Sights in Jamaica
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Frenchman's Cove
This small cove, just east of Drapers, 8km from Port Antonio, boasts one of the prettiest beaches for miles. A stream winds lazily to a white-sand beach that shelves steeply into the water. Bring insect repellent. There's a snack bar serving jerk chicken and fish, alfrescoshowers, bathrooms and a secure parking lot.
reviewed
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Courthouse
The Courthouse was rebuilt in limestone and red brick after being destroyed in the 1865 rebellion. Bogle is buried beside the courthouse alongside a mass grave holding the remains of many slaves who lost their lives in the rebellion. The spot is marked by a moving memorial dedicated to 'those who love freedom.'
reviewed
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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.'
reviewed
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National Stadium
The stadium, built in 1962 when Jamaica hosted the Commonwealth Games, is the venue for most of Jamaica’s sporting events of importance. There’s a so-called Celebrity Park on the north side of the stadium, although the only statue at present is the famous one of Bob Marley holding his guitar.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Nonsuch Caves
Athenry Gardens, high in the hills southeast of Port Antonio, is a former coconut plantation and agricultural research center, now a lush garden that boasts many exotic and native species. The highlight is bat-filled Nonsuch Caves, 14 separate chambers full of stalagmites and stalactites.
reviewed
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St Andrew Parish Church
This brick church is more popularly known as the ‘Half Way Tree Church.’ The foundations of the existing church were laid in 1692. The exterior is austere and unremarkable, but the stained-glass windows and organ are definitely worth a peek. Outside, there’s a very atmospheric graveyard.
reviewed
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Zabai Tabai Taino Museum
The Zabai Tabai Taino Museum, on the main road, is an offbeat museum celebrating the Taino culture. Many of the artifacts were dug up on the owner’s property, which has a cave with what are purportedly Taino paintings that glow translucent in winter. The museum has no set hours.
reviewed
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Bethany Moravian Church
The Bethany road climbs sharply and delivers you at the Bethany Moravian Church - a simple gray stone building dating to 1835, dramatically perched four-square midway up the hill with fantastic valley views. The church is rather dour close up but the simple interior boasts a resplendent organ.
reviewed
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Parish Church of St John the Evangelist
Foremost among the historic structures worth checking out is the yellow-brick Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, built in 1837. The airy interior is graced by wooden porticoes and a stately balcony, while the graves around the back cemetery date from the 17th century.
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Dead End Beach
Aligning Kent Rd just north of Gloucester Rd, Dead End Beach, also known as Buccaneer Beach, is a narrow strip popular with locals. There are no facilities here (beyond those at a few hotels over the road), but the lack of crowds seems to make the sunsets over the bay all the more gorgeous.
reviewed
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Alexander Bustamante’s House
Although you can’t go inside andt here’s no plaque to mark it, hardcore fans of Jamaica’s first president can pay tribute to Alexander Bustamante’s House, at the southern end of Duke St near the corner of Water Lane. This is the site of the national hero’s former office.
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iron bridge
Immediately east of the Hendricks Building is an old iron bridge, a good spot for watching crocodiles waiting for tidbits thrown by tourists from the riverside berths. Trawlers lie at anchor immediately south of the bridge and here you can watch fish being hauled ashore onto the wharfs.
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Christ Church
Following William St south to Harbour St, you can turn left to peek inside Christ Church, a red-brick Anglican building built in neo-Romanesque style around 1840 (much of the structure dates from 1903). The singular item of note is the brass lectern donated by Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker.
reviewed
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Naval Cemetery
Less than 1km east of the dockyard, also enclosed by a brick wall, is the intriguing Naval Cemetery, where sailors lie buried beneath shady palms. Alas, the cemetery's most ancient quarter, which contained the grave of the famous buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan, sank beneath the sea in 1692.
reviewed
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Old King's House
On the west side of Parade Square is the porticoed Georgian redbrick facade of the ruins of the Old King's House, a once-grandiose building erected in 1762 as the official residence of Jamaica's governors. The building was destroyed by fire in 1925, leaving only the restored facade.
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Natural History Museum
In the same building as the Institute of Jamaice, but accessed by a separate entrance around the corner on Tower St, is the Natural History Museum. The dowdy collection offers an array of stuffed birds and a herbarium, rounded out by an eclectic miscellany playing a historical note.
reviewed
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Coke Memorial Hall
Coke Memorial Hall faces the eastern side of William Grant Park. This crenellated building has an austere redbrick facade in the dour Methodist tradition. The structure dates from 1840, but was remodeled in 1907 after sustaining severe damage in the earthquake.
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Apostles Battery
About 200m uphill from the Rodney Arms is the ruins of a semicircular gun emplacement replete with cannon, and an old fort and battery - the Apostles Battery. It is worth the visit for the views across the harbor, especially at sunset, when Kingston glistens like hammered gold.
reviewed
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Hope Zoo
The frankly pathetic, ironically named Hope Zoo is home to a motley crew of disenchanted monkeys, lions, tropical birds and other unhappy creatures. Visitors are apt to marvel more at the sad state of the surroundings than at the wonders of the animal kingdom.
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Lover’s Leap
You need a head for heights to stand by the cliff at Lover’s Leap, 1.5km southeast of Southfield, where the Santa Cruz Mountains plunge over 500m into the ocean. The headland is tipped by a red-and-white-hooped solar-powered lighthouse.
reviewed
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Wolmer’s School
At the northern end of National Heroes Park you’ll find Wolmer’s School, a venerable educational establishment founded in 1729 at the bequest of a Swiss-German goldsmith. It has produced many notable figures, including prime ministers and governor generals.
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Fort Montego
At the southern end of Gloucester Ave is this inauspicious fort, of which virtually nothing remains. Built in the late 18th century by the British, its cannons were fired only twice. The sole remnant is a small battery with three brass cannons on rails.
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Museum of St James
In the Civic Centre is the small yet highly informative Museum of St James with relics and other exhibits tracing the history of St James parish from Arawak days through the slave rebellions to the more recent past. An art gallery and 200-seat theater are also here.
reviewed