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When you think of Black River what do you think of?
The world's best "pepper shrimp"?
Crocodiles?
I mean the town not the river!
Can't think of anything?
Well once upon a time, the town of Black River rivaled only
Kingston in importance. In days gone by rivers were extremely
important for transportation and Black River, Jamaica's longest at
71km (44ml), was no different.
From the 17th century to the 19th century, Black River was a bustling industrial centre. Sugar,
rum, logwood (royal purple dye) and pimento were shipped
from here & goods from all over the world arrived at Farquharson
Wharf.
As in other industrial centres, new millionaires
came into existence and they built grand homes and structures.
Each tried to outdo the other.
John Leyden wired his home for
electricity c1875 and by 1893, Leyden Bros. had established a
generator at York Terrace for the use of the town, at the same time
New York City was being electrified. Almost as soon as Bell had
patented his invention there were telephones in numerous homes
and businesses. "Horseless carriages" drove up and
down the streets, some families even had two.
Then, as often
happens, sugar was no longer king, synthetic dyes were
invented...............
And things appear to have come to a halt almost overnight in Black
River. It looks now very much as it looked in Victorian times.
See more of Black River
and the parish of St
Elizabeth:
http://www.jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=197
http://www.visitjamaica.com/attractions/black-river.aspx |
