Falmouth was created from seaside land owned by famed English Romantic poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s grandfather, Edward Moulton Barrett, in 1790. Barrett sold portions of land off to planter friends, kept the waterfront and donated what remained for the building of a courthouse, church and public gardens.

As Falmouth took shape, government offices were moved and churches such as St. Peter’s Anglican Church, located in the town centre were built. Today St. Peter’s, after an 1842 extension stands as one of the largest Anglican churches in Jamaica. Its supporting columns are of solid mahogany and its floor includes crosses inlaid with mahoe and mahogany. Graves spanning over 200 years grace its cemetery.

Falmouth was carefully laid out with narrow streets named after 18th and 19th century British sovereigns and heroes: King St., Queen St., George St., Rodney St., Charlotte St., Pitt St., Victoria St., as well as Wellington, Stanley and Albert Streets. This was the heyday of King Sugar and Jamaica’s fortunes were on the rise as the world’s leading sugar producer. Planters flocked to Falmouth, their slaves in tow. In the late 1820s there were some 25,000 slaves in Trelawny alone. Indeed Falmouth was Jamaica’s boom town of the 19th Century but its fortunes declined with the decline of King Sugar. It was finally “killed” in the late 1960’s by moving the shipping pier to Ocho Rios, a move which has had severe political repercussions for the then ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government. Falmouth residents have not forgotten nor forgiven the JLP and have become one of the staunchest, die hard supporter of the rival People’s National Party (PNP).

It is one of the towns in Jamaica that has maintained the features, ambience of the past and is declared a Historic town. In 1991 Falmouth had a population of 7,955. When Falmouth came into being a small coastal town, the town had the highest concentration of Georgian Architecture in Jamaica (possibly in the Caribbean). Construction was done in stone, brick and timber. It resulted in a complete and comprehensive small town with its own distinctive environment.

Falmouth residents will proudly remind you that residents of Falmouth received piped water pumped by The Falmouth Water Company pumped (from the
Martha Brae River) before the city of  New York.

Today, there are plans to restore Falmouth to some semblance of former glory with plans for a huge cruise ship pier to accomodate the world’s largest ship, along with the Harmony Cove resort development which includes plans for several hotels, villas and golf courses to add to several other massive hotel developments. The cruise ship pier will involve re-development of a large part of the town.

Take a look at my Falmouth photos.

Acknowledgement: A History of Falmouth: Boom Town of the 19th Century by Dr. Rebecca Tortello;