St. Mary-Attractions and Points of Interest
Prospect Plantation
At Prospect, the guides are uniformed members of the Prospect Cadet Training Centre, an institution founded by proprietor Sir Harold Mitchell, to provide skills training for young Jamaicans. The plantation tour ends at their ecumenical Chapel, a structure built of cut-stone and lumber from the Kissinger and other famous visitors to the Centre.
Brimmer Hall
Situated in Port Maria, this estate is primarily involved in the production of bananas and coconuts. Other features include a pool, gift shops, a bar and a restaurant which serves Jamaican meals.
Harmony Hall
A renovated 18th century manse located east of Prospect Plantation and west of Couples Hotel.
A combination art gallery, pub, restaurant and craft shop, this ‘Hall’ was the brain child of a group of local businessmen and art lovers.
Moxon’s Restaurant
This restaurant attracts visitors from all over the north coast. Oliver Moxon’s community projects and coconut wood industry are, in their own way, “mini attractions”.
Golden Eye
This is the house at which Ian Flemming wrote the James Bond thrillers. Golden Eye can be seen by taking the left branch of the road which goes through the town of Oracabessa coming from Ocho Rios.
A mini tourist attraction, the house is now owned by music promoter Christopher Blackwell, who has kept the house furnished as Flemming had it (including the author’s writing desk). Bus tours are not allowed, but individual Bond fans may be discreetly shown around the property by the resident staff.
Firefly
Once a retreat of Noel Coward, this house is now owned by the National Heritage Trust. Noel Coward is buried in the garden there.
Castleton Gardens
The famous Castleton Gardens is located 19 miles from Kingston on the road connecting Kingston to Annotto Bay. The gardens cover 12 acres, at an average elevation of 496 feet.
Established in 1865, the Castleton Gardens were once the most richly stocked botanical gardens in the Caribbean and here could be found over 400 specimens from the Kew Gardens in England. Many of the beautiful and valuable trees introduced to Jamaica were first planted at the Castleton Gardens.
Over one hundred years after being established, and after several natural disasters, there are still many exotic plants at these gardens, with an abundance of ferns and trees from Madagascar, India and the East Indies.