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The Abingdon Great House Tour | Skeletons, Patoo & 18th Century Windmill | Great Houses In Jamaica

abingdon_great_house_tour

Feeling adventurous?

Great!

Today I'll take you on a little history tour where you'll see skeletal remains of the white owl (patoo) meals, a 17th century windmill and and a great house, built in the 1600s that it still standing!

It's the old Abingdon great house - near Negril in Hanover! It is in fact the oldest inhabited great house on that side of the island, and perhaps in Jamaica!
Rich history and amazing architecture!

abingdon_great_house_green_island_jamaica_places_to_visit

I actually did the tour, I'd say, two part tour, with Andrew, the current owner.

He started at the great house, but as soon as the rain subsided he grabbed the opportunity to show us a bit from the outdoors... and that took us to the remains of the old 18th century windmill - a 50ft towering monument that is still standing!

And that is after almost 300 years of exposure to the elements (droughts, hurricanes & earthquakes)

Andrew did a fantastic, not only telling us about the design of this structure, all cutstones by the way, but showing us exactly how it worked to grind the sugar; and above that, how sugar was produced from sugarcane, step by step!

By the way, I observed two scary set of what appeared to be stained/ blood handprints on sections of the old windmill but he asserted that 'is a whole other story'!

abingdon_great_house_hand_on_cut_stone_windmill

And yes, I also sighted the skeletal food remains of the dreaded white owl, the nocturnal creature we call Patoo here in Jamaica. He had another story on that as well!

And the great house?

abingdon_great_house_piano

Among other things, I was particularly impressed with the fact that the walls of all made of cut stones that are 6 feet thick, yes 6 feet (almost 2 meters)!

And the property itself, omg, love it, very rustic and has an abundance of fruit trees and medicinal herbs, just growing wild!

But wait, I didn't tell you about the mystery of the trumpet tree right?
How could I miss that!

Andrew explained that the trumpet tree has an unexplainable natural ability to sense hurricanes. If for sure a hurricane is coming, the leaves will turn over! Amazing!

I left feeling fully satisfied with a bellyful of history (and nature) lessons!
But above that, I captured it all on video - you bet, so I could share it with you.

Here is the video, on YouTube!

So what do you think of this tour? I welcome your feedback below.

Regards,
WG

P.S. There is something more about this property that will totally blow you over, but that's for another video, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to ensure you get that as soon as it drops.

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About The Author

A patriotic Jamaican who adore its culture, Wellesley has been using this medium to share what he calls 'the uniqueness of Jamaica with the world' since April 2007.

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