Sights in Negril & The West
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Firefly
Set amid wide lawns high atop a hill 5km east of Oracabessa and 5km west of Port Maria, Firefly was the home of Sir Noel Coward, the English playwright, songwriter, actor and wit. When he died in 1973, Coward left the estate to his partner Graham Payn, who gifted it to the nation. Today the house is a museum, looking just as it did on Sunday, February 28, 1965, the day the Queen Mother visited. Your guide will lead you to Coward’s art studio, where he was schooled in oil painting by Winston Churchill. The studio displays Coward’s original paintings and photographs of himself and a coterie of famous friends. The upper lounge features a glassless window that offers one o…
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Abba Jahnehoy’s Garden
Seemingly a world away from the Negril strip, Abba Jahnehoy’s Garden is a three-story meditation and learning center that is poised on a hill, and offers a splendid panoramic view extending down to the sea. Solar powered and surrounded by a vegetable and root garden, the octagonal building is the work of Janhoi Jaja. He’s a gracious Rasta who is more than happy to discuss the ins and outs of Rastafarianism, or reggae or Negril’s development or the finer points of numerology (or all of the above) over bowls of his excellent homemade soup that is made from his garden’s produce. Getting there is half the fun, as the garden’s located at the end of a series of unmarked dirt …
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Roaring River Park
If you’re looking for a brief escape from the fun-in-the sun ethos of Negril, spend an hour or two down the caves at Roaring River Park. This natural beauty spot contains mineral waters that gush up from the ground in a meadow full of water hyacinths and water lilies. A stone aqueduct takes off some of the water, which runs turquoise-jade. Steps lead up a cliff face gashed by the mouth of a subterranean passage lit by electric lanterns (you can enter the caves only with guides from the cooperative). Inside, a path with handrails leads down to chambers full of stalagmites and stalactites. Take your swimming gear to sit in the mineral spring that percolates up inside the …
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Original Mayfield Falls & Mineral Springs
Original Mayfield Falls & Mineral Springs is a working tropical farm and tour attraction. To reach the cascades you’ll cross a bamboo-and-log bridge then follow the sun-dappled river course, clambering over river stones. You can learn about ackee, breadfruits and other Jamaican fruits, vegetables and flowers, and even join in traditional African music and dance during show time (2:30pm Tuesday and Friday). You can book a tour (per person US$65) at the office in Negril on Norman Manley Blvd, or through many local hotels; the price includes transportation, lunch and refreshment.
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Blue Hole Gardens
A lane continues beyond Roaring River Park for about 1km uphill through the village to Blue Hole Gardens, a beautiful sinkhole that is surrounded by a landscaped garden full of ginger torch and heliconia on the private property of a Rasta called Esau. Entry is overpriced, but grants a chance for a cool dip with the fish in the turquoise waters. The source of the Roaring River is about 400m further up the road, where the water foams up from beneath a matting of foliage.
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Royal Palm Reserve
The easiest way to get a sense of the Great Morass is at the Royal Palm Reserve. Wooden boardwalks make a 1.5km loop around the reserve. Three distinct swamp forest types are present – the royal palm forest, buttonwood forest and bull thatch forest. They’re all home to butterflies galore as well as doctorbirds, herons, egrets, endangered black parakeets, Jamaican woodpeckers and countless other birds. Two observation towers provide views over the tangled mangroves.
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Negril Lighthouse
The gleaming white, 20m-tall Negril Lighthouse, 5km south of Negril Village, illuminates the westernmost point of Jamaica, at 18° 15’ north, 78° 23’ west. The lighthouse, erected in 1894 with a prism made in Paris and originally powered by kerosene, is now solar powered and flashes every two seconds. Wilson Johnson, the superintendent, will gladly lead the way up the 103 stairs for a bird’s-eye view of the coast.
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Hanover Parish Church
A walk north up the main frontage road curls past some of Lucea's finest historical houses, many in a state of near decrepitude, and deposits you atop the headland with a fine view east over Lucea Harbour. At the hillcrest is Hanover Parish Church, established in 1725. It's architecturally uninspired but has several interesting monuments; a Jewish section of the walled cemetery recalls the days when Lucea had a vibrant Jewish community.
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Hanover Historical Society
The once-bustling port of Lucea abounds in old limestone-and-timber structures in ‘Caribbean vernacular’ style, with gingerbread wood trim, clapboard frontages and wide verandas. The oldest dates to the mid-1700s. Lucea has appeared in several films, including Cool Runnings and Wide Sargasso Sea. The Hanover Historical Society is active in the town’s preservation.
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Courthouse
The town’s restored courthouse has limestone balustrades and a clapboard upper story topped by a clock tower supported by Corinthian columns. The clock was sent to Lucea in 1817 by mistake – it was actually intended for the Caribbean island of St Lucia. It has supposedly worked without a hitch ever since.
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Booby Cay
Booby Cay is a small coral island 1km offshore from Rutland Point, which was used as a South Seas setting in the Walt Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The island is named for the seabirds - 'boobies' in local parlance - that nest here. Water-sports concessionaires can arrange boats for about around US$25 roundtrip.
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Savanna-la-Mar Fort
The English colonialists never completed the Savanna-la-Mar Fort at the foot of Great George St. Parts of it collapsed into the swamps within a few years of being built. Its innards form a small cove where locals swim. A bustling daily market, specializing in vegetables and local fish, can be found by the fort.
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Whitehall Great House
The only other site of note in the hills is Whitehall Great House, in ruins following a fire in 1985. The surrounding plantation grounds provide a stage for horseback rides. Don't be fooled into paying around US$5 for a tour by the locals who hang out and attempt to attach themselves as self-ascribed 'guides.'
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Hanover Museum
A side road that begins 200m west of the church leads to the Hanover Museum, a tiny affair housed in an old police barracks. Exhibits include prisoners’ stocks, a wooden bathtub and a miscellany of pots, lead weights and measures. It also has a tiny gift shop, toilets and a snack bar.
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Fort Charlotte
The overgrown remains of Fort Charlotte overlook the channel a short distance beyond Rusea High School. It's named after Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III of England. The octagonal fortress still boasts cannons in its embrasures.
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Bloody Bay Beach
Another splendid Negril beach is Bloody Bay Beach, with no facilities and few people, save for a few savvy travelers and a smattering of locals enjoying some repose away from the hubbub. There's a jerk shack selling snacks and drinks.
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courthouse
The most interesting building is the courthouse, built in 1925 at the junction of Great George and Rose Sts, where there's a fountain made of cast iron, inscribed with the words, 'Keep the pavements dry.'
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Lloyd Hoffstead Gallery
In a yellow house about 100m east of the Texaco gas station in the center of town, the well-known artist Lloyd Hoffstead has a gallery, which displays his paintings and sculptures.
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Manning's School
At the north end of town by the roundabout known as Hendon Circle is the very handsome Manning's School, built in 1738 and named after a Westmoreland planter, Thomas Manning.
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Long Bay Beach Park
Long Bay Beach Park is more peaceful and far less crowded than Seven Mile Beach to the south, here you'll find more sugary sand and picnic tables plus changing rooms.
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Sir Alexander Bustamante Square
Sir Alexander Bustamante Square is centered on a small fountain fronting the handsome courthouse. Note the vintage 1932 fire engine beside the courthouse.
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St George's Parish Church
St George's Parish Church, opposite the courthouse, was built in 1905. It's uninspired, but has a stately pipe organ that was dedicated in 1914.
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Rusea High School
On the headland beyond the church is Rusea High School, a venerable Georgian-style red-brick building constructed in 1843 as an army barracks.
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Cleveland Stanhope market
On the east side of the square is Cleveland Stanhope market, which bustles on Saturdays.
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