Lucea () is a coastal town 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 ...
and the capital of the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
.
History
Hanover, Jamaica's second smallest parish was founded on 12 November 1723 with Lucea as the capital and main city.
From the middle of the 18th century, the farmers of Hanover provided the rest of Jamaica with most of its produce but mainly exported banana and logwood, which is used to make dyes.
Fort Charlotte in Lucea was built in 1761. Alongside the fort is an impressive Georgian brick structure known as The Barracks, which was built in 1843 to provide shelter to the soldiers stationed there.

In the early 20th century The Barracks became the educational center for the town and has now been transformed to become part of the Rusea's High School complex. In 1982 Rusea's High School was merged with the Hanover Secondary School and is still known as the Rusea's High School (Fort Charlotte). In January 2019 the school was still open and open-air lessons took place inside the fort.
The parish has three small waterfalls, several coves, such as the Davis Cove, named after a prominent Hanover family, along its coastline and large caves.
The still fully functional Lucea clock tower was built in 1817 and stands in the town center near the Old Lucea courthouse.
Other notable tourist attractions are Lucea's many historical sites that date back as far as the 18th century. Lucea Parish Church (the Parish Church of Hanover) is one of the oldest churches in Jamaica. Although no record of when it was first built exists the first baptism record dates back to 1725, the first burial was in 1727, and the first marriage in 1749. It is said that there is a tunnel that leads from the church to nearby Fort Charlotte, which was a safe haven in time of war. The Hanover Museum sits on the site of a prison dating back to 1776, and houses many historical artifacts significant to Hanover's history.
[Hanover Parish Information]
Demographics
Lucea has a population of approximately 5,739. People of mostly African descent make up approximately 92% of population, the others being approximately 1% People of mostly European descent, 4%
Asian, 2%
Latin American
Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America).
Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...
, and all others 2%.
Culture
Lucea shares the Jamaican interest in music such as
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 ...
.
Agriculture
A wide variety of vegetables and fruits are grown in the area around Lucea, such as
pulses,
cereals
A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...
, and
root vegetables
Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans or animals as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots, such as taproots and tuberous root, root tubers, as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, ...
.
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
,
cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
,
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
,
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
s, 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 ...
are important exports of Jamaica. In Lucea, there is a need for domestic cultivators and rural farmers to feed the island's people and visitors. Fruits, vegetables, and flowers are also grown for local consumption. One of the staples of Lucea is the
breadfruit
Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...
.
A Rural Agricultural Development Authority farming project along with resident farmers have been "supplying the hotel sector on a consistent basis" and "bring vegetables to the tables of its sophisticated guests", according to ''
The Jamaican Observer''. This linkage between the tourism demands and the up-and-coming agricultural communities provides an economic opportunity for Lucea. Therefore, the local farmers mostly produce vegetables, roots and tubers (
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...
es and yams), some fruits and flowers (
hibiscus
''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising List of Hibiscus species, several hundred species that are Native plant, native to warm temperate, Subtropics, subtropical ...
and Bauhinia or Poor Man's Orchid). As a result, this leaves the larger crop of sugar, cocoa and coffee to the industrial plantations of Jamaica. These major agricultural industries can bring in revenues in the millions meanwhile, leaving the smaller cultivators to provide exotic vegetables for the resort chain restaurants and tourism industries.
Lucea Yams
Lucea Yams are a major product of the parish. In the post-emancipation period the formerly enslaved people in the parish began to cultivate the soft, white, delicately-flavoured
yam are named for the town. In the 19th and early 20th century yams grown in the parish were exported from the port of Lucea to places like
Colón and
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
which had sizable Jamaican populations because of the thousands who had migrated to work on the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
and on sugar and banana plantations.
Tourism
Lucea boasts many clubs and parks as well as the historical attractions, and museum. Lucea's most popular dance clubs that attract both tourists and local people are the 300 Club, founded in 1955, Green Dragon, and Border Line. The Tryall Golf, Tennis & Beach Club sits on a property outside Lucea, and is Hanover's most exclusive resort.
Lucea lies between two of Jamaica's most prominent resort cities,
Negril
Negril is a small, widely dispersed beach resort and town located in Westmoreland and Hanover parishes at the far western part of Jamaica, southwest from Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.
Westmoreland is the westernmost paris ...
and
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 ...
, but has yet to capitalize on the thousands of tourists that pass through. Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has said he will announce plans for designating Lucea as a resort destination. Bartlett said:
The designation will give Lucea certain privileges and will also allow for us to look at the resort's planning development, which other resort towns are getting and so Lucea will be able to join Negril, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios as properly planned resort centers.
Since that statement Grand Palladium, part of a Spanish hotel firm, has erected a new 1600 unit luxury double resort called the Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort and Spa / Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton.
Notable residents
*
Walter Jekyll
Walter Jekyll (27 November 1849, Bramley, Surrey, England – 17 February 1929, Bower Hall, Riverside, Hanover, Jamaica), was an English clergyman who renounced his religion and became a planter in Jamaica, where he collected and published songs ...
, musician and savant
*
Enid Gonsalves,
OD (1931–2011) educator and community developer.
[ ]
*
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development ...
, (1936–2021), record producer, composer and singer.
Notes
Sources
*"Lucea powered by antonartnetwork." ''Luceatown.info''. 10 December 2004. Accessed 9 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20180114164205/http://www.luceatown.info/
*Cummings, Mark. "Can Lucea rise to the occasion?" ''The Jamaican Observer'' 21 February 2008. Accessed 9 November 2008 http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/westernnews/html/20080220T210000-0500_132734_OBS_CAN_LUCEA_RISE_TO_THE_OCCASION_asp.
*DuQuesnay, Fredrick. "Historic Lucea and the Brisett family." '' Jamaican Family Search''. Accessed 9 November 2008 http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Sample2?fred04.htm
*"Fort Charlotte, Hanover". 1 January 2005. Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Accessed 1 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081002045140/http://www.jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=137
*Hanover Parish Information. Hanover Parish Library. Accessed 1 November 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20050906003623/http://www.jamlib.org.jm/hanover_history.htm
*Hanover Parish Information". Hanover Parish Library. Jamaica Library Service. Accessed 9 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20050906003623/http://www.jamlib.org.jm/hanover_history.htm
*"Lucea Entertainment-Venues and Players." ''Lucea Online''. 10 December 2004. Accessed 9 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081204111100/http://www.luceaonline.com/entertainment.htm]
*Wilson, Judith. "Sandals Farming Project Impression Harvard Forum." ''Jamaica Observer''. 3 December 2007. Accessed 26 October 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081018174031/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20071202t180000-0500_129991_obs_sandals_farming_project_impresses_harvard_forum.asp
*"The Capital Town of Hanover, A Travel & Information Website Design for Lucea Hanover." ''Luceatown.com''. 10 December 2004. Accessed 9 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20180806105307/http://luceatown.com/
{{Settlements in Jamaica
Populated places in Hanover Parish