Falmouth Field School

In the film group we are continuing to make our oral history video documentary film that the effect of tourism (specifically cruise ship tourism) has on the town of Falmouth, since a cruise ship port was built in 2010. For the last week we have been interviewing locals who work in the town asking them how tourism has been affecting their community. During many of the interviews people have said that they have seen the town change, since the cruise ships started coming. People have observed many new businesses and jobs have pop up around tourism, and new tourist traps are being built all around the town. These changes also not going to stop any time soon, their millions of dollars are being put towards transforming Falmouth into a tourist paradise. All the change that is coming makes it even more important that the town is documented, and that what our film does. With the film we are able to show Falmouth and it’s tourism as it stands today, and maybe another group will come back to Fa

Favorite Photos from the Jamaica trip  Jordan and Anna K with Ms. Claudine after an interview on day 8 Charlie and Ashwin amazed at the size of Charlie's ice cream on day 9 The film group munching on ice cream on day 4 Blake, Ashwin, Charlie, and Kamar painting the side of the house on day 7 Anna K, Emory, Isabelle, and Anna T at the Covey ruin on day 6 The students bonding at the Coach House in Good Hope on day 6 Emory and Anna K bonding with a student at the All Age School on day 2 Tyler digging a shovel test pit on day 10  Leon and Blake painting the porch of the house they are restoring on day 4 Students and faculty of the Falmouth Field School outside the Montego Bay Cultural Center

As our field school  comes to an end, I realized that I learned so much throughout this experience. Before this trip , I really didn't know too much about Jamaica and its culture. Over the last ten days, I was given the task to be in the film group, in which we have been connecting with locals in the town of Falmouth and interviewing about the impacts of the port and cruise industry. This was the first thing that really helped me understand the lifestyle of the people who lived there. I learned from each interview that the locals were very excited when the first ship docked and there was a huge festivity. Many people thought it would result in a huge influx of revenue for the community. What we found out, however, was that the port has its own shopping center, entertainment, restaurants; basically everything a tourist needs. This is the reason why many of the merchants in town don't make the money they're hoping for. I found this interesting because Royal Caribbean promised

before During our stay in Jamaica, the restoration group has been working to restore an old house in Falmouth. Three generations live in the house. One of the children living in the house even helped us paint the house. We had three men helping us restore the house. Kamar was the main guy that helped us. He was there every day, and he helped us with every part of the restoration. Mr. Hamilton brought all the supplies we needed, and he helped us with painting and repairing parts of the house. Edz helped us repair cracks in the house using cement, and he also helped paint. We started by painting the front of the house. The work on the front of the house was the most tedious because we had to do multiple coats to make sure there were no spots missing paint. After we painted the front of the house we moved on to painting the walls. The color we used for the walls was a nice bright blue. Painting the walls was a lot easier than painting the front, because we got to use paint roller

As our time in Jamaica comes to an end, I feel that reflecting on the work we have done is important. I truly feel like I know so much more about Jamaican culture and the town of Falmouth than I ever would have without such an experience. As a part of the film group I was able to form connections with the people of Falmouth through our interviews and get to know how the port and the cruise industry affects them. My task was to research the cruise industry for reference in our film. In my research I found that the cruise industry is the fastest growing leisure travel industry, with 27 million passengers in the year 2018. Each cruise line almost always operates at 100% capacity. A medium sized cruise liner carrying around 4,000 passengers brings in an average of $600,000 per visit per port. In the case of Falmouth this money gets diluted as it is spent in the port which is not part of Falmouth, maki ng tourism less profitable for Falmouth. This is relevant to our film because our topic

Anna K, Jordan, Alex, and Isabelle film one of their final interviews with a fruit vendor in Water Square. Jordan smiles with the bird he saved while the film group continues editing the film. Anna T. works on recording information from the shovel test pit she is excavating.   Leon, Tyler, and Dr. Connolley start digging a new STP before Tyler breaks the shovel. The restoration group gets some local ice cream to celebrate their finished project! Blake, Charlie, Ashwin, and Dr. Q pose for a picture with the family who owns the house they have beautifully restored.

Waking up in Jamaica each day never gets old. Starting our third full day of work, I am excited to go out to my work site and resume where we left off in our project. I am a part of the archaeology group and other than the inconsistent weather (who knows if it will be raining or not), I have no complaints. Heading out to Spanish Hill to work on archaeology is a pretty exciting day to me. While we may not have such a personal connection with the Falmouthians like the film and restoration groups do, we are able to get a deeper understanding of the land itself by literally digging up pieces of the past. Once we get out there in the morning, we consult with Dr. Conolley about where we are going to begin digging our shovel test pits (STPs) for the day. We use a long measuring tape and string to measure out increments of 10 meters and place a flag at each point so we know where to come back to. At each of these points, we measure a circle in a diameter of 50 centimeters and dig a hole accord

The restoration group's progress by the end of day nine. The house is looking amazing! At the end of the day, Charlie and Ashwin marvel over the size of this ice cream cone. Anna, Jordan and Claudine, a craft trader, pose for a picture after an interview.  Alex and Jordan dance with a Jamaican dancer before we depart for the bioluminescent lagoon. FFS 2020 before jumping into the bioluminescent lagoon!

The archeology group prepares to uncover a new shovel-test pit (STP) in order to map out the Taino settlement site. Tyler measures the STP to record the depth of the dig. The group inspects the dirt to tell what color variant it is.    Leon compares the dirt to estimate the percentage inclusion of the surrounding soil. Rim, Dr. Conolley's assistant fills the STP with stones and dirt to be uncovered later. Anna T. finds a cow bone in the field next to our excavation.

Today was the first time that all three groups on the field school worked through an entire day of a single focused project. While the other groups were spending time doing archaeology and working on a film, the entirety of my day consisted of applying metal primer to the roof of the house that Dr. Quillin, Charlie, Blake, and I (the Falmouth architectural restoration group) have been working on. I experienced working on the roof of a house for the first time. Other than doing some work with concrete during the Managua field school trip a couple of years ago, all of the restoration work I've been doing has definitely been very new to me. Based on today's personal experience, the main thing I've noticed about the restoration work is how physically difficult it is. The morning started off with very humid conditions and 80+ degree weather, and as the day went on conditions progressively got harder to work in. Being on the roof which reflected a lot of the sun's light and h

                                   Blake and Charlie about to start work at the restoration site. Charlie, Blake, Ashwin, and Kemar painting the restoration house blue.  Blake painting the roof the restoration house. Anna T. arriving at the archeology site. Tyler and Anna T. are observing Dr. Connolly excavate from the site.  Anna T, Tyler, and Rim sifting for artifacts. Jordan and Alex taking a quick break. Anna K, Jordan, Isabelle, and Alex having a Sociology Circle in a local coffee shop to prepare for the topics of the film.     Dr. Lee and Anna K. enjoying a coffee break in downtown Falmouth.

Today was a beautiful and sunny day. Our activity was to see the local Sunday morning church service. After breakfast we jumped into the van and drove to the town of Falmouth. I didn't know what to expect. When we arrived with our nice clothes on, we already looked like we fit in. As we walked in, the sense of welcoming was the first thing I felt. An usher took us to our seats and we were ready for the service to start. One of the church leaders first started out with a few prayers and then he lead us on to the songs where the keyboards and drums began to play. I related the service to something like a rollercoaster because thirty minutes into the service, the people began to get extremely emotional and started to pray and scream in tears. I quickly learned that the Jamaican church service was like nothing I had ever seen before. Songs were played and sung with passion. In the seminar after lunch, I even mentioned that it looked like they were being powered by the energy of the

FFS 2020 started our day by experiencing a local church service in Falmouth. We were given a hand-written map of the hiking trail from Good Hope to find the Covey Great House. Dr Quillin, Isabelle, Anna K and Emory trying to decipher the map. Leon and Alex, stuck at a fork in the road. FFS 2020 hiking into the unknown.  Dr Quillin, Alex and Leon venture into what could have been an old slave prison or a guardhouse.  FFS 2020 with the Fire of the Forest (tree above) and the Covey.  Charlie, Anna T and Anna K hiking away from the Covey.   Anna K, Emory, Isabelle and Anna T. taking a picture at the Covey. Anna K taking a selfie with a Mama Donkey, currently pregnant. Lone baby cow chilling in the meadow. Among all the other animals found along our route, Jordon and Emory also found some baby goats.   Dr. Lee and Anna K. feeling accomplished after our nearly six mile hike. All eleven