Be Resilient
Andrew, and formed part of the estate of Major Richard Hope, one of the original English colonisers. Hope was a commander in the British army and was gifted the estate as part of his reward for helping Britain to take control of Jamaica from the Spanish. The original Hope Estate was a vast property, stretching from Newcastle (in the Blue Mountains) down to the sea.
gave permission for it to be called the ‘Royal Botanical Gardens, Hope’. For 72 year old Eunis Ivy Clarke, Hope Gardens holds many fond memories of days when she and her twin sister Una frolicked as teenagers on its grounds. “Back then we were not allowed to date. My father absolutely forbade us from even being ‘friendly’ with a fellow so when we went out to the picture show or to ride the tram car, he not only ensured that we went everywhere together but he would send my younger brother along as his spy to make sure we were not up to any mischief. What he didn’t know was that I would always bribe him with ice cream!” “We had the most fun when we came to Hope Gardens, which for us was usually on a Sunday afternoon after church. In order for a young man to slip us a love note without my brother Albert seeing , we would play hide and seek and run off and lose him by the Palms or the bougainvillea area so that he would not have anything to report to Pappa when we got home. Back then, the most you would allow a boy to do was hold your hand or read you a love poem by the pond, as you stared into the water and pretended to be fascinated by the activities of the fish because you didn’t want to seem too eager.”
…not only the largest public green space in the Kingston metropolitan region but also the largest botanical gardens in the Caribbean
It was originally used as a sugar estate but by late 1881, 200 acres of the property were purchased by the government to establish an experimental garden for growing foreign species. It was through the botanical gardens that several exotic species such as coffee and pineapple were introduced to Jamaica. This experimental garden became what is now known as Hope Gardens. Its layout and design was assisted by the same experts who worked on London’s famous Kew Gardens. Such was its lushness that during her visit to the island in 1953 a young Queen Elizabeth II
Orange Street, Downtown Kingston Places & Spaces
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