DENNIS Pearson longs for the day when coaster buses laden with tourists and schoolchildren on field trips will file into his community, eager to see the landmark sites which British soldiers and Maroon settlers once occupied centuries ago.

He has been itching to show off ‘pieces of the past’ which can still be found all over the community today. After all, Maroon Town in south St James is a place awash with history.

But, according to Pearson, for years he and other residents of the district have been lobbying the parish council and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) to restore the historical sites in the community in a bid to boost heritage tourism for their community and the parish.

But so far, all they have been getting are empty promises as the sites remain overrun with weeds, to the point where they are now hardly recognisable and hard to locate in the hilly terrain. The residents believe that the rich history of Maroon Town is not being given the attention it deserves.

Against the backdrop of the upcoming Emancipation and Independence celebrations, the main concern of the residents is that unless something is done now to preserve the pieces of history that the community has to offer, these will not be around for future generations.

“We need monuments to be erected and fences put up around the sites so that they can be protected and be around for years to come. We want people to be able to come and see the places where the Maroons lived. We want people to know the history of the place,” said Pearson.

“We have been having dialogue with the parish council and the National Heritage Trust to have attractions put up in the community for years. They have told us that they have some funds to offer, but so far we don’t see anything being done,” said the 65-year-old executive member of the Maroon Town Citizens’ Association.

Maroon Town is a scattered community of small farmers, self-employed and unemployed residents. The largest business, a grocery shop and bar belonging to Gwendolyn McBean and her husband, stands in the town centre.

The small farming community is one of the five original Maroon settlements in Jamaica, but the British removed all the Maroons from the area following the second Maroon War in the late 1700s. The nearest present-day Maroon settlement is in Accompong, St Elizabeth.

Not many Jamaicans know that Maroon Town was settled originally by the remnants of the Trelawny Town Maroons. In 1739, by the Treaty that ended the first Maroon War, 1,500 acres were ceded to the Maroons led by their famed leader Cudjoe. The second Maroon War erupted in 1795 after the British flogged a Trelawny Town Maroon in Montego Bay for stealing pigs. The Maroons were defeated only after the British imported bloodhounds and Amerindians to track them down. Several of the Maroon warriors were exiled to Canada, the rest of them scattered and Trelawny Town (now Flagstaff, a section of Maroon Town) became a British army post.

Today, at Maroon Town and moreso in Flagstaff, extensive banana cultivation and overgrown bushes conceal traces of the district’s rich history: military graves, hospitals, pools and the foundations of a barracks. The old parade ground is now a playing field.

“We would like to see the grave site weeded, fenced around, and somebody paid to properly look after it. It shouldn’t be left just like that,” Pearson said. He also noted that sometimes residents would attempt to get some of the work done, but said they lacked the necessary financial support to sustain the project.

Amiable banana farmers like Brown, whose house stands on the site of an old military barracks, shared tales of old with the Sunday Observer, pointing out landmarks in the distance like Gun Hill – where, according to legend, the Maroons mounted a captured cannon and slaughtered a company of British Dragoons as they filed into a cockpit now called ‘Dragoon Hole’.

Jamaican folklore maintains that 99 of 100 soldiers were killed there, and the lone survivor reported to the British monarch that the British army would never vanquish the Maroons, resulting in more bloodhounds being sent to help defeat the Maroons.

“It feels good to be a part of history, man,” said Brown, who declined to give his christian name.

“Sometimes when rain fall very hard, a lot of the lead balls, bullets and soldier buttons wash up out of the ground. The people from the council come and take them,” he said, before going indoors for one of the buttons he said he found recently. In fact, Brown told the Sunday Observer that a few weeks ago, while working in his banana field, his digging tool unearthed a human knee bone in which a bullet was lodged.

That has been Brown’s biggest find to date, and he is convinced that more such “treasures” are out there waiting to be found.

Surprisingly, there are no signs indicating the importance of the historical sites in Flagstaff. One man who has been working feverishly to help change this is Michael Grizzle, who wants to establish the Flagstaff Heritage Development Committee.

“We just want the various entities in Jamaica like the Heritage Trust to be working with the community-based organisations to have plaques up on the heritage sites. We also want to seek assistance from international agencies to help with the maintenance of the product,” Grizzle told the Sunday Observer in a telephone interview.

“By creating the Flagstaff Heritage Development Committee, it will create a platform for sustainable eco-tourism for the community and opportunities for the youth. We are also interested in having joint ventures set up with Accompong.”

Meanwhile, a trip to other historical sites in the community, such as an old pool built by the British soldiers [now a washing and bathing area for residents] takes us along winding tracks and footpaths through banana fields and other lush vegetation. Driving through other parts of the community reveals gorgeous scenery leading up into the hills, which offer a spectacular view of the valley.

The Maroon Town area also includes several notable caves, such as the Young Gully Cave, Jackson Young’s Cave in Schaw Castle, Rudist Rock Cave in Vaughansfield, Vaughansfield Cave and the Peterkin-Rota cave system. Nearby is the world-famous Kensington community, where freedom fighter and national hero Sam Sharpe led the 1831 Christmas Rebellion.

But despite its rich history, Maroon Town is a struggling community where life is slow, houses are run-down, roads are deplorable, water is a scarce commodity and there are daily power cuts. Some of the residents who spoke with the Sunday Observer complained bitterly about the many problems they face on a daily basis.

“Life in Maroon Town is coming to a halt. Not a thing not going on fi we,” said shopkeeper Gwendolyn McBean, as she described life in the community.

“We have to buy water from water truck. Every day, electricity cut off. Every day when we wake up, we just expect it to be off. This is what happens every day.”

Another man, seated at the shop counter added: “Me living here over 40 years and me never see water in this community. Me will vote if water come to the community. Trus me.”

Another resident, Donna Reid-Muirhead, bemoaned the lack of opportunities for farmers and young people.

“Right now Maroon Town is at a standstill. There a lot of loafers, a lot of beggars. A lot of people move gone to Montego Bay. The place is underdeveloped. Mostly banana farming goes on here but it is not really lucrative for the farmers who are mostly older people. One time you could see banana more than house but not now. We have nobody to talk to. We don’t have a community centre and no opportunities for the youth,” lamented Reid-Muirhead.

“I’d like to see more private businesses, cottage industry, agro-processing and heritage tourism going on in Maroon Town. We just need the support. The heritage is here, we just need to capitalise on it and try as much to help ourselves because we can’t depend on the politicians,” she said, just as an old white Lada motor car, laden with kegs and bottles of water roared past to make deliveries. That vehicle, we were told, is the community’s official water “truck”. Residents have to pay upwards of $300 to have water delivered to their homes.

Despite all the problems and the daily struggle to make ends meet, residents like McBean, the shopkeeper, are quick to point out that Maroon Town is a close-knit community, with regularly staged festivities, especially to mark Emancipation and Independence. One sign for an upcoming event read “Miss Maroon Town Dancehall Queen Competition. July 16. Come out in your numbers”.

Pearson, who helps to organise the annual Emancipation and Independence celebrations in the community, told the Sunday Observer that residents look forward to that time of year as they “play football, cricket, dance and hold other festivities, and sometimes we clean up the spots to make the place more attractive in honour of the Maroons”.

Still, the residents believe that with adequate funding and support from the government, Maroon Town can become a booming destination for heritage tourism in Jamaica.

“One time we used to have a few tourists coming here now and again, but the councillors stop them from coming. They used to come in their buses like every week and buy two beer, and so we could make a little money but that is not happening anymore. We miss that,” McBean said, as she served a soda to our driver.

“We want the place to become developed so that the culture and the history of the community can be preserved because it will do help to make the lives of the residents better,” Pearson said in agreement.

Added Grizzle: “Our aim is to help develop the community and get the residents more involved in activities.”