Boston Jerk Center

Boston Bay is the original jerk spot.

I grew up in Jamaica. I can tell you

that the best Jerk spot on the island

is Boston Bay.

—Ariel

Proprietors


Boston Jerk Center is an organic, literally home grown, rural mall focused around jerk cooking. It is focused around 7 jerk pits, but jerk, and associated foods, are not the only items for sale there.learn more

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History of Jerk


English records exist as far back as 1672 remarking on the hight quality of the taste and digestibility of Caribbean vs European pork. (A Description of the Island of Jamaica, London: J. Williams, Jr., 1672.)learn more

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Portland, Jamaica


Errol Flynn expressed the profoundness of Portland's beauty powerfully when he stated ... that she was, "the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon."learn more

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RECENT BLOG POSTS



Featured: Ms Ivy's Restaurant


There are actually two Ms Ivy's Restaurants and Bar in the Boston District of Fairy Hill Portland, Jamaica.  The first is at the location of most of the contemporary Boston Jerk Pits.   The second is Ms Ivy Brown's Restaurant and Bar at Boston Beach, a less than five minute walk...

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Boston Beach


Boston Beach in the Boston District of Fairy Hill Portland, Jamaica is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.  It is small, as is the bay that it rests in but that makes the bay like a very large swimming pool.  On big surf days there are channels...

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Wilburn Wilburforce Wilson


Wilburn Wilburforce Wilson, is a great grandson and grand-nephew of Pappa Smith and Drelton Williams.  He left Portland for years to work in Negril, where he was the manager of a hotel. Since his return to Boston he is now frequently seen at Boston Beach. He is related to both...

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Boston Jerk Center is an organic, literally home grown, natural mall focused around jerk cooking.  It is focused around 7 jerk pits, but jerk, and associated foods, are not the only items for sale there.  Fresh fruit juices, or even just fruit, and jewelry are part of the mix, and there's even a resident DJ, DJ Sheppy with his musical shack.

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As a truly organic rural community created experience it is also very much a network of related families.  This includes some of the usual family dynamics of cooperation and competition.  Many of todays jerkmen, have ancestors who were the original jerkmen that gave birth to preparation of jerk for commercial sale. The current primary location of the Boston Jerk Centre is located less than 1/2 mile from the first commercial jerk pit on the planet, and is home to the third and fourth jerk pits that ever existed in the world. These are currently the locations of Ivy's Jerk Centre and Shaggys Jerk Shop, respectively.

Here is the place to find the jerk closest to how jerk originally tasted, as well as taste jerk chicken made by the men who's parents/grandparents were the ones responsible for making it global favorite.  Jerk originally started as being about pork, and breadfruit, and has grown to include not only chicken, but fish, lobster, and conch soup.  On some parts of the island, people are now even jerking goat, which is more traditionally made into a curry.

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JERK VENDORS

Shaggy, which originally referred to his father, runs Shaggy's Jerk Centre or Shop, depending on the sign you read.  Shaggy, the senior, started the fourth commercial jerk pit in the world.  He was purportedly one of the primary teachers of Uton Burke, who would later start Mickey Jr.'s Jerk Centre.  His son, Kenneth Bully, the contemporary Shaggy was selected as the King of Jerk by the Jamaica Tourist Board in 2012, and used for tourism commercials about jamaica.  In 2013 he was also visited by Jonathon Phang, of Jonathon Phang's Carribean Cookbook, a UK cooking show of the UK Food Network.

Kenneth started learning to jerk at 10 years old from his father Shaggy, including learning to debone a pig.  As he makes clear in the episode of Jonathon Phang's Carribean Cookbook, he is an expert butcher, as well as preparer of jerk pork.

Shaggy says that jerk chicken was started by Lawless in the 70's, and that it was Lawless who first started serving fried dumpling at the pits as well.  Initially jerk was pork, and it was served with roasted breadfruit.  Some say that Lawless was the first to start selling premade jerk sauce as well, and others say that it was Skinny.

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Like Glasses, Shaggy's jerk pork is different the others, and I don't know if that is about differences in family recipes, or if it is actually closer to the original recipes as well.

Trevor's Jerk Centre at Boston Beach

Trevor is a carpenter and plumber four days of the week, and a jerkman the other three.  His great-grandfather Papa Simmit, and granduncle Drelton Smith, were two of the original generation of jerkmen.  Trevor also remembers jerking chicken and delivering it to his granduncle to sell in downtownn Port Antonio from 1980's.  A story he has in common with Little David by having a common "Uncle" Drelton.

He started learning to jerk young, while still in school, and remembers waking up early in the morninings, about 3am, to help prepare a pit for jerking.  With a goal of starting to actully cook by 5am, so that the meat would be ready for lunch that is believable.  The original jerkmen all fully slow cooked their pork which took at least six hours.

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Trevor started jerking for himself in his 20's after a brief stint as a business man running his own little shop with beverages and sundries.  He built his jerk pit at Boston Beach in the late 80's.  It was initially much smaller at first, and was expanded to its current size over time.  It is at a great location, just up the hill from Boston Beach.  Trevor has the best view for your jerk, as well as the benefit of a not infrequent offshore breeze to help cool you down.

He, and Glasses another contemporary jerkman, are both tradesman, who helped to build Mickey Jr's Jerk Centre which was run by Uton Burke, "Mickey Jr."  Uton was such an upstanding man, great jerkman, and supporter of the community at large that he is annually celebrated in memorial for his premature death in .  Even with family rivalries, no one questions his greatness as jerk man, or his contributions to the community.

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Mickey Jr's Jerk Centre

Teddy Duncan plays an important role at the Boston Jerk Center.  I have used him as the face of Mickey Jr.'s Jerk Center, which was started by his brother the now deceased Uton Burke.  Mickey Jr.'s Jerk Center is formally owned and run by Frank, Uton's son.  However, Frank was camera shy, and interview shy.   Teddy a highly recognized jerkman in his own right, and the only jerkman, to be on staff for one of Jamaica's Prime Ministers, (the Honorable PJ Patterson,) helps to run both Mickey Jr.'s Jerk Centre, and Goldteeth's Jerk Centre.

Teddy and Uton's grandfather was Arthur Bignal, one of the original jerkmen.  Arthur visited Moore Town in the Blue Mountains, where he observed Moors jerking on a spit.  No longer needing to be hiding, the Moors did not need to jerk in the ground where what has happening could be more easily hidden.
Bostonians started jerking on the jerk pit using pimento wood below, and zinc or planks above to help trap heat from the burning coals.

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Teddy started learning to jerk pork at 10 years old, so he's been jerking for 39 years. He was not only cleaning and grinding birdpepper and pimento like other children of jerkmen, but also learning to debone a pig at that age.  Teddy says that over time, he worked at all the original jerk pits in Boston.

According to Teddy, Skinny was the person to bring festival from Kingston, but I didn't hear that version from anyone else.  And I can believe that his father was the first jerkman to be selling jerk chicken in Boston after learning how to jerk chiken on the grill. Originally, chicken was jerked on a spit, but using the grill was much faster.

At this point in time Mickey's Jerk Centre is clearly the most popular center, and has the most men who are working at it.  I believe this reputation was created by Uton who many refer to as the best jerkman of his generation.  Teddy helps to keep that reputation going.  Uton was the first jerkman to be showcased in the national press, and all of Boston acknowledges the greatness of Uton Burke, the original Mickey Jr.

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Glasses Jerk Centre

Glasses is an electrician by trade, although he has been working at the jerk pits for forty years. He started by simply collecting money at Mickey Jr.'s Jerk Centre under Uton Burke. One day Uton cut his finger, and could no longer sell.  Glasses volunteered to take over selling and did so exceptionally in that
position that he stayed in it. He went onto learn the whole business.  After Uton passed, (verify that,) having worked at Mickey Jr's Jerk Centre for 10 years, Glasses built his own jerk pit down the street, Glasses Jerk Centre, which he has been running for 30 years.

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Like Trevor who's pit is at Boston Beach, Glasses is only open on Friday, Sat, Sunday and Holidays, because he also practices his trade.  Both of them literally helpe to build the physical structure of Mickey Jr's Jerk Pit, before going on to build their own.

Glasses told me that the locals say his jerk taste most like the original Boston Jerk taste.  Right after telling me this a young man walked up to buy only a couple mouthfuls for jerk pork.  I asked him why he came to Glasses.  Without me prompting in any way, he told me that it was because it was freshest and closest to the original jerk.  I figure he must have heard this initially from an elder because I'd be surprised if he was over 20 years old.  However, it was enough for me to find Glasses story credible, espeicially since he had no idea I'd be interviewing him that day.

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Bumpy's Jerk Chicken

Bumpy, formally Winston MacLean, is the second generation Bumpy after his father. His father was a jerkman, and he worked at Mickey Jr's under Uton Burke for seventeen years.  Bumpy welcomes all visitors to Boston to taste jerk how it is made in the home of it's birthplace.  He is the sole purveyor of jerk chicken sausage, a practice he took over from Little David, his cousin.  He sells jerk chicken and jerk chicken  sausage from an oil drum barbecue at Boston Jerk Center.  He'd like to grow his manufacturing of jerk chicken sausage to sell to all of Jamaica, and even internationally.  His favorite place in Jamaica besides Boston is Ocho Rios, where he has family.  His favorite musician right now is Capleton.

Gurley Aston

The Gurley Aston jerk centre in Boston, Portland, Jamaica is the realization of the vision of Rhone Bennet.   Rhone Bennet is a descendant of Aston and Gurley Stewart, and born in Boston.  Gurley and Aston were the cooks for the groups of farmers who would work on each others land in turn.  They cooked the lunch for these men, including jerk.  They were known as good cooks from this vocation since the 1930's.

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Rhone built the Gurley Aston jerk centre in 2012, in honor of his grandparents to continue their name and brand of jerk cooking in Boston.  Gurley Aston as a known family who were jerking from 30's is an authentic branch of the Boston style of jerk that came out of the mountains from the Maroons.  It includes recipes for pork, chicken, lobster, and roast fish.  Gurely Aston is also known for its fried crushed green plaintain.  Other sides they serve include festival, bammy, sweet potatoe, rice and peas.  You will also find conch soup and steamed conch on the menu.  Rhone has been jerking for over 20 years, and learned it from his grandfather Aston Stewart, who was well known in the community as one of the original jerkmen, as well as being a fisherman.

Aston taught the trade to one of his sons, Supa, and to Rhone, who continued his development with Supa at his jerk shop.  Supa and his cousin Barry, ran a jerk shop at the site of the first jerk centre in the late 70's. A special dish that Gurley Aston will be serving starting this year is a dried grilled shark recipe that he learned from his grandfather, Aston Stewart.  Rhone is hoping to brig a new delight to not only Jamaica, but the world by sharing this unique recipe.

Gurley Aston employs seven full time workers, and four part time workers.  The head jerkman at Gurley Aston is Breezy with Laughy as his second.   Breezy has been jerking for over 30 years, and learned jerk with Uton Burke the founder of Mickey Jr's Jerk Centre. Their master chef is Kamar.  Behind the bar is mixologist Tica. The general manager for Gurley Aston is Watica Thompson, pictured above, who is also life partners with Rhone.  She runs the day to day operations of Gurley Aston.  Gurely Aston has service that is second to none, and has many regulars for whom they are the favored Boston Jerk. Rhone is proud to continue the name and reputation of the Gurley Aston brand of Boston Jerk cooking.

Little David's Jerk Centre

Little David, nee Carvin Leopold Atkinson, has been jerking for 30 years. He's commonly known as Little David, a name he received from his mother as a child due to his size. His great-grandfather was Stanley Duncan, one of the original Jerkmen, who gifted the world with selling jerk.

He started learning to jerk at 20 after finishing school. He learned at the Jerk Pit where I'vy's Jerk Centre currently exists, the third Jerk Pit in Jamaica.  He also learned from his granduncle, Drelton Williams, one of the original Jerkmen.  After spending three years in Germany, he returned home to Boston and built Little David's Jerk Centre.  He says he's been open everyday since, so his customers can know they can always come and get his jerk chicken.

Little David employs three people regularly helping to provide income to other mebers of the community.  He also is a firm believer in education and makes regular donations to support local school children by buying them school supplies.  He buys books, pens, pencils, and even uniforms that he distributes to those in need.  In Jamaica up through highschool, all children where uniforms to school, and can not attend without them.

Jerk started with pork.  There are a few claimants to being the originator of jerk chicken.  Little David who is related to Trevor, another current Jerkman with whom he shares a Grand Uncle says  that he was assisting his "uncle" in selling jerk chicken to tourists off the cruise ships in downtown Port Antonio from the mid eighties.  I think this is sometimes confused by others who have a different version of who started jerking chicken.  However, I  believe they are referring to who was selling it first at the jerk pits in pits in Boston.  Although there are a lot of cousins amongst each other, thereis some rivalry amongst the Boston Jerkmen.

Little David does seem to actually be the inventor of jerking chicken sausage.  And jerking chicken is still his area of expertise for which he has many regular customers who come to the Boston Jerk Center looking for him and his authentic jerk chicken.  There also seemes to be general agreement that he was the one who first started selling festival, vs. fried dumpling, at the Boston Jerk Center. He tells stories of how people used to line up two deep down the street to buy festival from him when he first started selling it in Boston without competition.

Goldteeth's Jerk Centre

Erdly Wilson runs Goldteeth's Jerk Centre.  Goldteeth is more of a silent partner. Erdly learned to jerk from his father, and his grandfather was Linton Wilson, one of the first generation of jerkmen.

Erdly has been running Goldteeth's Jerk Centre for over 30 years.  He is proud of his product, and has a regular following.  He too, started to learn to jerk from the ripe age of 10 years old.  He was originally cleaning the centre, and pounding the wild harvested bird pepper.  As he aged he was taught more about jerking.  He too went abroad, before coming back and starting his own jerk pit.

FRESH JUICE

Jahbookie

Jahbookie sells the natural spice juice, aka sugar cane juice.  He gives the juice a little flavor by adding ginger and lime, to "give it that boost."  Jahbookie is a Rasta, not just a dread, and he eats Ital, primarily vegetarian, with the occasional fish.  His favorite place in Jamaica besides besides Boston, is  Dunn's River falls near Ochie Rios. We're not at all surprised to find that his favorite musician is Bob Marley,whose image he chose to include in his portrait.

Johnny Natural

Johnny sells natuarl fruit juices. Typically real ginger beer (non-alcholic), june plum, guava fruit punch, carrot, and passionfruit punch. He has been selling in Boston for 14 years.  He's in the process of really manufacturing, instead of being hand made.  He's already registered a corporation, Johnny Natural Juices, and has worked with the Bureau of Standards to provide labelling. By the time you read this you may be able to find his juice in one of the local supermarkets. My personal favorite is the Ginger Beer.

Alman

Allman has sold coconut water collected fresh daily for the past 14 years.  You can't get it fresher besides direct from the "jelly," (young coconut,) from which it is collected.  Coconut water is a great source of minerals, to really help you rehydrate in the Jamaican heat. He is into Country Music, and his favorite musician is Ray Stevens.

JEWELRY SELLERS

Dennis

Dennis sells jewelry that he makes himself to support his children. All his jewelry is handmad by  him. His collection includes necklaces and bracelets made from horsehide bean, chestnut, red coffee bean, hematite, jobstage beans and others. His favorite food besides jerk is whatever fresh fish he catches for sport.  It is often snapper.  Portland is his parish, and he is proud to be resident in Jamaica's most beautiful parish.  His favorite musician is a local musician, and cousin of his, named Bling Dog.

Simpson

Simpson sells jewelry, both hand made, and manufactured, and has been for 16 years.  He offers jewelry made of coconut and stone pieces that he makes himself. He likes to use to jade, rose quartz, tiger stone, bloodstone, turquoise and several others.  His rings are made from silver or surgical steel. His favorite food is an old school slow cooking favorite, Run Down.  Traditionally made with salt fish and coconut, with the coconut milk slowly cooked down to a rich yummy goodness with the flavors of onion, scallion, tomatoe, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper all soaking and mixing together.  His favorite place in Jamaica, outside of Boston, is the town of Portie, (Port Antonio.)  His favorite musician is the local Boston DJ, DJ Sheppy who has a music shack right at the Boston Jerk Centre.

Paul

Paul makes his own jewelry, which he has been selling for over fifteen years. He highly recommends people come out to Boston for a taste of the roots Boston Jerk, and to have a nice time.  His favorite food after jerk pork, is lobster.  He loves the Blue Lagoon and Reach Falls, both beautiful Portland destinations.  His favorite musician is Luciano.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF JERK

It is common knowledge in Jamaica that Jerk was started in the mountains by the Maroons, who adapted Taino/Arawak techniques of preserving meat.  Initially this was wild boar.  English records exist as far back as 1672 remarking on the high quality of the taste and digestibility of Caribbean vs European pork. (A Description of the Island of Jamaica, London: J. Williams, Jr., 1672.)  Descriptions of a process that are similar to how traditional jerk pork is still made today were described in English records as early as the beginning of the 18th century. (A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica: with the natural history of the last of those islands. London: BM, 1707)  From this we know there are centuries of tradition in jerking pork in Jamaica.

Nanny of the Marrons

The portrait on the home page,and to the right, is of Nanny of the Maroons from the Jamaican $500 bill.  She is well known as one of the leaders of escaped slaves, Maroons, living freely in the Blue Mountains with the Taino natives hiding from the European invasion.  Initially jerking by the Maroons started with cooking the pork in pits in the ground with a slow long burning fire.  This allowed   the wrapped and buried pork to be cooked with some discreetness.  This method of roasting the pork would also trap most of the moisture into the meat leaving it tender and succelent.

By 1720 the Maroons were acknowledged to have full control of over 500 acres in the Blue Mountains. And, by 1739 they were offically granted this land by English sanction.  Once the need to hide from the English was gone, the what is now traditional jerk barbecue, created using sticks of pimento wood to hold the pork above a fire, became the common way of jerking pork.  It unquestionably would save time and effort in its preparation.  Reference to this form of cooking pork are in English records as early 1890, (Herbert T. Thomas, Inspector, Jamaica Constabulary, Untrodden Jamaica. Kingston: A. W. Gardner, 1890.)  This pork was still slow cooked, as when buried, taking six to nine hours depending on the size of the pig.

The eytomology of the word jerk is unclear.  The authoritative hypothesis is that it is from a Spanish word that was derived from the Peruvian word charqui.  This is the word used to describe dried strips of meat by the indigenous natives of Peru.  It is believed that these people passed the knowledge of preserving meat this way throughout the Caribbean.  In English we still use the word jerky for exactly the same product.   Some say jerk comes from the process of 'jerking' the meat, which was poking it with holes to the skin, so that the flavor of the spices could more thoroughly penetrate it before it was cooked.  Supporting this hypothesis is the use of 'jook' in patois, to mean to poke.

Jerk was brought out of the mountains and down to  the beach by the recent ancestors of the current Boston residents. Initially, it was jerk pork and breadfruit that were for sale.  Beyond the impact of the jerk marinade, jerk pork was always slow cooked over pimento wood, which contributed to the extraordinary flavor of the meat.  Today wood besides pimento is used to flavor the pork too, including sweetwood and wild coffee.  This is why the most authentic commercial jerk, can still be found in Boston where the pork is still always slow cooked over wood sticks in the jerk pits.

PimentoBerries

Orignally the spicing for jerk was used to assist in preserving the drying meat.  It included birdpepper, pimento, (a.k.a. allspice: pictured to the right,) and salt. It is easy to imagine that meat dried with a generous amount of these spices embedded would remain untouched by the normal process of decay. Once jerk became a commercial product, and after it became difficult to find enough birdpepper, scotch bonnet peppers became a part of the now traditional recipe. Recipes were also improved for flavor by adding onion, scallion, ginger, in addition to wild cinnamon, nutmeg and wild thyme. As with all cooking the recipe morphs over time for all kinds of reasons, but traditional jerk marinade still uses all of the aforementioned spices and seasonings to this day.  The essential ingredients for any variant of jerk include hot peppers, pimento, and thyme.

Remains of First Commercial Jerk Pit in theWorld

No one was exactly sure of when, or why,  jerk started  to be sold in Boston.  However, Bostonions were sure that selling jerk on the coastal A road was definitely happening by the mid 1940's.  The first Jerkmen were Isaiah Smith, Drelton Williams, Authur Wilson, Rufus West, and Sydney and James Marshall. Their jerk pit was less than a quarter mile east on the A road from Boston Beach. At that time the beach was known as Buckley's Beach, from the family who owned a house on the cliff above.  When Jamaica gained independence, all beaches became public, although access to them through private property could lead to fees for visiting them.  At that time, 1962, Buckley Beach became Boston Beach.

It is speculated that the remains of the second commercial jerk pit on the island lie under the generous tropical growth across the street from Boston Beach.  The third jerk pit was at the current location of Ivy's Jerk Centre, and the fourth started by Stanley Duncan was at the current location of Shaggy's Jerk Shop.

This site is dedicated to the men mentioned above, and those who joined them: William Marshall, Hilford Bignall, Arthur Bignall, Melvin Mackenzie, Naman Duncan, Delver Smith, Rufus Robinson, Cyril Robinson, and Dudley Taylor.  They were the first generation of men to jerk pork for sale, and bring jerk out of the mountains to all of Jamaica, and eventually, to all of the world.  We give thanks to them for their contribution to sharing such a sumptuous experience with all of humanity.

PORTLAND: THE START OF JAMAICAN TOURISM

Portland is the parish in the northeast corner of Jamaica.  It borders St.Mary to the West, and St. Thomas to the south.  It is probably the most rural parish in Jamaica, which is more challenging for the locals.  However this means it is closer to the Jamaica that was, which was the start of Jamaica's reputation as a tourist destination.  Portland has some of the most beautiful beaches, if not the largest, and is also the home of the Blue Mountains which peak at 7.402 feet, and have been known to be frost covered at times.  Even Jamaicans acknowledge that Portland is the most beautiful parish.  It is not only for its many geographic gems, but also for its lush flora. This is a byproduct of it receiving the most consistent rain in Jamaica.  Errol Flynn expressed the profoundness of Portland's beauty powerfully when he stated, that she was, "the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon."

The capital of Portland, is Port Antonio, a bustling town really, but the commercial heart of Portland.  There is the main market, Musgrave Market, Royal Mall, several local eateries, and a few internet cafes in town. Just outside of town is The Village, Port Antonio. It is a collection of shops catering primrily to visitors wanting hand made fine arts and crafts, and/or tourist memorobilia. In addition, there are a couple of restaurants and a bar there as well.  The Village includes works of  two nationally recognized artists, and is a great place to find unique mementos, or gifts, of your visit to Jamaica. Other major towns in the parish are Saint Margarets's Bay, pictured on the home page, Buff Bay, Hope Bay, and Manchioneal.

Tourism in Jamaica, started in earnest in 1905 with the Titchfield Hotel.  It was huge, with 400 rooms. The money for this venture came from Lorenzo Dow Baker, a cargo ship captain.  While enroute to Venezuela he had to make an unplanned stop in Jamaica due to heavy squalls.  During this stop he "discovered" bananas.  He made a fortune by buying bananas in Jamaica for 25 cents a bunch, and selling them in New York for $2.50 a banana.  He would go on to found the Boston Fruit Company and then cofound the United Fruit Company.  A company which would make millions and be responsible for the banana republics of Latin America.  Earlier guesthouses on the island were prior visions of Mr Baker, who had started building  in Portland as early as 1895.

At the turn of the 20th century only the rich could afford to globe trot, as the method of transportation was ship or yacht. It was primarily rich Americans who were guests of the Titchfiled at that time. That list included: Bette Davis, Ginger Rodgers, Clara Bow, Rudyard Kipling, William Randolph Hearst, and J.P. Morgan, to name a few.   These notable figures came to Jamaica, and the Titchfield, because it was lauded as the most elegant hotel on "this side of the Atlantic" at the time.

The hotel would go into serious disrepair after the Great Depression killed tourism, and then it was burned down in 1936.  After it's repair, it became the residence for a certain set of English society who brought all the accoutrement and ritual of English society with them. They found life in the tropics more to their tastes, but wanted all the comforts of home.  Later, Errol Flynn too, would discover Portland after unexpectdedly needing to repair his yacht in Jamaica.  He would bring celebrity back to the Titchfield by buying it 1951, and using it as the homebase for partying with his celebrity friends.

Portland would stay a major tourist destination as long as it was the place where the cruise ships docked.  Travellers could get off and spend time visiting one of the many destination spots.  It would also continue to be appreciated by those with money as a beautiful place to have a second home or a villa. Thus began the San San estates, and the many villas along the coast.  When the docks for the larger cruise ships were moved from Portland to Ocho Rios tourism declined, and therefore so did a lot of the local economy.  Although this has been hard on the locals, it also means that Portland is one of best destinations for those travellers interested in finding the slower, more agrarian, culture that was a part of Jamaica's charm and reptuation through the seventies.

For travellers who like to visit great rest and relaxation and/or adventure destinations, we have provided a short list of many of Portland's gems.  The links provided are primarily to search pages to assist you in finding out how to make these gems a part of your experience on your next visit to Jamaica. The Maroon Cultural Center, in Charles Town, actually has its own website.


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