Saint Thomas occupies the southeastern corner of Jamaica, between the Caribbean Sea and the eastern foothills of the Blue Mountains and the John Crow Mountains. Its capital is Morant Bay, a name engraved in the national history.
On October 11, 1865, the Baptist deacon Paul Bogle, from the nearby village of Stony Gut, led a march of impoverished peasants to the courthouse in Morant Bay to protest against injustice and misery, in a context of droughts, epidemics and the political exclusion of the freed people. The clash in front of the court, in which the custos and several officials died, unleashed the Morant Bay Rebellion.
Governor Edward John Eyre's repression was brutal: hundreds of people were executed or flogged, and Bogle was hanged on October 24, 1865, as was assemblyman George William Gordon. The scandal led London to dissolve the Jamaica Assembly and to impose the direct government of the Crown in 1866. Today an imposing statue of Paul Bogle, a National Hero, stands in front of the Morant Bay courthouse.
In the interior of the parish, at the foot of the John Crow Mountains, is Bath (Bath Fountain), a town famous for its mineral hot springs. According to tradition, the spring was discovered in the late 17th century by a runaway slave; the government acquired and developed it in 1699. Its waters, which flow from hot and cold springs and are rich in sulfur and lime, are reputed to be effective against skin conditions, gout and rheumatism.
Next to the springs is the Bath Botanical Garden, established in 1779, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the Western Hemisphere. In it plants brought from all over the world were acclimatized in Jamaica for the first time, such as the breadfruit, the mango, the jackfruit, cinnamon and jacaranda. It's a quiet, green and rural area, far removed from the mass tourism of the north coast, ideal for those seeking nature, history and relaxation.
Saint Thomas was during the colony an important region of sugar plantations, which explains its central role in the history of slavery and rebellion. Its population, mostly peasant after emancipation, suffered with particular harshness the exclusion and poverty that culminated in 1865, an episode that marked it forever.
Today it keeps a deeply agricultural and rural character, with fishing villages, cane and coconut plantations, and a landscape of jungle-covered mountains that descend toward the sea. It's one of the least touristy parishes on the island, which makes it a perfect destination to discover the most authentic Jamaica, between history, mountains and coast.
The mountainous backdrop of Saint Thomas also makes it one of the gateways to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its valleys and rivers, its hidden waterfalls and its trails offer an intact nature, very little exploited by tourism.
This combination of heroic history, hot springs, centuries-old gardens and mountains makes Saint Thomas a parish with a very distinct identity: that of a rural, proud Jamaica tied to the great milestones of the struggle for freedom.