Long before it was a park, this land facing Bluefields Bay was home, workplace and estate to many generations. Here is what the record tells us.
Indigenous Jamaicans live on the land facing Bluefields Bay. Archaeologists have identified two occupation areas on the estate — including the Sweetwater site — with pottery, stone tools and evidence of fishing and food preparation.
Paradise appears in the records as a sugar and rum estate, associated with William Dorrill.
The Wedderburn family is connected with the property's development; a Wedderburn tomb still stands on the estate. The wealth of the period was built on the forced labour of enslaved Africans, whose lives and work shaped this land.
The Directory of Jamaica lists Gibbs, Bright & Co. as proprietors of Paradise Pen and the Meylersfield sugar estate.
Under S. M. Haughton James the estate reportedly reaches around 3,000 acres, raising cattle and timber.
The Clarke family acquires Paradise Park and begins seven decades of stewardship.
Paradise becomes a leisure destination, with a country club, nine-hole golf course and swimming pool.
Tony Clarke prompts the first professional study of artefacts found on the estate, and the family supports excavations by the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.
Eric "Busha" Clarke hosts the charitable Crabfest gatherings, drawing visitors from across Jamaica.
Paradise River Park welcomes families, schools, churches and organisations for events, tours and days by the river.
An honest history of Paradise includes the Taíno people who first lived here, and the enslaved Africans whose labour built the estate. Our heritage walks name them and tell their story alongside the estate's later chapters.
Did you swim here as a child, play the old golf course, or come to Crabfest? We are collecting photographs and stories of the park.
Send us a photo or story