National Heroes Park

Lonely Planet review

The 74-acre oval-shaped National Heroes Park was formerly the Kingston Racecourse. Today its north end is a forlorn, barren wasteland grazed by goats.

At the park's southern end, however, National Heroes Circle contains a group of statues and memorials, some quite intriguing. The tomb of Sir Alexander Bustamante is a flat marble slab beneath an arch. More interesting is the Memorial to 1865, commemorating the Morant Bay Rebellion with a rock on a pedestal flanked by bronze busts of Abraham Lincoln and a Black slave with a sword.

Marcus Garvey is also buried here, as is ex-premier Norman Manley, whose body was flown here from England in 1964 and reinterred with state honors. The Manley Monument, honoring his son Michael, was dedicated here in March 2002. Nearby is the final resting place of the beloved 'Crown Prince of Reggae' Dennis Brown, who died in 1999.

National Heroes Park was a dangerous destination in the recent past, but a squad of armed soldiers and a couple of Jamaica Defense Force sentries in full ceremonial dress have made the site safe.