A recent Jamaican newspaper account of a cruise ship's visit to historic Falmouth, Jamaica clearly illustrates the power of perception. If beauty truly lies in the eye of the beholder, some arriving guests endured a disappointing vision, describing the town in less-than-glowing terms.
"The reality of some of what we saw on the outside proved to be a rather rude awakening for us," said Rose McCarthy, a vacationer from Ireland, in aninterview with Hospitality Jamaica, a Jamaica Gleaner publication, last week
McCarthy continued: "We are living in a country that has poverty at the moment, but…they would think that they were millionaires in comparison," she said.
Gleaner reporter Karrie Williams backed up Ms. McCarthy's observations, describing Falmouth as plagued by "several open drains containing black stagnant water giving off a foul odour" plus "streets riddled with potholes" and "piles of uncollected garbage."
Surprisingly, that picture of Falmouth contrasts distinctly with my own experience. On my most recent visit in 2014 I enjoyed a walking tour on a quiet, sunny Sunday afternoon. While I've noticed conditions described in the article in other parts of Jamaica, I failed to see any of the ills described during my visit.
In fact from the looks of things, Falmouth certainly isn't an especially prosperous town. But the city I surveyed was mostly clean, quiet and absent of any obvious squalor.
The city also offers attractions not found elsewhere in the island. Just beyond the cruise terminal lies the 200 year-old Falmouth Court House, a stately, still-functioning court building finished in Georgian style and considered the city's premiere architectural attraction.
PHOTO: Falmouth's 200-year-old Jamaican Georgian-style courthouse is the city's architectural highlight. (All photos by Brian Major)
Continuing into downtown, I visited Water Square, where in 1798 the Falmouth Water Co. built the city's original reservoir. The facility supplied pipe-fed water throughout the city, and even to ships in Falmouth's harbor, at a time when even New York City lacked a working water delivery system.
Beyond downtown I continued into Falmouth's residential district, past quiet roads framed by pastel-colored 18th and 19th century brick merchant buildings and small timber houses. I stopped for a while at the William Knibb Memorial Baptist Church, named for the English Baptist minister and missionary who worked to abolish slavery in the Caribbean.
My tour that day tour ended at Falmouth's 200-year-old Jewish cemetery, a hallowed resting place for the remains of families whose ancestors immigrated to Jamaica to escape the Spanish Inquisition.
The graveyard features above-ground crypts with elegantly carved tombstones, several with inscriptions in Hebrew. The graves offer a sobering but fascinating look into the past. One tombstone tells of a husband's "sacred" memory of his deceased 21-year-old bride. Another tomb's tiny scale reveals the brief existence of the child interred within.
PHOTO: The remains of Falmouth's 19th century Jewish residents are interred in the town's historic cemetery.
Contemporary Falmouth is not just a historic city but is also the center of Jamaica's cruise industry and one of the largest cruise ports in the world thanks to a $220 million partnership with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. In 2011 Jamaica's government partnered with the cruise line to create a port and terminal facility in the once-celebrated but now-sleepy city.
Located halfway between existing but aging cruise facilities in the resort towns of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, the Falmouth port was built as a state-of-the-art facility that would also pay homage to the town's compelling history. Royal Caribbean and Jamaican government officials trumpeted plans to renovate numerous historic buildings and structures as part of the project.
Almost five years later, some of those initiatives have proceeded as planned while others have not advanced beyond the planning stage. The cruise port is a sore spot for some Falmouth residents who consider its promise to be largely unfulfilled.
Florence Logan, a Falmouth businesswoman, told the Gleaner that the city was cleaner before the cruise facility's construction. She said the sanitation issues are primarily due to the government's failure to expand municipal infrastructure to accommodate the influx of cruise ship visitors.
"We have not invested in the infrastructure to keep the town clean after people started coming in for jobs, businesses and so on, so to me, that's why the town is the way it is," she said.
Nevertheless, the article acknowledges Falmouth "has grown significantly in employment from its cruise shipping operations" and adds "there are even some investors who are seeking to bring about a future sustainability of the town's tourism."
PHOTO: Falmouth features many colorfully painted 18th and 19th century brick merchant houses.
Indeed there are several activities available to Falmouth visitors beyond the cruise port. Braemar Tours offers a historic trolley tour of the town and Falmouth Heritage Walks offers walking tours that highlight the city's past as the jewel of Great Britain's sugar-producing colonies. Other tours spotlight Falmouth's contemporary cuisine scene and the historic Jewish cemetery.
Most importantly, visitors here will discover Falmouth's reality: despite facing challenges with poverty and development that can be found in virtually any global city, it offers the type of distinctive sights and experiences people travel for in the first place.
Based on my own walk across Falmouth, the perception is undeniably positive.
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