Historic Falmouth chosen as site for Jamaica's fourth cruise port

Dream World Cruise Destinations
Autumn 2007 Edition

The most significant port development in the Caribbean for five years was announced by The Port Authority of Jamaica when it revealed its plans to develop a site of historic significance as its fourth cruise port. Falmouth, on the north coast close to Montego Bay, is a town which is one of the best examples of Georgian architecture still left in the Caribbean. As a Jamaica national heritage site, the town has benefited from an ongoing restoration programme for a number of years but now, through an investment of over $100 million will be sympathetically restored alongside a promenade waterfront development on a 90-acre site, with a tramway system and horse-drawn carriages.

The cruise berth will be built on the edge of the town to accommodate two Genesis class vessels at the same time. This new cruise destination is named Historic Falmouth and will be opened in August 2009. This announcement reinforces the Port Authority's methodical approach to cruise tourism, which recognises the need not to overburden any one port with passenger levels that could adversely impact on the delivery of the tourism product.

Within the Historic Falmouth District lies the largest intact collection of Georgian buildings anywhere in the Caribbean. There survive many small houses known for their unique gingerbread fretwork and jalousie windows, dating from 1769 to 1840. Some had stone-built lower floors and wood upper floors, with wrought iron balconies and verandahs reaching out over the sidewalk. The town was carefully laid out with narrow streets named after 18th and 19th century British sovereigns and heroes: King Street, Queen Street, George Street, Charlotte Street, Pitt Street, Victoria Street, as well as Wellington and Albert Streets.

Falmouth, capital of the Parish of Trelawny, was founded by Thomas Reid in 1769, and flourished as a county seat and market centre for forty years during the period when Jamaica became the world's leading sugar producer. The town was named after the birthplace of His Excellency Sir William Trelawny of Falmouth, England and is one of the Caribbean's best-preserved historic towns. As a consequence it was home to masons, carpenters, tavern-keepers, mariners, planters and artisans. There were up to 30 tall ships in the harbour on any given day delivering goods and slaves, and loading their holds with rum and sugar manufactured on the nearly 100 plantations in the parish.

It was the creation of the new, larger steamships after 1840 that saw the demise of Falmouth as port for trade, as it had silted up and could no longer berth the new ships. The irony is that this actually saved Falmouth from early development and, as a consequence, the town retained its Georgian street plan and much of its architecture.

The Port Authority's development plans will ensure that the integrity and 'authenticity' of the town is retained - the original buildings, together with the streetscape, will be maintained in a manner as close as is possible to the original, with all new buildings designed to blend in with the historic townscape. This is critically important as the town's ambition is to apply for World Heritage status when the development is complete.

Visitors arriving by cruise ship will have the option of enjoying this historic town oor visiting one of the local attractions, which include rafting on the well-known Martha Brae River. And since the development has been designed to ensure that the infrastructure of the surrounding area can manage the influx of passengers, tour buses will bypass the town to allow those who decide to enjoy the ambience of this historic town do so unimpeded by traffic.

Work has already begun to bring Historic Falmouth into being. Soil samples are being analyzed and the Port Authority has virtually completed its land acquisitions amounting to 90 acres. Surveys to determine which buildings are historic and which can be touched are well advanced. August 2009 is the moment when the renaissance of Historic Falmouth will be experienced for the first time by passengers and crew coming ashore at this historic new Caribbean port of call.