Saint Mary () is a

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 ...

located in the northeast section of

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 ...

. With a population of 114,227 it is one of Jamaica's smallest parishes, located in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of Middlesex. Its chief town and

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Port Maria Port Maria () is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, Saint Mary. Originally named "Puerto Santa Maria", it was the second town established by Spanish settlers in Jamaica. The ruins of Fort Haldane, built 1759, ...

, located on the

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. The parish is the birthplace of established

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

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 ...

artists, including

Capleton Clifton George Bailey III (born 13 April 1967),Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 67–69 better known by his stage name Capleton, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician. He is also referred to as Kin ...

Lady Saw Marion Hall, formerly known by the stage name Lady Saw, is a Jamaican singer and songwriter whose career has spanned over two decades. Formerly known as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Dancehall, she is known for her guest ap ...

, Ninjaman,

Ini Kamoze Ini Kamoze ( , born Cecil Campbell; 9 October 1957) is a Jamaican reggae artist who began his career in the early 1980s and rose to prominence in 1994 with the signature song " Here Comes the Hotstepper". The single topped the US ''Billboard'' ...

, Sizzla, and

Tanya Stephens Vivienne Tanya Stephenson (born 2 July 1973),Lim, Ann-Margaret (2004)All Woman: Tanya Stephens", ''Jamaica Observer'', 3 May 2004. Retrieved 31 October 2010

. Other notable residents of St. Mary parish include author Colin Simpson, who is the great-great grandson of

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

James Phillippo James Phillippo (1798 in Norfolk, England – 11 May 1879, in Spanish Town, Jamaica) was an English Baptist missionary in Jamaica who campaigned for the abolition of slavery. He served in Jamaica from 1823 to his death, with some periods lobbyin ...

, Jamaican writer and community activist Erna Brodber, and music producer

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...

, who is credited with discovering reggae icon

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 ...

History

There are a few traces of

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

Arawak The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), w ...

presence in the parish. Saint Mary was also one of the first sections of the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

to be occupied by the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

. Puerto Santa Maria was the second town the Spaniards built on the island. In 1655, after the English captured Jamaica from the Spanish, the north coastal town of Santa Maria became known as

. One of St. Mary’s most famous early residents was Sir

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...

, who had a home on the hill overlooking Port Maria. The property offered a commanding view of the St. Mary harbour and provided Morgan with a strategic vantage point and featured a secret escape tunnel to Port Maria. Morgan’s home was later purchased by Sir

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

and is located beside Fort Haldane. Fort Haldane was built in 1759 to protect the strategic harbour of Port Maria from Spanish raids. It was also used as a garrison to keep the enslaved and working classes of St. Mary under control. It was named after General George Haldane, then Governor of Jamaica. The fort’s cannons were strategically positioned on a hill facing seaward over Port Maria for protection. Fort Haldane served a pivotal role in the famous Tacky's rebellion, one of Jamaica's bloodiest rebellions against slavery in 1760. On

Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...

, a runaway slave known as Tacky and a small group of slaves from neighboring plantations murdered their masters and marched to Port Maria where they killed the guards at Fort Haldane and stole several barrels of gunpowder and firearms. They fought alongside hundreds of other slaves for five months but their rebellion was ultimately quashed by the British colonial authorities and the skilled

Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery in the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of Free black people in Jamaica, free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern Pari ...

from Scott's Hall. A Maroon officer from Scott's Hall, Davy the Maroon, shot Tacky dead following a fierce gunbattle. Descendants of the Maroons carried on their struggle after the abolition of slavery and they joined with Reverend

in his quest to establish one of his Free Villages in St. Mary. Phillippo built the first church in

Oracabessa Oracabessa is a small town in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica east of Ocho Rios. Its population is nearly 7,000. Lit in the afternoons by an apricot light that may have inspired its Spanish name, ''Oracabeza'', or "Golden Head," Oracabessa's commer ...

and led a defiant protest against the local landowner’s refusal to sell land to former slaves. The Maroons joined Phillippo in a show of force that led to the landowner’s capitulation and the sale of enough land to build homes for the local population. St. Mary's present size was determined in 1867, when the parish of Metcalfe was merged with St Mary. One of the largest landowners in Saint Mary at the turn of the 20th Century was Blanche Blackwell, mother of Chris Blackwell. Blanche sold plots of land from Oracabessa to Port Maria to her coterie of friends, including

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Noël Coward, U.S. Ambassador Ruth Bryan Owen, and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

author

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

. Noël Coward's Firefly Estate is designated as a National Historic site, and overlooks St. Mary Harbour. The first James Bond film, ''Dr. No'' was filmed in part in Saint Mary Parish, including in the Oracabessa river. In the 1990s, the Island Outpost Corporation developed one of St. Mary's best-known tourist attractions, the James Bond Beach and the facility includes a concert pavilion as well as a large bar/restaurant. St. Mary is home to the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, which was established in 2011 to protect the marine ecosystem in Oracabessa Bay. The eastern perimeter of the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary is located on the edge of the

Cayman Trough The Cayman Trough (also known as the Cayman Trench, Bartlett Deep and Bartlett Trough) is a complex transform fault zone pull-apart basin which contains a small spreading ridge, the Mid-Cayman Rise, on the floor of the western Caribbean Sea bet ...

with walls that begin at 60 ft. and drop down to over 150 ft. These walls are covered in a large variety of hard and soft

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s. The walls contain many overhangs and ledges and are home to

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

s, king crab, green and spotted

moray eel Moray eels, or Muraenidae (), are a family (biology), family of eels whose members are found worldwide. There are approximately 200 species in 15 genera which are almost exclusively Marine (ocean), marine, but several species are regu ...

s, and a host of other marine creatures. Beyond the boundaries of the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, the Cayman Trough plunges to depths of over 25,000 ft and is renowned for deep-water sport fishing including

marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes between 9 and 11 species, depending on the taxonomic authority. Name The family's common name is thought to derive from their resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike. Taxonomy T ...

and

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

Geography

St. Mary is located at

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

18°09'N,

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

77°03'W. It is bordered by Portland in the east, St. Ann in the west, and parts of St. Catherine and

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

in the south. The parish covers an area of 610 km², making it Jamaica's fifth smallest parish. The

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is mountainous, rising up to almost at the highest point, but there are no distinctive

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

s. The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

is varied, like most parishes on the island. The

east East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

ern section of the parish has

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and an intricate surface draining pattern, while the

west West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

ern section is

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with predominantly underground

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s. There are three main rivers in Saint Mary, the Rio Nuevo, Wag Water River and White River.

Commerce

The parish has a good variety of agricultural resources. The principal products are

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 ...

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 ...

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

, pimento, cocoa,

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

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 ...

vegetables Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...

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 ...

and annatto.

Pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anim ...

is also practised. In recent years, however,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

has been on the decline, which may be due to the problems that Jamaican banana

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

has been facing. St. Mary's parish, had once been listed as one of the poorest in Jamaica, but over the past 10 years there have been substantial improvements in the economy due to the influx of investments in infrastructure, including a new international airport ( Ian Fleming International Airport), a new highway, and development of luxury resorts such as

Goldeneye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond (lit ...

and

Golden Clouds Golden Clouds was the name given by Ruth Bryan Owen, the first female US ambassador, to her house in Oracabessa, Jamaica.Caribbean Caravel, Ruth Brown Owen, Dodd, Mead & Co. (1949), New York, 222 pages. It is situated between Goldeneye, where Ia ...

. The new intercoastal highway constructed in 2005 has benefitted the parish and has brought a significant increase to tourism-related activities. The parish boasts what is thought by some to be one of the best secondary level

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s in the nation, St Mary High School, from which several outstanding people have come. They occupy several reputable positions in varying sectors both at home and overseas. Essential services includes

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

postal service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

s. There are hospitals located in Port Maria and Annotto Bay, as well as public health clinics in

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

and Boscobel.

Tourism

File:PageeBeach 20231007 124518.jpg, Pagee Beach near Main St., Port Maria File:Pagee Beach 20231009 132626.jpg, Pagee Beach File:D'Shore beach 20231009 135104.jpg, D'Shore beach club File:D'Shore beach club 20231009 135659.jpg, D'Shore beach club File:Pagee Fishing Boats 20231009 142927.jpg, Pagee Fishing Boats File:Pagee Fishing Boats 20231009 142913.jpg, Pagee Fishing Boats Tourism has become an increasingly important source of income for parishioners of St. Mary. Some of the most well known resorts in St. Mary include Couples Sans Souci, Couples Tower Isle, Beaches Boscobel, Goldeneye and

. Ian Fleming International Airport provides private jet service for these luxurious properties as well as emergency airlift and general passenger service. Two of the most popular beaches in St. Mary are James Bond Beach and Reggae Beach.

Politics

Saint Mary Parish is covered by three

parliamentary constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

: * Saint Mary Central * Saint Mary South Eastern * Saint Mary Western

Notable people

Notable people who live or have lived in Saint Mary parish include: * Esther Anderson, filmmaker, actress * Aleen Bailey, Olympic gold-medal winner *

, award-winning music producer * Ruth Bryan Owen, U.S. Ambassador *

, reggae and dancehall artist *

, award-winning playwright *

Christine Day Christine Day (born 23 August 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented Jamaica at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the individual 400 m and in the 4 × 400 metre relay. Day was eliminated in the semifinals o ...

, Olympic medalist * Stephen deRoux, professional soccer player * Clancy Eccles, ska and reggae singer *

, bestselling author * Alfred Constantine Goffe, Banana king of Port Maria * Andy Hamilton, jazz saxophonist and composer * Beres Hammond, reggae singer *

Lisa Hanna Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna (born 20 August 1975) is a Jamaican politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 1993, becoming the third Jamaican to win the title. A member of the opposition People's National Party, Hanna currently serves as ...

, Member of Parliament, Minister of Youth and Culture, Miss Jamaica World 1993, Miss World 1993 * Perry Henzell, movie director *

, reggae singer * Kiddus I, reggae singer *

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-award winning DJ and reggae singer * Audrey Marks, Jamaican ambassador to the U.S. * Beverly McDonald, Olympic gold-medal winner * Danny McFarlane, Olympic medalist * Count Prince Miller, actor and musician * Ninjaman, dancehall DJ * Pan Head, ragga-dancehall DJ * Georgianna Robertson, fashion model and actress * Oliver Samuels, Comedian * Colin Simpson, bestselling author and musician *

Tanya Stephens Vivienne Tanya Stephenson (born 2 July 1973),Lim, Ann-Margaret (2004)All Woman: Tanya Stephens", ''Jamaica Observer'', 3 May 2004. Retrieved 31 October 2010

, reggae singer * Admiral Tibet, dancehall singer and recording artist * Richard Von White, internationally renowned artist * Josey Wales, dancehall DJ

References

External links

Oracabessa WebsiteIan Fleming International Airport Website
{{coord, 18, 19, N, 76, 54, W, display=title, region:JM_type:adm1st_source:GNS-enwiki Parishes of Jamaica