Spanish Town - Parish of St Catherine

In 1692, an earthquake and tsunami wrought terror and destruction on Port Royal, British colonial Jamaica’s capital city. The government decamped inland, to what had been the capital under Spain’s colonial rule, St. Jago de la Vega. As “Spanish Town,” it reclaimed its central position as the new British colonial government seat. Spanish Town was superseded in this role by Kingston, a port city that today encompasses the remains of Port Royal, when the British officially named Kingston as Jamaica’s capital in 1872.

 The Jews who moved to Spanish Town following Port Royal’s natural disaster immediately purchased land for a cemetery, on the southern end of White Church Street. Testamentary documents from the 18th century and field research in the 20th century (1930s, 1960s) indicate activity as early as 1702, with a number of burials attested from the 1720s until a century later. Transcriptions reflect markers in a single language, or some association of Hebrew, Portuguese or Spanish, and English.

 In 1704, Spanish Town Jewish residents acquired another plot of land (on Monk Street) and began building a synagogue, Neveh Shalom, which followed the Sephardi rite. Membership was predominantly but not exclusively Sephardi.

 In the 1790s, a new Ashkenazi congregation built its own synagogue, Mikveh Yisrael, and established a cemetery opposite the first. These burial grounds were recently partially cleared of accumulated rubble, revealing numerous grave sites, the latest date being 1930. However there is likely a gap of several decades before this final burial.

 Based on gravestones extant, the most recent of the Jewish burial grounds in Spanish Town, with visible markers from 1824-1894, was located on a lot adjoining the Neveh Shalom Synagogue. In the mid-19th century, Neveh Shalom was struck by lightning and suffered several fires. Financial relief was provided by Jamaica’s House of Assembly. By the turn of the 20th century, local Jewish inhabitants were following the government powers to Kingston. Both synagogues were definitively closed by 1907, following decades of dwindling and intermittent use.  Some of the gravemarkers (of varying lengths, and mostly marble) were affixed to the 6-ft. high North wall. Other stones were transposed elsewhere. The property was ceded to the Parish Council in 1956 with a view to developing a social project.

 The site today is surrounded by the St. Catherine Parish Infirmary (Spanish Town), on grounds also known as Mulberry Gardens. There are prominent mounds of debris and rubble, partially the result of the destruction of the synagogue and the burial structures. Historian James Robertson has noted signs of recent agricultural endeavors. All that remains of the Jewish material history are vestiges of a compound wall, some ledger stones saved from the destruction the graveyard knew, and traces of the synagogue, a building likely built by African Jamaican artisans.