Free Villages in Jamaica

Free Villages were townships established in Jamaica in the wake of full freedom from slavery and apprenticeship in 1838.

Missionaries from the Baptist, Moravian, Presbyterian and Methodist denominations were highly instrumental in the formation of Jamaica’s Free Villages as they bought land and sold small lots to their congregation.

Some places in Jamaica that were initially Free Villages are:

• Hanover
• Sandy Bay & Mount Herob
• Manchester
• Maidstone/Nazreth & Vale Lionel renamed Porus
• Ann
• Buxton
• Harmony
• Catherine
• Sligoville & Kitson Town
• James
• Goodwill, Bethel Town, & Maldon
• Trelawny
• Kettering, Albert Town & Time and Patience