A Day Trip to Abeokuta Paradise

Arrive by 11am and enjoy a rejuvinating swim in the natural mineral pool before taking the leisurely River Walk enjoyng the flora, bountiful fruit trees and wildlife. When you return you can chill waterside at the shack bar with a long cool drink or explore the gardens with the old plantation ruins and take in the breathtaking, spectacular views. Desmond the chef will be cooking you up a delicious lunch!

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Welcome to ABEOKUTA Paradise Nature Park

Our aim

We offer the perfect individual experience where you can relax in a completely beautiful and natural environment. Our service is personal, on hand but unobtrusive and our simple aim is that our guests thoroughly enjoy themselves.

For your enjoyment

● Experience a rejuvenating swim in our natural mineral water pool

● Enjoy a relaxing aqua pedicure

● Chill waterside at the Shack Bar with a long, cool drink

● Enjoy the leisurely River Tour walk

● Dine on a freshly prepared, delicious lunch from our Waterside Grill

● Stroll the beautiful gardens adorned with fauna and flora

● Marvel at the breath-taking views

Looks beautiful....where is it?

Hi Boogzy Approx 15 minutes from Sav La Mar. Take the Ferris Road and at Ferris Service Garage Take the Left which is the Road to Montego Bay. After about 5 mins you will come to a little bar called Celias and a car wash on the left. Take the Right turn which is a private Road and Abeokuta is on top of the hill. Regards Anny

Check out http://facebook.com/Abeokutajamaica

Abeokuta was formerly known as Dean's Valley Water Works Estate. The natural mineral pool which was built slaves is fed by a natural spring at the top of the hill which you wll see on the River Tour Walk. The water then swelled out of the olympic fool (the pool has a natural filter system) and runs down the hill which then powered the plantation. In later years an Ice Factory was built which served ice to the whole Island. This is no longer in operation but the ruins of the ice factory remain.

After slavery was abolished Indentured Servants arrived from Nigeria and renamed it after their hometown of Abeokuta in Nigeria. Abeokuta means 'Under the rock'. They brought with them there culture which remains today in the hills of Westmoreland.

Some older history:-
The History of Dean’s Valley Water Works Estate

Dean's Valley Estate was originally a Sugar Plantation founded in 1671 by Rowland Williams, one of three Williams brothers from Glamorganshire, Wales who came to Jamaica in 1670 and received Royal Land Grants from King Charles II. The other two Williams brothers, William Williams and Lewis Williams, also founded two other neighbouring plantations in Westmoreland, Carawina Estate and Anglesea Pen. Dean's Valley Estate was itself later divided into two separate Sugar Plantations, Dean's Valley Water Works Estate. where the Sugar Mill was turned by Water, and Dean's Valley Dry Works Estate, where the Sugar Mill was turned by Cattle. However having similar names still caused endless confusion and so Dean's Valley Dry Works Estate was eventually renamed Galloway Estate and by the end of the 19th Century Dean's Valley Water Works Estate was often referred to simply as Water Works Estate.

In the 1760s Dean's Valley Water Works Estate passed out of the Williams family, possibly by descent, into the possession of the Hon. William Blake (1741-1797), a young Sugar Planter who was to become an important figure in 18th Century Jamaica. Blake was elected as a Member of Assembly for St. James in the House of Assembly of Jamaica from 1770 to 1787 and later as a Member of Assembly for Westmoreland from 1787 to 1797. He also went on to become Speaker of the House of assembly of Jamaica from 1793 to 1797, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica, Lt-Colonel of the St. James Regiment of Militia and eventually Provincial Grand Master of the Freemasons of Jamaica in 1796.

However despite his impressive political career, Blake was not very shrewd when it came to business and finance and he became deeply mired in Debt. In 1770 he was forced to mortgage the 1,400 acre Dean's Valley Waterworks Estate, including its Slaves and Cattle, to his brother-in-law, the Hon. Simon Taylor, who owned the Good Hope Estates in Trelawny. When Blake died in 1797, after his horse threw him while he was reviewing the St. James Regiment of Militia at a Military Parade in Montego Bay, it was due to this mortgage that the Dean's Valley Waterworks Estate passed entirely into the possession of the Hon. John Tharp.

The Hon. John Tharp (1744-1804) of the Good Hope Estates in Trelawny, was one of the richest Sugar Planters in 18th Century Jamaica owning 11 Plantations and over 2,800 Slaves. In 1787 he sent his eldest son, Joseph Tharp (1766-1795), newly returned to Jamaica from England, to manage Dean's Valley Water Works Estate, hoping that he would learn all about Plantation Management before inheriting the vast Tharp family Sugar Plantations in Jamaica. he could not have made a worse choice. Joseph had been sent to school in England and had been educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge University, before making the Grand Tour of France, Germany, Austria and Italy. He had just been appointed as a Captain in the 1st Life Guards, the very fashionable Regiment of the Household Cavalry which guarded the Royal Family, and was thoroughly enjoying the Social Life of a young English Aristocrat in 18th Century London High Society. The last thing he wanted to do was to give that up and return to Jamaica to live on a Sugar Plantation in the back country.

Joseph Tharp arrived rather unwillingly at Dean's Valley Water Works Estate in 1787 and almost immediately his Father, the Hon. John Tharp, started receiving bad reports about his conduct there. Apparently a resentful Joseph had taken to drinking, gambling and wenching with quite a vengeance. "I do not hear good account of him", the Hon. John Tharp wrote to a friend and neighbour of Joseph in Westmoreland, "It is said he tipples with low company and leaves his bed hot with the perfumes of Arabia. If this be true you should try and correct such a disgraceful and most abominable practice". Within a year Joseph was fired and packed off back to England, where a socially advantageous marriage was arranged for him with Lady Susan Murray, the daughter of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, the a Scottish nobleman who was the last British Governor of Virginia and who had become British Governor of the Bahamas.

Dean's Valley Water Works Estate remained in the possession of the Tharp family until the Emancipation of the Slaves in Jamaica in 1838. By 1810 the plantation had increased in size to 2,200 acres and had 233 Slaves and 215 Head of Cattle. The Tharp family had become Absentee Proprietors living in Britain and the plantation was managed for them by a succession of Planting-Attorneys who would have occupied the old 18th Century Dean's Valley Great House during their visits. In January, 1832, the Trash House of the Sugar Works at Dean's Valley Water Works Estate was set on fire by the Rebels during the Slave Rebellion of 1831 to 1832 and a Troop of Horse Militia from Westmoreland was sent to occupy the plantation. The Rebel Slaves fled into the mountains behind the plantation after the arrival of the Militia, but later that night they sneaked back down to the plain and launched a surprise night attack on the sleeping cavalrymen at Dean's Valley. However their plan was thwarted by a slave named Robert from Petersfield Estate, who was on watch. He gave the alarm and prevented the Rebels from maiming and killing the horses of the Militia that he was guarding. For this act of loyalty, the slave Robert was later awarded the sum of 10 Pounds, 13 Shillings and Four Pence, voted by grateful order of the House of Assembly of Jamaica.

Following the Abolition of Slavery in Jamaica in 1838, the 2,200 acre Dean's Valley Water Works Estate was sold in 1839 to John Haughton James III (1798-1887), who had been Planting-Attorney to the Tharp family for Dean's Valley. He also owned Roaring River Estate in St. Ann and was Planting-Attorney for a great many other plantations in Jamaica. He owned Dean's valley Water Works Estate until the 1860s, when he sold it to his friend the Hon. Raynes Waite Smith, a prominent Planter and Politician in Victorian Jamaica, who was a Member of the Privy and Legislative Councils. He also owned Breadnut Valley Estate in St. Elizabeth. He died in 1874 and Dean's Valley Estate, which had abandoned Sugar cultivation and turned to raising Cattle instead , was sold by his Heirs about 1890 to a Mr. A. B. Jonas, a local Merchant and Pen keeper. Under his ownership the name of the plantation was shortened from Dean's Valley Water Works Estate to just Water Works Estate. Jonas was still the owner in 1910, but by the 1930s the plantation was owned by the DePass family. In the 1940s the plantation was sold to the West Indies Sugar Company (WISCO), a subsidiary of Tate and Lyle Ltd., the British multinational sugar corporation based in London, and the 18th Century Dean's Valley Great House on the hill above the waterfall and overlooking the old Sugar Works was occupied by a succession of WISCO Estate Managers. In the 1950s part of the 18th Century Sugar Works was converted into a small Ice factory. The ruins of the 18th Century Great House and part of the 18th Century Sugar Works, including a huge 300 year old stone Water Tank and Conduit, are now all part of the attractive 13 acre Abeokuta Nature Park, whose picturesque waterfalls and lush landscaped gardens are now open to the Public. The Park has now become a popular Eco-Tourism destination in Jamaica and also a fine example of Historic Preservation.

Collection: University of the West Indies Library, Mona Campus, Kingston