The gallery which was once the verandah of the great house. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE GREAT HOUSE
Built in 1755, it sits in a valley of 2,000 acres in Falmouth, Trelawny.
The great house is a classic Palladian Jamaican Georgian structure with authentic 18th and 19th century furnishings and a fine collection of antique maps and prints.
It has spacious living rooms, verandas, a dining room, two games rooms, three bedrooms, five bathrooms and an outdoor kitchen.
THE PROPERTY
Eight hundred of the 2,000 acres are dedicated to citrus for local overseas consumption.
A counting house sits in the garden behind the great house and is one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture left in the Caribbean.
John Tharp, the second plantation owner of Good Hope, would retire to the counting house to count his money at the end of each day.
Another structure called Wispa features a 50-foot open-air pavilion; this is in close proximity to the gardens that include a formal lily pond and a playful bird bath surrounded by a variety of interesting flowers and trees.
A one-time dungeon that was used for misbehaving slaves is under the counting house.
THE HISTORY
Since 1742, only six families have owned Good Hope.
The first, an Englishman, Colonel Thomas Williams, was granted 1,000 acres of Crown land bordering the Martha Brae River. In 1744, Colonel Williams built his first house, a modest structure whose ruins can be found in the garden beside the lunch patio.
In 1755, in preparation for the arrival of a bride, from England for Colonel Williams's son, the great house was built. The bride died of yellow fever shortly after her arrival.
By 1767, he had sold Good Hope to his neighbour, a 23-year-old young man, named John Tharp.
The year before Tharp purchased Good Hope he married Elizabeth Partridge, the heiress of the Potosi Estate, another property adjoining Good Hope. They had five children - four sons and a daughter. However, before he was married to Partridge, he had an illegitimate son, John Harewood. Harewood became the manager of all his father's properties.
Good Hope remained in the Tharp family for the next 100 years and became the foundation for one of the wealthiest sugar estates in Jamaica. When John Tharp died in 1804 he owned most of the riverside land in Trelawny from the Cockpit mountains to Falmouth where he had a townhouse and wharf beside the sea. He also owned estates in St. Ann and Westmoreland, as well as other properties in England.
About 1860 the property passed out of the hands of the Tharp ancestors who were not interested in Jamaica.
The property changed hands twice in quick succession. The first buyer was a Mr. Coy, a Falmouth merchant and then around the turn of the 20th century, it was bought by a retired sea captain named Alexander Oppenheim. Oppenheim was also known to be a notorious rum drinker and womaniser. The story also goes that he had little interest in agriculture and let the place go wild.
Good Hope's next owner, an American banker named J.F Thompson, came to Jamaica in the early 1900s looking for antique furniture and was told about Good Hope. When he went to find it, Oppenheim chased him off the property with a gun. Later that same day, the men ran into each other at a bar in Falmouth and before leaving, Thompson had bought Good Hope from the captain.
In the 1920s, Thompson's grandson helped to establish Jamaica's tourism industry with Good Hope's tradition as a hotel. Good Hope became something of a socialite's dude ranch with a glamorous clientele. There were several rides a day, high tea, limitless martinis and formal dress every evening.
In the 1950s, Patrick Tenison's family in Ireland bought the property from the Thompsons. Tenison was in his 20s when he was sent to Jamaica to run Good Hope with his American wife Fran. They raised four children and continued to operate Good Hope as a hotel until Jamaica hit a rough political time in the 1970s.
In 1989, Tenison sold Good Hope to the present owner, Tony Hart, a Montego Bay businessman.
ABOUT JOHN THARP
Tharp, the second owner of Good Hope, lived in Jamaica most of his life and thrived here. He was interested in agriculture, sugar cane and the efficient operating of a plantation.
He was also active politically and served as a mediator during Maroon rebellions. He is responsible for an amazing system of stone aqueducts and dams at Good Hope that harnessed the power of the Martha Brae River.
A ROOM-BY-ROOM DESCRIPTION OF THE MAIN HOUSE
Entry to the main house is via cut-stone steps leading to the gallery that was initially the veranda. The floors are the original mahogany wood. In the gallery the floors are made of wild orange, a native, water resistant hardwood (not of the citrus family).
The gallery has two mule-skin Spanish chairs built to accommodate persons who are generously portioned. There are two 18th century chaise lounges and two half moon tables. In the 19th century, Jamaican great houses featured these useful tables that could sit against a wall or be joined together to make a circle.
FORMAL RECEPTION ROOM
The walls are painted white with sash windows and lowered shutters for ventilation. Hanging over the windows is a portrait of Good Hope by J.B. Kidd, a famous landscape artist who came to Jamaica to paint the sugar plantations before Emancipation. The landscape has scarcely changed since 1835 when this painting was done. There are no new buildings in sight, most of these buildings still exist, and many have been restored.
Among other furnishings, the room has a bookshelf and a cabinet with 18th century utensils and cutlery. There are also coaches, a stool and two Spanish chairs.
THE BLUE BEDROOM
It's blue, of course. When an inventory of the house was done in 1804 the house had nine bedrooms (it now has three). Bedrooms in the 18th and 19th centuries offered little privacy. They had floor to ceiling partitions that opened into other rooms. There were no closets but wardrobes that were used to store clothing and linens.
There were no bathrooms, instead there were commode chairs or a chamber pot under the bed and a pitcher for water and basin to wash in. Some commodes were covered and, to the unschooled, looked like a chair when placed next to a wall.
Today the Blue Room is much the same but instead of a partition, there are walls and doors between the rooms. There are two single four-poster beds decorated with blue and white polka dot canopies white bed linen. The commode that now sits at the right hand corner of the room is purely decorative. The bathtub, face basin and toilet are encased in varnished wood.
THE COPPER BEDROOM
Across from the blue room is the copper room or John Tharp's bedroom. It includes a special bathtub he built. When Tharp got older he developed rheumatism, hot water was therapeutic so he devised a system - not unlike how sugar was boiled in the old sugar factories. A fire was built underneath a copper boiler to heat water that came from a reservoir on the roof; the chimney is still visible outside. Tharp was able to have hot and cold running water before New York City even had running water.
Tharp's special bath is still in perfect working condition. There is also face basin but no toilet bowl.
THE BARLEY ROOM
These rooms are no longer used to accommodate guests but nonetheless they are still magnificent. This room is light yellow with wooden floors. There is a queen-size bed decked out in fine linen in the centre of the room. The room has a bathroom with a built-in closet.
THE POOLROOM
The centrepiece of this room is a large pool table with a mini bar close to the entrance.
THE DINING ROOM
The room has 12 portraits of angels, painted by the artist Fiona Godfery and her 'Young at Art' youth group in Mandeville, Manchester. The paintings were commissioned for Good Hope in 2002. Each of the 12 angel was painted by a different child between the ages of seven and 15.
Furnishings include two 18th century sideboards with plates, soup, spoons, drinking glasses, water mugs and jars.
THE GAME/SITTING ROOM
This room is white with original varnished orange wood floor. A cream and blue carpet completes the effect. A large centre table with three armchairs and a stool add the perfect touch. To the right of the room is a chair with an old grip (suitcase) and a travelling bag.
