A taste of Jamaica Hotel Video Duration - 7.24 mins. Bellefield Great House Montego Bay, St. James, Hotel Video Jamaica Search for the Good life It really is a step back in time, you know, it is like old colonial Jamaica, when in the heyday of our sugar production. So that’s kind of what we try to do here, take people back in time to 1805, before the abolition of slavery, when Jamaica was a really special place (Music) Michelle Rouseau Caterer and Even Planner Ciaobella - The first member of the Kerr-Jarrett family, who are the owners of the estate, um, came to Jamaica in 1655, on, in the fleet, a member of the fleet of British captains that came to conquer Jamaica from the Spaniards. Subsequently, later on, another member of the Kerr family by name of David Kerr was posted to Jamaica as a medical doctor, during the cholera outbreak. It is purported that this estate actually acted as a cholera hospital for a little bit of time during that period. and he was assigned in this very estate and he met the daughter of the owner of the estate called Sarah Newton Jarrett and it was a bit of a Romeo and Juliet sort of situation and they met, they fell in love and they were married and they retained the Jarrett part of the name as Col. Jarrett only had daughters and he wanted his line to live on. They are actually one of the forefathers of the nation building of Jamaica. They have donated land for the air port, for government properties, for the school for the deaf. I mean they’ve really been incredible philanthropists and, and very much a strong support of Jamaica’s culture and history, (Music) - And it was said to be that Jamaica was the diamond in the British Crown, because we were one of the largest sugar producing islands. - This is the Chattanooga which is actually a hundred years old. It is the original - a miniature version of the original piece of equipment that would have been inside of a sugar mill. This mill actually was constructed in 1794 by an architect by name of Cunningham – and it is actually made of ballast that was brought over on ships and was used to balance the ship when they came over without cargo. They used the heavy stone to the weight the ships down and once it was brought over, it was actually used to construct the mill and then the sugar would be shipped back out and rum - And these large rollers were the original rollers that would have been used in the sugar mills - Oh my goodness - This is it – here, it was built in 1794, as it says - So this is really where it would have gone on in here - Yes, really would have gone on in here and this - Oh my goodness - It is fantastic isn’t it? This is, supposedly, the largest thatched roof in the Caribbean, well it is a technique that people don’t really do a lot in Jamaica anymore– it is kind of becoming, you know, extinct - and it’s been very difficult for us to find thatch-work guys from, … locally, who will actually do the traditional way of repairing - This is also like, weaved by hand? - Weaved by hand and it is dried palm leaves that they use - And this would have been the space, like you were looking at …. - This would have been the space and right here you would have had, in the center, you would have access and they would have had oxen tied to the grinder and then people would have walked at the top level with ropes looking below - ……….Lead the oxen around in circles - And then you have three points of entry – one was to bring the sugar cane in, one was where the trash would have been sent out and after it had been processed and ground and the third one, where we have the barrels over there, was actually where you would have stored the juice from the cane and it would have been left in the barrels, transported over to the sugar mill, I mean, over to the boiler house, rather, where it would be boiled down into molasses for 8-hour shifts at a time. So labor intensive, but well worth it, I think, that we all appreciate the joys of sugar - - It is so amazing that people can get a great peep back into history Michelle Rouseau is an expert when it comes to local history and specifically about this plantation and so I am so lucky we have her to show us around. (Music) - Welcome to the Great House. If you come in here, you will find that it is a lot cooler and that is because the walls of the house were built to certain level of thickness so it can maintain in the very, very hot times, particularly in the summer, keep the house cool and they used thick cut stone and the house was also always positioned up on a hill so that you had lots of cross ventilation and lots of big open windows. This room is our entrance hall and we, calling (coin) it, the room that is dedicated to the family, you know we have a lot of the history of the family maintained. This was Sir Frances Kerr Jarrett, and his wife Isabella, who was knighted in Jamaica – he was Costus and he was knighted in Jamaica in the early 1930’s. He was one of the first, insisted on being knighted in his home country and so the Queen came to Jamaica and he was knighted here. - So this is the dining room, the formal dining room where a lot of the official feasts would have taken place. Planters’ families actually are known for their elaborate entertaining and events and festivities. And if you ever read Lady Nugent’s diaries, who was the wife of the Governor General of Jamaica in the early 1800s she speaks of all of these festivities and feasts that she would attend and the meals with this (treasury) flushery of food with crab patties and sangary and you know, all of these really interesting sounding things which we’ve investigated and found an 18th century recipe- um cook book that has recipes for all of these things. .One of the things that we actually do here is to recreate a lot of those drinks from the 18th century and a lot of the food from the 18th century. And all of these wonderful meals would have actually been prepared in an outdoor kitchen, prepared over fire, or would have been served from the pantry which is this room. This chair right here used to have one lady that would sit on it and everything that goes from the kitchen into the panty had to be tasted by her. I assume she was a rather large lady because all she did all day long was to taste food and sit on the chair and do nothing else. Not a bad job, I wouldn’t mind it myself. As the boys were bringing, they were bringing food from the kitchen which is that walkway there, they had to whistle, because they were very paranoid that they would be eating their food. (Whistling), as they walk. Not an easy task, I tell you. - Well Lorraine, this is my favorite part of the house – Overlooking just the view, a panoramic view of all of Jamaica, with the harbor, and the water, and it is just really beautiful and I love to come here in the afternoon and relax. - It is so beautiful Michele and it is so funny to think that town is really nearby. - Yeah - The hotel is just 15 minutes away - Yeah 15 minutes away - Visitors can get on a bus and come up here and enjoy all of this. - Absolutely. Well. Thank you so much for coming - Thank you again for having me - Cheers .Hope you enjoyed lunch