Address the other areas of Hope Gardens

THE EDITOR, Madam:

HISTORIANS SHOULD be dispassionate about the recording of history by following the narrative, wherever it leads, and presenting a balanced perspective. Professor Carol Archer, chair of t he Sesquicentennial Committee of Hope Gardens for the upcoming celebration, dubbed, ‘150 years of Hope …The Flora, Fauna & People’, was recently interviewed on ‘CVM at Sunrise’ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MFOTUKk4SQ).

It was reported that a major function of the committee is to ‘ensure that this national treasure is protected’ and as such, many stakeholders are a part of the initiative. High commendations are in order for the series of activities that are planned to recognise this important milestone in Jamaica’s history, which will culminate in a grand gala at the end of the year. The diaspora plans to raise J$150m. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) is represented on the board.

If it is not too late, I am kindly requesting that consideration be given to the other areas of Hope Gardens which are not widely known, yet are smack-dab in the heart of this colonial landscape. In other words, the side of Hope Gardens that does not have ‘front appearance’. There are a few elements that can be addressed using minimal resources.

These include: the overseer’s house; the slave hospital; the ruins of the waterwheel pit; and the ‘portal’ in the form of the water connection point where, following the decline of sugar production, the plantation water supplied from the Hope River was connected to ‘Hope Gardens’ and eventually culminated in potable water being supplied to Kingston, via the Hope Filter Plant. All this happening at a time when Kingston was experiencing huge fires that threatened its very existence.

Both the Overseer’s (Keeper’s) House and the Hospital of the Enslaved are in a dilapidated condition. It would be unrealistic to believe that they can be renovated from the projected J$150m. However, the JNHT can put their declaration plaques on these buildings, since Hope Gardens is already declared a natural heritage site and these buildings date back centuries. Two storyboards can be erected to indicate their purposes. The Keeper’s House has been the subject of study by students from the nearby Caribbean School of Architecture (CSA).

The late Anthony Aarons, former CSA lecturer, shared with me (for citation only) work done by his students: Latoya Campbell, Cyrena Forbes, KeVaughn Harding, Shannon Lee-Sin, Michael Nunes, Danielle Thompson, Giselle Torres-Rodriguez, Simone Smith and Petal Young – the AS3 class of ‘08-’09. They proposed “that the Keeper’s House at the Hope Royal Botanical Gardens be conserved through adaptive reuse.

Professor Archer pointed out that the two universities (UTech, Jamaica and UWI, Mona) are represented on the committee. Both have medical programmes-yet there is no correlation between their medical programmes and the “ruins of the slave hospital at Hope Gardens”. The ruins of the slave Hospital can also serve as a site of learning. Both buildings are important sites of memories.

There is tangible evidence of the ruins of the waterwheel pit, which could also benefit from formal recognition from the JNHT. The theme of water is central to the development and survival of Hope Gardens. It is also linked to period state-of-theart technology that watered the Hope, Papine and Mona Estates. Some identification marker should be placed at this portal. Hope Gardens is multifaceted. At 150, all dimensions should be recognised.

JOAN FRANCIS Museum and Heritage Preservation Officer University of Technology, Jamaica