HUNTS BAY JEWISH CEMETERY - Parish of St Andrew
Located in St. Andrew Parish, on the industrial outskirts of Kingston, just off Spanish Town Road, the Hunts Bay Cemetery is the country's oldest extant denominational graveyard and one of the oldest Jewish burial grounds in the Americas.
Beginning in 1661 with the English conquest, Jews, most identifying as Spanish Portuguese, took up residence in Port Royal and involved themselves mostly in commerce. The narrow peninsula and high water table led the community to establish their cemetery across the harbour at Hunts Bay. The earthquake of 1692 destroyed much of Port Royal and many Jews left to form and join emerging congregations elsewhere across the island. Nonetheless, Hunts Bay continued to receive burials into the early 1800s. Over three hundred and fifty tombstones remain at Hunts Bay and roughly half bear markers with legible epitaphic information. No burial registers remain. The extant layout adheres to a pattern of rows and is ordered more by chronology than by family. Burials are of a south-east orientation which we believe would have been towards the cemetery's gates.
The cemetery is now a Jamaica National Heritage Trust Site and like Jamaica’s latter historic Jewish cemeteries, which ring this Caribbean island, Hunt’s Bay cemetery is not wholly preserved, accessible, or undisturbed yet it contains a century and a half of gravestone imagery and epitaphic language. Two hundred years since it was closed for burials, its distinctive burial pattern and cemetery site design remain apparent.
Hunts Bay’s oldest legible grave dates to 1672. The cemetery served the local colonial Sephardi community for well over one hundred years with family names that include Aguilar, Baruh Alvares, da Costa Alveranga, de Lucena, de Leon, Gabay, Nunes and Lopes Torres. It incorporates versatility as evidenced by multi-lingual epitaphs in Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, and English; Jewish and Christian calendar systems; and fused artistry. The burial ground reveals burial practices and identities of the first generations of New World Israelites in the specific context of Jamaica.
Hunt's Bay Cemetery bears witness to the time when Jamaica was an emerging and variant colony characterized by political tolerance and abundant undeveloped terrain. This was a period when Jamaica’s Jews adhered to their faith yet were distant if not isolated from rabbinical authority.
The Hunt’s Bay Jewish Cemetery holds evidence for an Island whose motto became: "Out of Many, One People."
On Wednesday 6th of June, 2022 there was a fire at the historic Hunts Bay cemetery.
What makes the Hunts Bay cemetery an historic site ?
Located in St. Andrew Parish, the Hunts Bay Cemetery is the country's oldest extant denominational graveyard and one of the oldest Jewish burial grounds in the Americas.
Beginning in 1661 with the English conquest, Jews, most identifying as Spanish Portuguese, took up residence in Port Royal and involved themselves mostly in commerce. The narrow peninsula and high water table led the community to establish their cemetery across the harbour at Hunts Bay. The earthquake of 1692 destroyed much of Port Royal and many Jews left to form and join emerging congregations elsewhere across the island. Nonetheless, Hunts Bay continued to receive burials into the early 1800s. Over three hundred and fifty tombstones remain at Hunts Bay and roughly half bear markers with legible epitaphic information. No burial registers remain.
The cemetery is now a Jamaica National Heritage Trust Site and like Jamaica’s latter historic Jewish cemeteries, which ring this Caribbean island, Hunt’s Bay cemetery is not wholly preserved, accessible, or undisturbed yet it contains a century and a half of gravestone imagery and epitaphic language. Two hundred years since it was closed for burials, its distinctive burial pattern and cemetery site design remain apparent.
Hunts Bay’s oldest legible grave dates to 1672. The cemetery served the local colonial Sephardi community for well over one hundred years with family names that include Aguilar, Baruh Alvares, da Costa Alveranga, de Lucena, de Leon, Gabay, Nunes and Lopes Torres. It incorporates versatility as evidenced by multi-lingual epitaphs in Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, and English; Jewish and Christian calendar systems; and fused artistry. The burial ground reveals burial practices and identities of the first generations of New World Israelites in the specific context of Jamaica.
How did the fire start ?
On June 6th 2022 someone not familiar with the methods and procedures for clearing historic sites, initiated a brush clearing of the cemetery. This was undertaken against advice and without permission either from Jamaica National Heritage Trust, which owns the site, or United Congregation Israelites, the site's stewards. Fire was utilized to clear the brush and it unsurprisingly got out of control. The fire department was called to put out the fire. An assessment is required to determine the extent of the damage to the structures.
It is concerning and unsettling that someone, however well meaning, without expertise or permission, would execute so dangerous an intervention on this sacred and historic site.
The importance of historic site documentation
Since 2007, two organisations (CVE and JJCPF) have documented Jamaica's remaining 14 Jewish cemeteries and are in the process of bringing them to public awareness via a searchable online database. Unfortunately, the fire at Hunt's Bay points to the criticality of this work. The Hunt's Bay cemetery was documented in 2008/2009 and is available on the database thanks to the Jamaican Jewish Cemeteries Preservation Fund (jjcpf.org) See Cemetery Database — Jamaican Jewish Cemeteries Preservation Fund (jjcpf.org)
searchable database. We’ve so far uploaded 2 cemeteries with a 3rd to be uploaded this month. See Cemetery Database — Jamaican Jewish Cemeteries Preservation Fund (jjcpf.org)