Port Maria

Port Maria is the capital town of the parish of Saint Mary Parish, located on Jamaica’s northeastern coast along the Caribbean Sea. The town developed around a natural harbour that made it an important colonial port and administrative centre for the surrounding agricultural district.

Originally known during the Spanish period as Puerto Santa Maria, the settlement was established in the early sixteenth century after the arrival of the Spanish in Jamaica. Following the English capture of the island in the Invasion of Jamaica (1655), the town became known as Port Maria and evolved into a parish capital and trading port. Its harbour facilitated the export of agricultural goods such as sugar, bananas, and pimento from estates across Saint Mary.

Port Maria grew around Fort Haldane, a small eighteenth-century fortification constructed by the British to defend the harbour and the parish capital. The town later developed civic institutions including parish offices, courts, churches, and markets that served the wider rural population of Saint Mary.

Today, Port Maria functions primarily as an administrative and commercial centre for the parish, with historic sites, coastal scenery, and nearby attractions such as Firefly Estate, once the hilltop home of playwright Noël Coward, overlooking the town and harbour.