Everyone loves a Great House with a cool history behind it. Unfortunately it’s nearly impossible to find information on this one since it closed to the public within the last two years, and since closing it appears its website has been taken down. Not even the Jamaica Tourist Board website has any worthwhile information.
Ashton Great House is located in the middle of the gorgeous countryside between Black River and Luana in St Elizabeth. It used to be a guest house as well as a 200 year old historical icon in the area. I had been driving by the road leading up to this place for weeks and one day finally decided to drive in and explore even though I knew from previous Googling that it was closed up and no longer operational. I was in Jamaica with another Canadian friend and we couldn’t resist the temptation to see what it looked like in real life.
Ashton Great House wasn’t hard to find because of that sign in the photo above which sits on the main road. Turning up the country road was gorgeous! Nothing but rolling farm hills surrounded the area, complete with lots of goats and cows. As we approached the Great House there was a large parking area so we pulled up close to the gate and parked. I was a little surprised to see the front gate wide open and I think we half expected someone to be lingering around the property somewhere but it was completely deserted. Very eerie.
As we walked through the gate and started wandering around the huge property, the whole time I really did expect to run into someone…..anyone….possibly a caretaker? But there was nobody in sight. And to be completely honest I’m not sure I would have gone as deep into this property as I went if my friend wasn’t with me lol.
The first thing we noticed aside from the creepy silence of this old place was the breathtaking views. You can see the Santa Cruz mountains to the east and the Appleton plains to the west, a whole lot of green farm land, and waaaaaay off in the distance there’s a glimpse of the Caribbean Sea. The beauty is stunning and so peaceful.
We continued to walk around and this place looks like it would have been quite the spectacle in its time! We could clearly see what used to be guest rooms by the numbers on each door and believe me, we tried every single door knob to see if we could possibly peek into one of the rooms. But all were locked. I have found out by Googling that there are 22 guest rooms here.
I can imagine that when there used to be guests here it was quite the place but with no one here at all, the vibe is pretty eerie and silent. The pool area is beautiful with a poolside bar that looks like it used to be a sweet spot to hang out. It’s kind of sad that nothing happens here anymore.
Walking deeper into the property we found steep outdoor staircases leading to lower areas and rooms, we could peek through locked doors and windows and see large commercial kitchen areas, a huge stage area and all kinds of neat treasures. I seriously WISH we could have gotten inside even a couple doors in this place to see what the insides looks like.
I’ve been searching the net for more historical information about Ashton Great House for a while now but can’t find anything. If your Googling skills are better than mine I’d LOVE to see what you’ve found! Or if you’re a local from the area and you happen to know anything about the history of this place it would be awesome if you could fill in some of the blanks for us in the comments below!
As for my unofficial tour of Ashton Great House, all I have are the pictures I’ve posted.