"The most exquisite port on earth" was the way American poetess Ella Wheeler Wilcox described PORT ANTONIO. The town's twin harbours, jewel blue sea and verdant hillsides still ensnare the visitor. The story of this old port is the story of men who came, saw, and were conquered by its beauty. All of them, from Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker to movie star Errol Flynn and billionaire Garfield Weston sought to develop the town. All of them failed. Port Antonio, like Montego Bay, claims to be the cradle of the tourist trade, but unlike other resorts in the island, its tourism potential remains undeveloped and undamaged. And therein lies Port Antonio's charm, and the lure of the parish of Portland.

Banana King Baker's Titchfield was the first hotel built to cater to overseas guests and is described in an old guide book as a novel style of hotel, admirably suited to a hot climate (with) a group of cottages on top of the hill which are the sleeping rooms (and) entirely distinct from these . . . a capacious dining room with convenient kitchen. This design, which disregards Portland's frequent rain showers, is echoed in all Port Antonio's luxury hotels and in some of the elaborate villas such as Tiamo built for the late Princess Sadruddin Khan.

The town was originally settled by the Spaniards and gets its name from an early Spanish governor who named the twin harbours Puerto de Anton and Puerto de Francisco after his two sons. Today they are merely East and West harbours. After the British conquest in 1655 the government tried to develop the area by making land grants to English families. They laid out the town, built a fort on the peninsular and a navy station on Navy Island. The British army and navy protected the settlers against the French, the Spanish and the pirates but proved ineffectual against marauding bands of the Windward Maroons. Years of guerilla warfare between the British and these runaway slaves were ended in 1734 by a treaty that settled the Windward Maroons on their own lands.

The banana, introduced by the Spaniards from the Canary Islands, flourished in the hot, damp climate and rich alluvial soil of Portland and was grown alongside cane. In 1871, a Yankee skipper named Lorenzo Dow Baker sailed into Port Antonio and took on board a cargo of coconuts and 1,450 stems of bananas. The profit that he cleared in Boston was so big that he returned, bought land, planted bananas, and organized a shipping line to transport the fruit. His banana plantations soon ranged from Boston in the east through Boundbrook to Buff Bay in the west and his Boston Fruit Co. subsequently merged with other interests to create the United Fruit Co. which dominated the banana industry in Jamaica and Central America for years to come. This was Port Antonio's Golden Age. It was said that on Banana Day (which was any day a ship was loading) carousing planters would light their cigars with 5 dollar bills. This unheard of prosperity ended soon enough with the onset of the Panama disease which almost wiped out the banana industry. The delicious Gros Michel variety succumbed and was replaced by new disease-resistant hybrids like the Lacatan, but the banana business has never recaptured its former prosperity. Nor has Port Antonio.

The next swashbuckler to fall in love with the place was movie star Errol Flynn who sailed into the harbour one day on his yacht the Zacca. Flynn acquired a lot of real estate. Navy Island, the Titchfield Hotel, and several cattle and coconut estates including Boston (once owned by Captain Dow Baker). Flynn's plans to develop tourism to build a hotel at Folly and a ranch resort at Comfort Castle never materialized. While still in the throes of these plans he died suddenly. He had expressed a wish to be buried in Jamaica, but his widow decided otherwise.

During the 1960s Port Antonio became the mecca of the jet- set. Billionaire Garfield Weston (whose empire included Fortnum and Mason in London) built a sumptuous hotel, rumoured to be the most expensive in the world at FRENCHMAN'S COVE. It comprised a number of luxurious houses shrouded by discreet shrubbery and scattered over the headlands on both sides of the river, beach, and bay. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and rince Sadruddin Khan headed the celebrity clientele. Today, the hotel, owned by his Grainger Weston son, is losed and the villas are slowly falling apart but the beach is open to the public for a fee. Its sheltered bay, golden sand, warm ocean, crystal stream and luxuriant vegetation make it well worth a visit.
Bordered by tropical rainforest and set in lush gardens the central building and villas overlook a private cove with whitesand beach and streams. Watersports include a scuba school offering resort courses. Swimming pool, restaurant and bar are all at beach level. This highly photogenic setting provided locations for feature films like Cocktail, Club Paradise and Treasure Island. Tourist have access to the rain-forest, the cave and the tiny luminous lagoon east of the beach.

NAVY ISLAND MARINA RESORT In the eighteenth century this 64 acre island was a base for the British Royal Navy. More recently it was bought by movie star Errol Flynn (author of an autobiography called My wicked wicked ways). The island (except for a tiny portion of public beach) was recently acquired by Jamaican billionaire Donald Panton. The resort, comprising 3 beaches (one clothes optional), marina, villas and clubhouse has been refurbished. An added embellishment is an open-air Seafarers chapel especially for weddings. The decor and staff uniforms in the restaurant and Bounty Bar are nautical, the food is reputedly good and the Errol Flynn connection is still featured. Reports that the island was slated to be Jamaica's first casino have so far proved false, or premature. Transportation is by ferry from the Navy Island base on West St. in town.

The houses on Titchfield peninsular, some quaint, some elegant, many built of wood and decorated with gingerbread fretwork and most of them in sad disrepair are relics of the town's heyday.

DE MONTEVIN LODGE on Titchfield Street is an ornate Victorian mansion built by a former Custos of Portland, Hon. David Gideon who helped to establish the United Fruit Co. in Jamaica.

SHADOWS, a new Night Club/Restaurant/Motel on West St. is reputed to serve good food, entertainment and action.