Falmouth () is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. It is situated on Jamaica's north coast 29 km (18 miles) east of

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

. It is noted for being one of the Caribbean's best-preserved Georgian towns. The town was meticulously planned from the start, with wide streets in a regular grid, adequate water supply, and glorious public buildings. It had piped water earlier than

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

History

Founded by Thomas Reid in 1769, Falmouth flourished as a market centre and port for forty years at a time when Jamaica was the world's leading sugar producer. It was named after the town of the same name in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, which was the birthplace of governor of Jamaica Sir William Trelawny, who was instrumental in its establishment. Falmouth was built upon the coast of Trelawny at a place previously known as Martha Brae Point. In 1774, there was only one dwelling in the port of Falmouth, and by 1781 there were only between 8-10 houses there. However, by 1793 the port had expanded rapidly to the point where there were over 150 dwellings there. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Falmouth was one of the busiest ports in colonial Jamaica. It was home to masons, carpenters, tavern keepers, sailors, planters and people of other occupations. It was a wealthy town in a prosperous parish with a diverse ethnic mixture. Within the parish, nearly one hundred

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s were continuously producing sugar and

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

for export to Europe. Jamaica, during this period, had become the world's leading sugar producer. All the above made Falmouth a central hub of the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, with the town's economy based almost entirely on

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. In Falmouth Harbour, as many as 30

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

s could be seen on any given day, many of them Guineamen transporting slaves from Africa or rum and sugar manufacture produced on nearby plantations for export to Europe as part of the triangular trade. As a result, starting in 1840, Falmouth's fortunes as a commercial centre declined after the passage of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. This decline, and lack of support for development, have left many of its early buildings standing. The streets are lined with many small houses known for their unique fretwork and windows, major merchant and planter complexes, and commercial buildings, all dating from 1790 to 1840. While Falmouth saw little commercial advancement after the 1840s, houses continued to be built. The town's buildings, the old and the not-so-old, make up the historic townscape of Falmouth. These shared characteristics weave the varied building styles into a distinctive pattern of early Jamaican architecture, and a critical mass of each variety makes the town an unusually distinctive place. Places of interest include the Albert George Shopping and Historical Centre, dating from 1895; the former residences of planters John Tharp and Edward Barrett; and the St Peter's Anglican Church, built in 1795.

Infrastructural development

A new $180 million port was built to accommodate the newest and largest cruise ships, including

Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), formerly Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line founded in 1968 in Norway and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Florida, it is the l ...

's ''Oasis'' class. The port opened in early 2011 Falmouth was the site of the opening ceremony for the ICC

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2 ...

. The ceremony was held in the newly constructed Greenfield Stadium about 5 km (3 miles) from the town centre.

Notable people

The following Falmouth natives have had a significant impact on the cultural or socio-political landscape of Jamaica: *

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

– Olympian sprinter and world record holder. * Veronica Campbell-Brown – Olympian sprinter. * Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter) – Olympian and former world record holder. *

Luther Blissett Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional association football, footballer and coach (sport), manager who played for the England national football team, England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Bliss ...

– former footballer for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

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and

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

. * Ky-Mani Marley –

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

artist and son of

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

. * Anita Belnavis – former Jamaica and Caribbean table tennis champion, mother of Ky-Mani Marley. * Rex Nettleford – Rhodes Scholar, academic, former Vice Chancellor of the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

. * Hugh Shearer – former Prime Minister of Jamaica.

Historic architecture

Falmouth has a number of interesting historic buildings in the Jamaican Georgian architectural style which are in need of preservation and restoration. One organization that has taken an interest in this work is Falmouth Heritage Renewal (falmouthjamaica.org), a United States–based non-profit organization. Buildings of note include: * Falmouth Court House * St Peter's Anglican Church is one of the oldest in Jamaica. Its supporting columns are of solid mahogany and its floor is inlaid with crosses of mahoe and

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

. * Falmouth All-Age School is housed in a former army barracks, Fort Balcarres. * Greenwood Great House (which once belonged to the Barretts of Wimpole Street, London) now houses the largest collection of rare musical instruments in the island. * Falmouth Post Office which is located on Market Street. It is in need of repair, but is still a functioning building from the Georgian era. A number of old colonial buildings on Market Street are from this period, however, they have not been kept in good condition throughout the years and are generally in a state of decay.

Tourism

The Glistening Waters

The Glistening Waters is located in Falmouth's Luminous Lagoon, where the Martha Brae River and the waters of the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

meet. The mixture of these two bodies of water create

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorgani ...

micro-organisms that when disturbed at night glow brightly. The Glistening Waters is only one of four such locations in the world and the only location where the luminary reaction can be seen 365 days of the year regardless of the temperature or the weather.

Jamaica Swamp Safari Village

The Jamaica Swamp Safari Village is a wildlife sanctuary located in Falmouth, which was initially established as a crocodile farm in of

virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

territory by Ross Kananga in 1969, and which he changed to a sanctuary under the name Jamaica Swamp Safari and opened to the public in 1970. It featured as a crocodile farm and drug lab in the 1973 James Bond film, '' Live and let Die'', and the film's main Bond villain, Dr. Kananga, was named after him.