Lovers, criminals find home in Portmore ruins
HISTORIC RUINS at the foot of the Port Henderson Hills, near the world-famous Rodney’s Arms Restaurant and Bar in St Catherine, are deteriorating into a haven for criminals, squatters and determined couples braving the lot for private sexual intimacy.
This, even as Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas seeks approval to obtain the lands, which he says would be an integral part of a tourism package being developed for Portmore.
“We recognise that the ... area is a major attraction and that it can be a destination for our tourists. We wrote a letter to the Railway Corporation, which owns the land, and other entities, seeking approval to take over the area and we are awaiting their response,” said Thomas.
“There are quite a lot of historic sites, including Rodney’s Lookout, and the Portmore Municipal Corporation is quite interested in the whole property to restore it as one of the attractions,” the continued, listing Fort Clarence, Manatee Bay, and the Twin Sisters Cave as other attractions
in the area to be developed and marketed.
Already, he said, developers from Canada are interested in the project, and he is keeping his fingers crossed for a favourable response from the local authorities.
GOOD TIMING
Such development cannot come sooner for some residents of Port Henderson, including ‘Shortman’, an ancillary worker at Rodney’s Arms Restaurant and Bar.
“People come here and have them joy, man. At nights over there, they are just going on like nothing not even matter,” said ‘Shortman’, pointing to ruins near the business place and laughing.
“The amount of vehicles that park up the road there at night time, and right through the night dem [people] a do them thing. Them just use the car as shelter,” he said, leaning in to issue a warning.
“But you have to look out of your eye, though. Nothing don’t really go on frequently, but you never know,” said Shortman, pointing to the broken stretch of tar that meanders up a rocky hillside to the site where the infamous Green Bay killings occurred in 1978.