Thursday, November 21, 2013
celticgods: Port Antonio, Jamaica
celticgods: Port Antonio, Jamaica: PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA - ONE OF A KIND Where else in one place does one find the intermingling of the histories of such dispara...
Port Antonio, Jamaica
PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA - ONE OF A KIND
Where else in one place does one find the intermingling of
the histories of such disparate groups as the Tainos, the Maroons, the Spanish/French/British, American business and leisure, the birthplace of
Caribbean tourism, the start of the international banana industry, plus the
rich and famous of the entire 20th Century?
Why, Port Antonio Jamaica, of course!
The town of Port Antonio is situated in the northeast corner
of the island of Jamaica. It sits on beautiful twin harbours, guarded to the
south by the majestic high ridge of the Blue Mountains and the entire area east
and west of the town is dotted by coves and beaches carved out of the
primordial rock by the eternal caresses (or bashing) of the waves from the Caribbean. Lush
foliage fed by its numerous emerald mountain rivers and streams and plentiful
rainfall make Port Antonio and its environs the place you always dreamed about
in the Caribbean.
Jamaica’s original inhabitants the Tainos lived here and
traces of their ancient civilization have been found in the caves of the
limestone hills and along the plentiful waterways.
Columbus found Jamaica on his second voyage to the Americas
and the
Spanish named the port “Puerto Anton”
after the son of an aristocrat. The Spanish did little else in the area.
Jamaica was taken by the British in 1655 and they retained
the town’s name and made it the capital of the parish of Portland so-named for
the Duke of Portland, a favourite of the king. Captain Morgan during his tenure
as governor used the hills around Port Antonio for look-out posts due to it's strategic location on the passageway between Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica that scanned the
sea for the approaches of Spanish or French invaders. The British developed
agriculture mainly sugar, coffee, cocoa, coconuts, annotto and cattle ranches.
Fort George on the Titchfield peninsula and Navy Island across the inlet
dividing the 2 harbours was the base for the Royal Navy and the fort was manned
right up to the 1960’s.
In the early days of British occupation Port Antonio and in
fact all of the eastern end of Jamaica, were under threat of attack from within
by the Maroons. The Maroons (from the Spanish “cimarron”, for “wild”) were
released Spanish slaves later joined by slaves that escaped their British
masters and formed communities in the high Blue Mountains and were clever and
fierce opponents, eventually forcing the British to sign a peace treaty and
designate them as a separate nation within the colony, free from further
molestation. It was the Maroons that
developed the technique of cooking and preserving meat by cooking feral pigs
using low smoke (to escape detection by the British) on barbecues made from
pimento (allspice) wood which we now
know as Jerk. A yearly festival commemorates this uniquely Jamaican cuisine phenomenon
in Boston east of Port Antonio.
Americans began arriving after Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker made
his first visit to the island in 1871 looking to fill his empty freighter in
order to make his return trip to the US profitable. Baker found bananas,
and was soon back as were others as the “yellow gold” boom began bringing
exotic tropical fruits in quantity to US markets for the first time and making
Port Antonio the wealthiest town in Jamaica after Kingston. Dow’s Boston Fruit
Company eventually had 40 banana
plantations and this was the beginning of one part of what became the United
Fruit Company that grew bananas all over the West Indies, Central and South America which became known
as Chiquita years later.
So, how did tourism come to begin at Port
Antonio? Simple, the fruit steamers also had staterooms for passengers and the
steamship lines supplemented their earnings by advertising for holiday makers to
enjoy the salubrious climate of Jamaica, “Island in the Sun”.
Soon the grand Titchfield Hotel was build on a bluff
overlooking the harbour, the town and up to the highest peaks in Jamaica. This
brought the new Hollywood royalty of silent films, Broadway and the West End. Wealthy
and famous people from the arts, business and sciences began to arrive and some
built homes, such as the daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. The world’s newspapers
followed their exploits and travels so that these style-maker’s holidays in the
tropics began to be lusted after by the wider public.
Fast forward past both World Wars and two similar visitors
from vastly different parts of the British Empire turned up, Ian Fleming and
more important for Port Antonio, Errol Flynn. Flynn sailed into Port Antonio
after being shipwrecked in Kingston and stayed off and on for 20 years. He
became part of the local scene and brought his pals from all over the globe
co-opting the banana rafts for their Rio Grande river excursion picnics and
giving an iconic activity to the visitors of the area which continues to this
day.
In the late 50’s Frenchman’s Cove resort was built on a
coastal plain east and an iconic beach east of Port Antonio which drew several
dynasties of European royalty, stars of stage and screen, business tycoons,
artists, musicians etc, in other words the jet-set had discovered Port Antonio.
Some people returned year after year and began to build vacation homes in the
hills and coves around Frenchman’s Cove, named San San, Alligator Head or the
Blue Hole.
Today the town is being renewed, infrastructure being renovated,
Trident Hotel and Castle has been re-imagined and the long promised investment
in Port Antonio appears to be close to reality, keep your fingers crossed!
Port Antonio has retained much of its original charm, and we
urge those who are curious to enjoy a real Jamaican Caribbean experience, so,
come catch Portie fever.
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