Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane When grand balls were held, George (Stiebel, the owner) imported blocks of ice, had them draped with flowers and set to rim the perimeter of the ballroom. This not only cleverly provided ambiance, it cooled the air – a welcome respite for[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane …in 1946 Fleming purchased land in Oracabessa, St. Mary, which had once been a donkey racecourse and designed a house he called Goldeneye. It had no hot water, no air conditioning and no glass windows but that was exactly how Fleming[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane Upon landing in 1494, Columbus is said to have declared Jamaica one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. Some 150 years later, in 1664, the Spanish had relinquished control of Jamaica to the British, Sir Thomas Modyford subdivided the island[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane The Bath Botanic Gardens The Bath Botanic Gardens was the second botanical gardens to be developed in the western hemisphere. The garden was stocked with Chinese and Japanese herbs and exotic fruit trees, including the breadfruits and otaheite apple brought by Captain Bligh.[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane ‘Down goes Frazier!’ ‘Down goes Frazier!’ And a third time, ‘Down goes Frazier!’ Three words sum up the story of the January 22, 1973 heavyweight title fight between Joe Frazier, the Champion, and George Foreman, in Kingston, Jamaica. The battle drew 36,000 fans[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane The English are said to have been the first to begin making rum from fermented sugar cane. Although the exact origin of the word rum is not known, it is commonly believed to come from the English word “rumbullion” which means “great tumult.”[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane As Falmouth was established, government offices were relocated and churches such as St. Peter’s Anglican Church (located in the town centre) were built. Today, St. Peter’s, with its 1842 extension, stands as[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane Labour-in-Vain Savannah, St. Elizabeth refers to the annual drought that afflicted that region Tan an’ See, Trelawny means literally ‘stand and see’. The area is on the summit of a hill, which provides a beautiful view of open land. Unity, St. James derived[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane Folklore says that in 1723 King Louis XV of France sent three coffee plants to his colony, Martinique. Two of the plants died en route and either the third plant or cuttings[…]
Excerpt from Rebecca Tortello’s Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane Jamaica’s national bird, and a species of hummingbird, it is only found in Jamaica. Iridescent like all hummingbirds, there are many stories that explain the naming of the Doctor Bird. One states that it is called ‘doctor’ because its long black tail (of[…]