The Right to
be Proud - A brief Guide to
Jamaican Heritage Sites
Author: David Buckley
Reviewer: Barbara Nelson
THE RIGHT to be Proud: A Brief Guide to Jamaican Heritage Sites is a relatively small book just 60 pages.
It is based on the official list of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and is not an exhaustive presentation of all the sites. The ones that were chosen, the Jamaican-born author David Buckley says, were included for importance, interest and accessibility.
I was captivated by the gentle beauty of the photographs taken by Astley Chin and Heather Sutherland Wade.
The photographs that I particularly liked were Seville Great House, Bob Marley's birthplace, Flamstead Museum, Mico College, Iron Bridge, St. Peter's Church, Kenilworth and Fort Charlotte.
DETAILED RESEARCH
The research is detailed and impressive and the maps and layout and drawings quite intriguing and pleasing to the eye.
"We (Jamaicans) have inherited a long and honourable history of struggle for freedom and equal justice for all. We cannot abandon this proud legacy," says Buckley, who obtained a Bachelor's Degree in History (London-UCWI) in 1963.
The brief guide, he says, is intended to make it easy for all, especially students, to see Jamaica's history from a different perspective and to ask questions that will lead to understanding who we are.
"We cannot change the past; we can only change our attitude to it," he says.
With this in mind, the first two thousand copies of the Guide will be given to the Ministry of Education.
The publication will indeed help Jamaicans here and overseas and our visitors "to appreciate the depth and complexity of our history."
INTERESTING FACTS
It is a beautiful, well researched guide. There are three main sections:
Sites in Western Jamaica with a special section Falmouth and a map of Western Jamaica.
Sites in Central Jamaica with a special section Sevilla Nueva/New Seville and a map of Central Jamaica.
Sites in Eastern Jamaica with a special section National Heroes Park and a map of Eastern Jamaica.
I must share with readers some of the facts that are not generally known about our history but are included in The Right to be Proud.
At Martha Brae, the original capital of the parish of Trelawny, there is the 'Persian' water wheel dating from about 1799 which gave Falmouth piped water before New York City.
The bell at St. Peter's Church at Alley in Clarendon was cast at the same foundry as Big Ben in London.
Manchester is the 'youngest' parish.
In 1782 lightning struck the gunpowder magazine at Fort Augusta causing an explosion that killed 300 people. Windows were shattered up to 15 miles away.
The Iron Bridge across the Rio Cobre was the first such structure in the Western Hemisphere.
The first lighthouse ever built in Jamaica the Morant Point lighthouse was built in 1841 by Krus, indentured Africans.
The Old Naval hospital in Port Royal is reportedly the only one of its kind in existence.
The nephew in J. Wray & Nephew Ltd. is Col. Charles Ward, who built the Ward Theatre in 1912 and presented it to the City of Kingston as a gift.
Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the U.N.I.A. in Jamaica, is the first meeting hall in Jamaica fully-owned and operated by black people.
