History - Luxury villas in Portland Jamaica

Port Antonio was discovered in the 16th Century, by the Spanish, who named it "Puerto Anton". Portland is the result of the amalgamation of two parishes; St. George and a part of St. Thomas.

In the 18th century, the town was a British naval stronghold, and even today, there is evidence of British architecture in the parish square; the Anglican stone church, built in 1840, and the DeMontevin Lodge, 1881 — now a popular guest house on Titchfield Peninsula — and Fort George, 1729, which overlooks the harbours.

Titchfield Peninsula is also home to the The Titchfield School, 1785, which is one of the oldest and most respected private secondary schools in the Caribbean. The school is located on Fort George.

In the 1700s when sugar cane and coffee were being cultivated by African slave labour, many slaves were able to plan rebellions and escape into the mountainous interior, as the slaves outnumbered their white masters ten to one.

The parish was generally uninhabited, however, and in 1723, the Governor began offering free land to white Protestants, and to free mulattos, Indians or Negroes in an attempt to populate this parish. This seemed only to attract more British, and the Maroons, who were runaway slaves living in the Blue and John Crow Mountains, were determined not to let the British take over the parish.

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