anchor R of the road beside the brick ruins of the
oldest church on the northcoast marks the entrance to Columbus Cottages
and Hofstra Marine laboratory. American students come here to take practical
courses in marine biology. Also R is Jamel Continental, a comfortable small
hotel with friendly staff. Turn L at Priory and follow the signs to Sleepy Hollow, a small eco-tourist
oasis in the hills offering campsites, refreshments and a fine view. It
is owned by Con and Patsy Pink. Back on the highway, at Richmond, Chukka Cove is a complete equestrian
centre offering lessons (beginner's, polo, jumping),trail rides (from one
hour to 3 days) and even the opportunity to ride horses in the ocean. Owned
and operated by Danny Melville, current chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission,
Chukka Cove is the mecca of the island's 'horsey' crowd and frequently the
venue for shows and international polo tournaments including the Fossil
Open in which the aggregate age of each team must exceed 200 years. Jamaica
Carnival kicks off here every Easter Monday with Byron Lee and his Dragonaires. Past the bridge over Little River a sign L points the way to Lillyfield
(a short but strenuous drive into the hills). Lillyfield is a small guest
house in a restored great house on a working plantation that includes 15
acres of high mountain coffee. Their small Coffee museum includes the Women's
Petition against Coffee, "Representing to Publick Consideration the
Grand Inconveniences accruing to their Sex from the Excefsive Ufe of the
Drying, Enfeebling Liquor." Salem has a fishing beach and the privately operated Paradise Beach with
changing rooms, and snack bar. Club Caribbean, a successful cottage hotel
had the first nude beach on the island - now there are several, all private
and described as 'swimsuits optional'. Next door Sunflower Villas and Caribbean
Village offer more accommodation options. Opposite, the cluster of small
shops, bars and restaurants continues to spread. Almost anything is available
here including Karate Lessons. Look out for the studio of Christopher Gonzales,
the sculptor whose mystical concept of Bob Marley can be seen at the National
Gallery in Kingston. Runaway Bay was the first total resort development in Jamaica. During
the 1960s Cardiff Hall a cattle and coconut estate - was transformed into
two golf courses, residential and commercial lots and a luxury beach front
hotel. The hotel now incarnated as Jamaica-Jamaica is a member of the all-inclusive
Super Clubs chain. Numerous villas on the hills and around the golf course
can be rented, some have rights to a private residents beach adjacent to
Jamaica Jamaica. The Runaway Bay H.E.A.R.T. Academy and Club overlooking
the golf course combines a small hotel with a hotel training school. The
Super Clubs Golf Club with an 18 hole championship course and driving range
- welcomes visitors. The Franklyn D. Resort is a family all-inclusive apartment
hotel. Other small hotels hugging the coast include Eaton Hall, and Ambiance. For years, the Pear Tree River beach at a deep bend in the road provided
a scenic drive, relaxed safe swimming and a number of informal snackbars
and craft shops the perfect eco-tourist attraction. Now another large all
inclusive tourism development (dubbed doomvelopment by local fishermen)
threatens to deny public access to the beach and to degrade the almost pristine
wetland behind it. As we go to press, community groups and environmentalists
continue to protest. At Green Grotto you can tour a limestone cave complete with stalactites
and stalagmites and a tiny underground lake. The Pirates Hideaway nightclub
inside the cave is frequently the venue for entertainments that would put
even the roistering buccaneers to shame. You can have "Fishing Fun"
in the crystal clear water of the small lake adjacent to the cave. A small
entrance fee covers bait and tackle. You can buy the fish your catch (or
throw them back) and eat them fried, jerked or baked right there. Bammies
and cool drinks are also available. This lake is fed by an underground water
system which surfaces again as the much larger but still undeveloped Kaiser
lake. Subterranean channels connect these lakes to the sea and the water
level rises and falls with the tides. Opposite the Fishing Fun entrance
and R of the main road, El Africano is handy for good jerk pork and cool
beer. As you enter Discovery Bay, meet 'roots'Jamaica at its most conscious
at "Kocks & Cold Drinks", an insignificant sign L of the road
by a football field and ask Everton Bell (otherwise known as Kocks) about
the Marcus y Bob Community League and the St. Ann Environment Protection
Association. Discovery Bay, formerly dependent on Kaiser Jamaica is now in the throes
of tourism expansion. Opposite the small Post Office, the showroom of Discovery
Bay Designs has choice craft items and souvenirs. Local magnates with beach
villas along the Fortlands 'Millionaires Row' include Butch Stewart of Sandals
fame, and Tony Hart of Good Hope and the McConnells of United Estates. Some
of these luxury villas can be rented. Kaiser Jamaica, a major employer, overlooks the bay. A subsidiary of
Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Co. of the U.S., Kaiser Bauxite Ltd. operated
first on the south coast then moved to St. Ann in the 1960s. A railroad
was built from the bauxite mines in the Dry Harbour mountains and a plant
and port established and named Port Rhodes after a popular Kaiser executive
'Dusty Rhodes' - though there are times when Port Dusty seems more appropriate.
In 1979 the Jamaican government acquired 51% of Kaiser Bauxite's mining
assets and all their land thus creating a partnership called Kaiser Jamaica
which is managed by the U.S. partner. Kaiser Jamaica's operation contracted
during the aluminum slump of the mid 1980s and the disintegration of the
Soviet union, its main customer, was another blow. The expansive Puerto Seco beach is (unfortunately) no longer operated
by Kaiser but they still oversee Columbus Park, an open-air mini-museum
overlooking the bay. The road L opposite the port leading up to the plant
provides an excellent view of the harbour. Kaiser's Sports Club which you
pass R features Anansi in the playground - a climbing structure fashioned
from scrap metal in the likeness of a Jamaica folk hero - Brer Anansi -
the wily spider. A lesser God of African origin, Anansi crossed the ocean
with the slaves. The Sports Club is the venue every August for the finals
of the Push Cart Derby. Jamaican youths 'earn a bread' by transporting goods
in their home-made carts. On the suggestion of Con Pink, a former Kaiser
employee, the Public Relations department organized push-carting as a grassroots
sport and sponsors the annual Derby a very popular event. Some carts have
been clocked at 60 miles per hour in the downhill homestretch. Kaiser's
modern Clinic serves its employees and the community. Just beyond Columbus park turn R off the road to the U.W.I. Marine laboratory.
This branch of the University of the West Indies is a research centre that
attracts scientists from all over the world. Facilities include wet and
dry labs, a photographic lab, a library and the only decompression chamber
in the island. Most historians now agree that Discovery Bay was not the place where
Columbus first set foot on Jamaican soil. He sailed into the harbour in
search of fresh water and because he found none named the place Puerto Seco
(dry harbour) - a name that persists to this day. He describes in his log
proceeding west to the next horseshoe-shaped harbour where he discovered
a fine river which he named Rio Bueno. The Arawaks waiting on shore made
threatening gestures but were quickly subdued by a few rounds of shot and
a ferocious dog, whereupon Columbus landed and claimed the land for God
and the Queen of Spain. (Rio Bueno lies 6 miles west of Discovery Bay at
the other end of the Queen's Highway - a fine road which was opened in 1953
by HRH Queen Elizabeth II. See Tour No 12) Places to stay in Discovery Bay include: Portside Villas a small hotel
on the bay with a popular restaurant , Sea Shanty, on a deck over the water.
The Discovery Bay Hotel, overlooking the bay has a few self-catering apartments. At the Discovery Bay crossroads head uphill between the Texaco station
and Police Station, through pastures and pimento groves to Browns Town.
Minard estate R just below Browns Town belongs to the government. It has
two fine great houses, both badly in need of restoration and a herd of Jamaica
Brahmin cattle, a beef breed developed by selective breeding of imported
Zebu strains. Brown's Town was named after Hamilton Brown, Esq., a very disagreeable
character who lived at Minard during the nineteenth century and kept a private
army. He loathed black and coloured people and destroyed the Baptist chapel
so that they would have nowhere to worship. The atrocities that he committed
were so blatant that the Governor finally expelled him from the Militia
(the local army reserve). Nevertheless, he remained a member in good standing
of St. Mark's Anglican church (which he had built) and was buried in 1843
in the churchyard overlooking the Browns Town market. The town is a centre
for the hundreds of small farmers in the Dry Harbour Mountains. There are
two markets - one dating from the 1800s, the other supposedly temporary,
has been in place for the last twenty years. Vendors spill over into the
narrow streets and hang their wares on the church railings. There are three
banks and a variety of stores including long established family businesses
like Top Charley's and Bottom Charley's (founded by two brothers from Lebanon),
and Loganís. Brown's Town is also a centre for education: St Hilda's High School,
an Anglican foundation now government aided, overlooks the main street.
The girls wear lavender uniforms. York Castle High School, a Methodist foundation
is government aided and co-educational. The Browns Town Community College
absorbs the sixth form from both schools and offers college-level courses.
A former Principal of both York Castle and the Community College is Burchell
Whiteman, local member of parliament and currently the hardworking Minister
of Education and Culture. Browns Town is also well supplied with large churches
including Baptist , Methodist, Anglican, Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist.
Two interesting local groups are the Apostolic Ark, an indigenous evangelic
group founded in 1880, and the Tabernacle, a breakaway from the Baptists,
founded in 1876 by a flamboyant and radical missionary Dr. James Johnstone.
Browns Town's economic base is bauxite and farming including, when the
heat is off, ganja farming. The hills around here are famous (or notorious)
for producing high quality marijuana and plenty of it. This illicit crop
explains some of the opulent mansions that you may observe in the town and
remote locations in the countryside. The road to Mandeville leads from Top Road through the hills. Many of
the settlements here originated as Free Villages. After the emancipation
of the slaves non-conformist churches and their congregations subscribed
to buy land and provide the freed slaves with homesteads. Among the Free
Villages in St. Ann are Sturge Town named for the Quaker Joseph Sturge,
Clarksonville named for Baptist preacher John Clarke, and Wilberforce named
for the liberal politician William Wilberforce who piloted the Emancipation
Act through the British Parliament. The winding road skims through rolling pastures, past woodlands and small
cultivations. If you wish to see Kaiser's bauxite mining operation turn
R at a junction called Trainline. St. D'Acre is the home of Dr Neville Gallimore, JLP member of parliament,
whose family has dominated local politics for generations. At the large
Tabernacle church there is an obelisk, a memorial to the founder of the
sect Dr James Johnstone, and the graves of several members of his family.
Dr. Johnstone came to Jamaica from England as a Baptist preacher, quarreled
with his superior and left to found the Jamaica Evangelistic Mission, otherwise
called Tabernacle. Identifying one of his congregation's main needs as medical
care he went to Canada to study medicine. On his return as a qualified M.D.
members of the Tabernacle congregation met him outside Brown's Town, removed
the horses from his buggy and themselves drew it through the town singing,
"Jesus of Nazareth draweth nigh!" Three generations of preaching
doctors followed him but now the medical side of the mission is defunct.
The breach with the Baptists is long since healed but the Tabernacle with
22 churches throughout St. Ann and Trelawny retains its own identity. Turn R at the next junction for Watt Town, the birthplace of Revivalism
in Jamaica. The religious revival of the 1880s began here, initiated by
foreign missionaries at a place called Happy News. On a steep hill at the
edge of the village is Watt Town Revival Schoolroom, and rustic accommodation
for pilgrims who come from all over the island and from overseas to recharge
their spiritual energy. Most are members or leaders of Revivalist or charismatic
sects. Spiritual school (service and prayer meetings) is held daily in the
narrow stucco schoolroom which is furnished with wooden benches and faded
banners. Visitors are welcome - once they are screened by the gatekeeper
- and allowed to enter the 'ground'. Watt Town Leader is Henry Linton, an
amiable farmer and powerful preacher. He is assisted by a number of Patriarchs,
including the remarkable Mother Anna. Alexandria, with a hospital and police station is the largest of the
hill villages. Turn L here to Nine Miles, Bob Marley's birthplace and mausoleum.
Notice the parish tanks at Alva and Calderwood, the only public supply of
water in the hills. At Alva there is a long established Catholic Mission
with a convent and school. Take the road R for Calderwood and Stepney to
Nine Miles. The roads will not coincide exactly with your road map so ask
directions. Nine Miles is a poor farming district - a stark contrast to
the fame and opulence achieved by its favourite son, Reggae King Bob Marley
who left a bitterly contested estate valued at US$35 million. On a steep
and stony hill beside the little hut where Bob grew up, his family has built
a shrine. In it Bob is entombed with his guitar. Space is reserved for the
future use of his widow Rita, still very much alive and singing up a storm.
The elegant shrine has stained glass windows. It is said that ganja is sometimes
burned as incense on the altar inside. Memorial concerts are sometimes held
here. At Calderwood ask for directions to Murray Mountain and Brother Everald
Brown. He is Jamaica's leading Intuitive artist and famous for his decorated
musical instruments. Brother Brown, pastor of his own church is a mystic
and deeply religious man. He seeks answers and inspiration on a remote hilltop
emerging infrequently for the opening of art exhibitions at Harmony Hall.
The road from Nine Miles is rough: stark rocky hillside alternates with
cool, ferny glades. At Alderton, Alcan's rolling cattle pastures are stocked
with prime Jamaica Reds. (Possible detour: At Bonneville crossroads a road
leads R to the ruins of Edinburgh Castle, a fortress built in the eighteenth
century by Lewis Hutchinson, a psychopath with an unpleasant habit of inviting
travelers to dinner and then robbing and murdering them. His hobby was discovered
and he was tried and hanged in the Spanish Town square. From there the road
continues through Concord and Pedro River (sometimes inundated by an ephemeral
lake after heavy rains) and on to the once fruitful hills of Clarendon,
childhood home of Jamaican poet Claude McKay. Claremont is a rural market centre where fortunes wax and wane according
to the price of agricultural produce (including marijuana). The town's most
famous and respected citizen is Seymour 'Foggy' Mullings, land surveyor,
piano player, long- time PNP politician and currently deputy Prime Minister
of Jamaica. From here to Higgin Town the road winds smoothly through lush
cattle farms with elegant great houses perched on hilltops - a vivid contrast
to the small houses and hard scrabble cultivations that you observed in
the hinterlands. A scenic drive with vistas of the seacoast takes you to
Lime Hall, then down the hill to the parish capital. Perched above the town, High Hope Estate has the largest collection of
hybrid hibiscus in Caribbean. Up market Bed and Breakfast or an all-inclusive
package available here. This is the starting point for the High Hope Countryside
Bicycle Tour which ends with a tour of the High Hope gardens including an
introduction to local medicinal plants and unusual fruits from their "Weird
and Wonderful Table". St. Anns Bay, which you enter via Gulley Road was once a busy port but
shipping was discontinued long ago and the town is now eclipsed by Ocho
Rios. It has steep narrow roads and several fine old buildings, notably
the Courthouse, still the seat of local government. A statue of Christopher
Columbus fronts the Catholic Church on the west of town. Nearby is the large
Marcus Garvey Secondary School and beside it the St Ann's Bay Hospital.
A statue of National Hero Marcus Garvey fronts the Library near the town
centre. Philosopher Garvey, the first person to assert that 'Black is Beautiful'
was born and schooled in the town before he went to Kingston to become a
powerful orator and then on to the United States where he founded the Universal
Negro Improvement Association. This is a long tour with many interesting possibilities, much of it over lonely and unpredictable roads. You may find that you need two or even three days to do it justice. |
Go-Jamaica | Discover Jamaica | Gleaner Online |
Copyright © The Gleaner Company Limited, all rights reserved. E-mail webadmn@jamaica-gleaner.com to report problems or request assistance. |