Celebrating Jamaica50

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Our next stop on our Jamaica 50 tour is the Seville Great House

THE Seville Great House and Heritage Park is located in the beautiful parish of St Ann. The tour provided a journey into the illustrious history of the great house coupled with the indigenous people that once roamed our island.

It was June 7, 1658 that the Great House was given, as a result of an English victory, to Captain Richard Hemmings and his grandson.

The great house has a breathtaking view of the water with cannons facing out at the front. Seville was the first Spanish settlement and not the commonly perceived St Jago de la Vega more popularly known as Spanish Town. Seville is also the home of the first sugar factory and the first Catholic church. St Jago de la Vega became the town after an influx of malaria had hit Seville and Governor Esquivel became the leader.

The great house has been transformed into a museum with rooms representing different indigenous peoples and different historical experiences. Each room has its own charm with interesting artefacts and background on what was at the centre of each civilisation and their contribution to the diverse Jamaican culture.

The first landmark is a replica of an African slave ships that would have been used to transport enslaved people from West Africa to the Caribbean.

The next striking feature is a replica of the Taino village which highlighted simple, but very strong building materials that could withstand hurricanes and other disasters.

The property also includes a gargantuan waterwheel that provided energy for the estate and a newly excavated rum factory, whose output of 45 gallons annually complimented the sugar mill whose output was 100 tonnes of sugar.

The Governor's Castle is the site of the earliest form of refrigeration where food would be stored underground for preservation purposes.