Sights in Southern Jamaica
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Marshall's Pen Great House
This impressive stone-and-timber great house, built in 1795, stands among beautifully landscaped gardens on a former coffee plantation turned cattle-breeding property on the northwest side of town. The 120-hectare property is owned by Jamaica’s leading ornithologist, Robert Sutton, and Anne Sutton, an environmental scientist. Robert can trace his ancestry to the first child born to English parents in Jamaica in 1655. The Suttons’ home has wood-paneled rooms brimming with antiques, leather-bound books, artwork and many other museum-quality pieces. You can tour the mini-museum by appointment only. Marshall’s Pen is splendid for birding: more than 100 species have b…
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Ripon Nature Park
Ripon Nature Park, dating to 1730, in Mile Gully, produces citrus, flowers, coffee and cocoa and is being developed into a bird sanctuary, wild garden and ecopark by Derek O’Connor, owner of Kariba Holidays & Leisure Tours in Mandeville. The 5-hectare garden has more than 500 endemic species, including orchids. A palm-lined driveway leads to the vast and varied garden, accessible by trails and open for picnics. Fruit trees include giant plums. The hillsides are carpeted in ferns, and feature benches for quiet contemplation. Meditate among the fern-carpeted hillsides or check out the new hummingbird and butterfly garden, then cool off in the pool. A children’s play park …
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Bloomfield Great House
This immaculate historic home stands atop a hill southwest of the town center. The two-story structure built in traditional Caribbean vernacular gleams after a fine renovation. It is about 170 years old (the exact date is uncertain) and began life as the center of a coffee estate and, later, a citrus plantation. It’s now one of Jamaica’s finest art galleries and a premier restaurant. The art galleries feature works by many of Jamaica’s leading artists, as well as an international repertoire. There are five arts-and-crafts studios and stores in the arcade downstairs. The entrance is 200m south of Manchester College, on the opposite side of the road at the crossroads.…
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Gourie Forest Reserve
This forest reserve of pines, mahogany and mahoe growing atop and betwixt dramatic cockpits is 3km northwest of the Christiana, near Coleyville. The park is laced with hiking trails. Gourie is most noteworthy for having Jamaica's longest cave system. Two spelunking routes have been explored. One of the routes is easy; the other is difficult and made more so by the presence of an icy river. Rubber-soled shoes are required and a guide is essential.
To get to Gourie from Christiana, turn uphill (southwest) at the radio tower immediately south of the junction that leads west for Coleyville and Troy. Immediately take the left at a Y-fork, then right at the next Y-fork and foll…
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Huntingdon Summit Mansion
The extravagant Huntingdon Summit mansion in May Day, about 3km southeast of the town center, forms the yang to Bloomfield Great House’s yin. The octagonal home is of palatial proportions, with wraparound plate-glass windows and artificial cascades that tumble into a swimming pool, from where waters feed into a pond in the lounge. The ostentatious furnishings reflect the catholic tastes of its owner, Cecil Charlton, a millionaire farmer, politician and self-promoter who served as the mayor of Mandeville during the 1970s and 1980s.
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Cecil Charlton Park
Cecil Charlton Park is a tiny English-style 'green', also known as Mandeville Sq, which lends a charming village feel to the town center. On the north side is the Mandeville Courthouse, of cut limestone with a horseshoe staircase and a raised portico supported by Doric columns. The Rectory, the oldest home in town, adjoins the courthouse. Both it and the courthouse were completed in 1820. On the south side is a produce market, and a cenotaph commemorating Jamaica's dead from the two world wars.
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Apple Valley Park
Open only by appointment, this 169-hectare family nature park, east of Maggotty, surrounds an 18th-century great house. It has two small lakes and offers fishing and a variety of touristy activities that appeal to Jamaicans. There are paddleboat rides, go-karts, and kayaking on the Black River. Much of the park is a forest reserve good for birding. The owners also operate a tractor-pulled jitney from the old train station in Maggotty.
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Mrs Stephenson's Garden
This well-manicured garden has been planned and planted, and pruned and mulched, by a stalwart who is a real artist. Carmen Stephenson’s garden is a riot of color, a drunkenness of scents, difficult to dampen in even the wettest of weather. Keen amateur gardeners descend year-round to admire the layout or gasp at the collection that includes orchids and ortaniques. Casual visitors are welcome during daylight hours.
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Christiana Bottom
This beautiful riverside spot, in a valley bottom below the town, has a waterfall plus picnic spots framed by bamboo. Two sinkholes full of crystal-clear water offer refreshing dips. You can hike from the center of town, though the going at the lower reaches can be muddy and slippery. Take the road that leads east from the National Commercial Bank; it's 3km from here. Take the first left and then the second left.
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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.
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Nazareth Moravian Church
To the south of the B6, perched atop the Don Figuerero Mountains, at Maidstone, is Nazareth Moravian Church. Maidstone was one of the best-planned post-emancipation 'free villages,' founded in 1840.
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St Simon's Anglican Church
Another beautiful church - St Simon's Anglican Church - sits on a hillside amid meadows at Comfort Hall, 6km west of Mile Gully, with huge spreading trees festooned with old man's beard.
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Skull Point
About 1km west of Mile Gully, at Skull Point, is a venerable blue-and-white 19th-century police station and courthouse at the junction for Bethany.
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St Mark's Church
St Mark's Church, on the south side of Cecil Charlton Park, was established in 1819. The timber clerestory is impressive, as is the churchyard.
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