Day 2: Imperial Sugar - Daniel

Today was our first full day in Jamaica! We began our day by touring the Good Hope Plantation, where we are staying. We saw a reconstruction of what a slave's living quarters would be like at Good Hope during the 18th Century, as well as many historical buildings such as the great house were John Tharp, the owner of the plantation, would have managed from and lived. We also took a tour of Falmouth and its historical sites around the city such as the court house, different homes around the city, and the house which I was able to work on reconstructing during last year's Falmouth Field School.

While we were walking around Good Hope, Mr. Harding, our guide from Falmouth Heritage Renewal, showed us where the sugar processing factory would have been down in a depression in the land next to the main road and across from the overseer's house. He also noted how it was very purposefully placed and interconnected to benefit the production of sugar on the plantation. For example, the overseer's house had a windowsill on the back of the home that faced where the sugar was processed, giving a perfect view for the overseer and to project power onto the slaves below. Also, the same view allowed the overseer to view the main road that slaves would travel on their way to work, furthering the point of purposeful site planning, interconnectedness and ultimately the power of the overseer. Even though we now understand what the slave holders were doing was highly unethical and terrible, it is interesting how everything on the island, and the plantation specifically, was created and situated to benefit the production of sugar for Britain.