The History of Portmore, Jamaica

If you are seeking for a detailed history of the community of Portmore, on the Caribbean Island of Jamaica, then look no further than this book. Most people think of Portmore as a recently established dormitory settlement where nearly 200,000 Jamaicans live, but its history is far more extensive and interesting than that. This book takes you back centuries to offer a rich sense of the roots of the community. Did you know, for example, that Portmore was: where the English landed in 1655 to take Jamaica from the Spanish, the location for a black soldier’s revolt in 1808, granted municipal status in 2003 because of grass roots agitation, the location for the world’s most expensive movie of 1916, and where the "51 storm" (Charlie) made landfall in 1951? These, and other interesting historical facts, fill this book and will hold your attention from start to finish. With its hundreds of rare photographs, maps, first-person accounts, and use of primary material, this book is a reliable academic source for Jamaican history as reflected through the story of Portmore. The book features a timeline that goes from 700 AD to 2003, and geo-locations for most of the historical sites mentioned in the book. It is the author’s hope that telling the story of Portmore will inspire you to see the achievements of the past as inspiration for our greatness in the future. The author, Kennedy St. Benedict Reid. was born in 1962 and was a continuous resident of Portmore since 1995. He is married and has three children. He is an amateur historian with a love for his home community and a desire to see its history documented and remembered with pride. Mr. Reid worked for decades as a computer operations specialist at JPS and holds an associate degree from Broward University, USA, and a certificate in personnel management from UTECH, Jamaica. As an active citizen of Portmore, he served as citizens’ association president for 2 North, Chairman of the Greater Portmore Joint Council, PNP Councilor Caretaker for Greater Portmore North Division, and as a member of the Prime Minister’s Portmore Municipality Task Force. This book is a follow up to his original printed work, “The Story of Portmore”, 2010,