Jamaica
Goombay drums, along with medicinal herbs, calabash shells and abengs (cow horns), are for sale in the tiny red-and-green craft shop as you enter town. The hand-carved goombay drum (around J$4000) is box-shaped and covered with goat skin, while abengs (around J$3000), used by Maroons to signal rebellion, make a wonderfully deep and resonant racket.
Whoever is manning the museum next door can open the shop for you.
4.53 MILES
You can smell the sweetness of molasses wafting from the Appleton Estate well before you reach it, almost a mile northeast of Maggotty. The largest and…
6.79 MILES
Deeply secluded in St Elizabeth parish, you’d be forgiven for thinking YS Falls emerged out of Eden. This series of seven cascades, hemmed in by limestone…
20.26 MILES
This splendid 1770s mansion is the most famous great house in Jamaica. John Palmer, a wealthy plantation owner, and his wife, Rose (after whom the house…
19.27 MILES
This marvelous estate, sitting high on a hill, is not as famous as Jamaica's most famous great house, but offers a far more intimate and interesting…
23.38 MILES
Few of Jamaica's waterfall experiences match Mayfield Falls for crowd-free natural beauty. Picture this: you climb into the cool river beneath giant…
14.76 MILES
A lane lined with palm trees leads you to the landscaped grounds of Hampden Great House estate, dotted with strutting peacocks. Tours assemble beneath a…
16.18 MILES
An unexpected bloom of pine trees, mahogany and mahoe grows atop the flinty heads of the Cockpits 3km northwest of Christiana, near Coleyville. This…
20.35 MILES
This well-curated, revamped museum, peppered with period objects, takes you through the history of western Jamaica, from the Cohaba ceremonies of the…
1. Accompong Community Centre & Museum
Across from the little square facing the crossroads that you first arrive at in Accompong, this museum is a veritable peek into the Afro-Caribbean world’s…
Accompong is centered on the crossroads overlooked by a tiny square, where the Presbyterian church looks over a small monument that honors Cudjoe, the…
0.35 MILES
At the top of the village, the large field is the Parade Ground where Maroons used to get ready for war and also where they'd be disciplined for various…
0.42 MILES
Uphill from the Parade Ground is Bickle Village, with several traditional thatch-roofed homes, a Maroon burial ground nearby, a small herbal garden where…
1.01 MILES
One of Accompong's attractions is a one-hour trek down to the Peace Cave (guided hike about US$35), where Cudjoe signed the 1739 peace treaty with the…
4.28 MILES
Owned by Patrick Lee and his lovely Chinese-Jamaican family, this is a little triumph of green sensibility and community tourism. The park grounds consist…
4.53 MILES
You can smell the sweetness of molasses wafting from the Appleton Estate well before you reach it, almost a mile northeast of Maggotty. The largest and…
6.79 MILES
Deeply secluded in St Elizabeth parish, you’d be forgiven for thinking YS Falls emerged out of Eden. This series of seven cascades, hemmed in by limestone…