Golden Grove, Jamaica

History

It was established in 1734 as a sugar estate by Attorney General of Jamaica Andrew Arcedeckne, and was subsequently run by his son Chaloner Arcedeckne. In 1775, John Kelly (the supervisor of the plantation) recorded a total yield of 740 hogshead of sugar, more than double that of 1769 (350). However, estate owner Simon Taylor expressly disagreed with Kelly's overworking of the slaves on the plantation, arguing that they would be "killed by overwork and harassed to Death".

A chalice inscribed with the line "Purchased by the slaves of the Golden Grove" was created in 1830 for church-going slaves in Golden Grove to receive the Eucharist; it is now housed in the Golden Grove Church by the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

The Golden Grove Sugar Factory, established in 1924, was the only sugar-manufacturing plant in eastern Jamaica until its closure in July 2019.

Geography

Golden Grove is 10 km northeast of Port Morant and 11 km east of Bath. The banana-handling port, Port Morant, is located in Bowden, Golden Grove. A path starting from Golden Grove leads to the 100 foot-tall Morant Point lighthouse cast in London, England in 1841. According to a 2009 census, Golden Grove had a population of 3,057.

Reception

A 2000 travel guide described Golden Grove as "rather shabby", adding that tourists "won't want to stop here".

In popular culture

In the second line of Evan Jones's 1956 poem "The Song of the Banana Man", "Golden Grove market place" is mentioned.

References

References

1. B. W. Higman. (2005). "Plantation Jamaica, 1750-1850: capital and control in a colonial economy". University of the West Indies Press.
2. Jamaican Historical Society. (1972). "The Jamaican Historical Review".
3. Trevor Burnard. (21 February 2020). "Jamaica in the Age of Revolution". University of Pennsylvania Press.
4. (19 April 2018). "Victorian Jamaica". Duke University Press.
5. (4 November 2019). "Sugar's Slow Death Sucking Life Out of St Thomas". The Gleaner.
6. (2006). "Jamaica". Lonely Planet Publications.
7. (1962). "Jamaica Way". Longmans.
8. (1997). "Jamaica". Rough Guides.
9. "Jamaica: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer.
10. (1 December 2000). "The rough guide to Jamaica". Rough Guides.
11. "Jones, “The Song of the Banana Man” {{!}} Favorite Poem Project".