Moon Author's Review
The stretch of coast around Bluefields has a rich history. One of the three earliest Spanish settlements, named Oristan, which was initially based in Parottee, St. Elizabeth, and later moved to present-day Bluefields. Oristan was connected by road to Sevilla la Nueva, the Spanish capital just west of present-day St. Ann's Bay, as well as to Santiago de la Vega, in present-day Spanish Town. The area was favored by the Spanish under early colonial rule, and later, the pirate Henry Morgan departed from Bluefields Bay to sack Panama in 1670. Still later, it was the spot Captain Bligh landed after finally successfully completing his charge of bringing breadfruit to the island from Tahiti. What is said to be the original breadfruit tree in Jamaica was taken down by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and sits in a pile of cut-up pieces on one side of the lawn at Bluefields Great House. Pimento, or allspice as it's known in many places, was an important cash crop in the area, at some point having been replaced by marijuana in importance for the local economy.
