Anthea McGibbon, Outlook Writer
Couples enjoy their honeymoon in this bridal suite at Richmond Hill Inn.- photos by Anthea McGibbon
NEVER MIND about driving up the winding hill, as it's all worth it when you finally settle at the great house, now inn. After literally driving way past the Ora Vista guest house a little way up Richmond Hill, your journey ends at the impressive Richmond Hill Inn, from where you can capture a panoramic view of Montego Bay.
Richmond Hill Inn spreading across the hilltop occupies more land with far more facilities and 20 rooms, than in its former years as the two-bedroom great house of the Dewar family, in the 1700s. Those Dewars belonged to the Scottish clan of Dewar Whiskey fame.
rich history
Today the proud owner, Stefanie Chin, remembers buying the "original Plantation Great House on the Richmond Hill Estate", from the Darby family, in 1960. Even a five-minute conversation with her clues you in on its rich history, which dates back from Colonial days.
Chin came to Jamaica at the age of 30 from Austria, and has witnessed almost 50 years of change in the country. However, her continued chimes are that Jamaicans "need to be more appreciative of the fact that they can pick fruits all year round". Back home she recalls that fruits had to picked and stored in jars for months at a time to serve as food during lengthy cold periods.
The major change for Chin has been the development of the inn's environs, especially in the last 20 years. Aside from the Cornwall Hospital located on the hill to the east of the inn, there was hardly any other neighbour for miles in the years following the purchase. "It (the inn) was just an old, dilapidated building surrounded by just bush for miles," she says.
Chin has watched the city grow from a few houses to a city industrialised and well popularised with thousands of neighbours occupying stores, houses, hotels, in the valleys, opposite hills, and temporarily docked ships in the ports and harbours all around the inn. From the boundaries of the inn plotted in almost the centre of Montego Bay, one can see the Yacht Club, Sunset Beach Resort (former Seawind Hotel Towers) and, once upon a time, the many factories in the free zone area.
To the west of the inn, roads travel alongside the coast from Negril, as ships sail by on the distant sea. To the north of the inn, Leader Avenue can be seen winding through the hills.
Bustling city life
There are a few communities climbing the hillside, sitting opposite the inn, with the bustling city life connected by a web of roads in the valleys in between.
This variety of picturesque scenes from north to south, east to west, all seem to take new shapes in their changing appearances commanded by the time of day, making the inn an ideal location for many functions. Couples from the many weddings hosted at the inn repeatedly return to absorb the views of well-kept romantic getaway.
Over time, the expansion and additions have been the responsibility of Chin. Chin added according to the design of her heart and budget of her pocket, as she raised her four children.
The 20-acre property includes a swimming pool, garden, restaurant, bar, game rooms, at least three dining areas, recreation areas linked by several hallways now paved with original stone tiles brought in, on ships. Some of the stone tiles, according to Chin, were actual weights used to steady the Spanish ships.
The main building on property is the original two-room former Dewar greathouse which is still an intact haven of history, plotted almost in the middle of the expanded property. Chin has invested tedious efforts to maintain the original hand-carved antique mahogany furniture such as a piano, mirrors, what nots, and the 18-inch thick walls made from molasses, horsehair and limestone are undisturbed. There is at least one original terracotta jar which was brought to Jamaica by a Spanish galleon during the
reign of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain. The jar bearing the Royal seal of Spain was used to store oil or water on the ships.
Although the property shows signs of an aggressive visit by Hurricane Gilbert, the multi-designed building from the stone walls and staircase to the arches of the restaurant area and the breathtaking enveloping scenery is relaxing.
Just beside the main restaurant sits a well about 22 feet in depth with a diameter of 20 feet and a main column from limestone in the centre.
Travelling from west to south, there is a gazebo, rubber tree, and mini river carved in the shape of the island Jamaica which is outlined by stones. On the north side, where the greathouse is preserved as the main building, Chin's three bedroom modernised cottage is built separately on the property, across from the inn's entrance.
The influence and exploitation of Chin's dressmaking and tailoring skills has honed her into an interior designer knowing how to turn her hand and make good fashion. Beginning with the drapery and uniquely designed textile matching flat bed heads and sheet sets she makes herself, there is enough art to capture any visitor's heart up in 'dem' hills. Classic treats are the numerous paintings by Barrington Watson hung around the inn, including portraits of Chin and her twin daughters Gale and Grace.
The hey day of the 1970s and 1980s with lots of restaurant dining guests, an active nightclub, flower shows, and the Club 35, once listed as the best for miles, are long gone. But, Chin's twin daughters, Gale and Gracie and son Walter are on hand with the Inn's limited staff to cater to the needs of guests, largely at weddings and stopover cruise ship trips.
Art exhibitions might, however, returns as very recently, the innkeepers hosted "Barrington Watson's return - after 20 years".
A few time gems for Chin include the day she first laid eyes on Alexander Bustamante, who turned out to be an inherited guest, who regularly stayed at the Dewar greathouse. Jamaica's former premier Norman Manley also stayed there with wife, Edna. In a conversation with Outlook team, she reeled off the long list of famous personalities who were hosted at the former greathouse - some of whom went fishing with her husband like the late John F. Kennedy, former United States President. The long list also includes Honourable Edward Seaga, former Prime Minister of Jamaica; movie stars such as Steven McQueen, Heads of Government, Heads of State and Ambassadors, whose photographs are still hung in a frame of fame on the wall of the original greathouse structure. While other personalities such as Eddie Murphy, Paul Newman, LL Cool J, and Shaggy enjoyed dinner at least once, members of the Manley family still frequent the inn.
Rodney is the proud bartender for over five years at the Richmond Hill Inn.
