St. Ann's Bay

https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Ann's+Bay,+Jamaica/@18.448371,-77.2902402,5432m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8eda55888cba7cb3:0xef1d47034a3cbd56!8m2!3d18.4329473!4d-77.1973997

Plantation Village is to the right, and Salem, which now seems just to be a sprawled addition to Runnaway Bay is to the left

My favourite cousin and I were born across the road from what is now Plantation Village. The house, made of wood with sash windows flanked by louvers, was set on a high concrete platform with arches--was this device a means to address flooding from the sea 100 yards away? Or was under the house a place to be cool in extreme heat?  The wall to the road was made of rock with a ridge-peaked masonry painted white. The house withstood the 1944 hurricane with no problem at all. And I learned, with dismay, that it was demolished some time in the 50's

Across the street was Richmond Estate, and all you could ever see of it was a sea of cane next to the road. It ought to have been possible for Plantation Village to leave a thin edging strip of the cane in their development, so as to preserve something of the traditional viewshed, but they didn't. Later, when I lived up the Bamboo Road at a place called Richmond Hill, I would spend all day gazing out at the sea and the gentle cane plantation on the plain. Now one looks down on a gigantic development, albeit not the most jarring sight from miles away. But looking at Plantation Village on Google Earth, it seems a dreadful scar upon the land.

Now we hear of five hotel being planned to fill in all the natural landscape between it and Runnaway Bay. That will produce a much, much bigger scar upon the land. I understand the 4,000 rooms are envisioned. But where is there discussion over a development that will alter the character, the encology, the culture of the north coast so fundamentally (while the PM, who envisions a Jamaica full of skyscrapers a la Singapore, drones on meaninglessly about climate change)? Surely, somebody who knows a little better the development scene in Jamaica could provide a hint or two. But maybe that would be asking too much. A pity, though.

https://search.aol.com/aol/image?p=GOOGLE+SATELLITE+MAP+OF+sT.+aNN%27S+bAY%2C+jAMAICA&s_it=img-ans&v_t=webmail-hawaii1-basicaol&fr=webmail-hawaii1-basicaol&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysilversands.com%2FUserFiles%2Fimage%2FAccommodations%2FRunaway%2520Bay%2FRunaway%2520Bay%2Frunaway-bay-google-earth-logo-604w.png#id=2&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamaica-travel-secrets.com%2Fimages%2Fmap-of-st-ann-jamaica.jpg&action=click