Located deep in the hills of Jamaica lies a village that's over 260 years old, Accompong Village. The village is a historical maroon village that was founded in 1739 after the Maroons signed a peace treaty with the British. Today the inhabitants of Accompong share practices and a culture similar to their African culture originating 200-300 years ago.
(The village has about 500 residents)
But what makes Accompong unique is the fact that it's a semi-independent village where you'll find no taxes, no police and hardly any crime. It is located in one of the two areas where runaway slaves settled, originally with the Tainos, isolated enough to be safe first from the Spanish and then later from the British. The town of Accompong was named after the Maroon leader Accompong.
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Getting there is somewhat of a task, you'll want to hire a local driver or cab to lift you there. You can find cabs that'll cost you about $70 for the day. Times to Accompong run 2 hours from Montego Bay. 2.5 hours from Negril and about 2.5 hours from Ocho Rios.
(residents hanging out in Accompong Village)
If you really wanna dive into the maroon experience you could book a room at Colonel Robbie’s guesthouse in town. I can't find much on the place (no web site) but I think you can book a room from around $30 for one night. You can try to reach them @ 876-337-0326. If you arrive in January you can experience their annual Independence Festival which draws thousands of past and present Maroon descendants and visitors from around the world.
BONUS LINK: Accompong Review.
BONUS LINK: Accompong Review.
Jamaica is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been, between the hills and the beaches I'm not sure that too many places can rival it.
ReplyDeleteChad, your map is off a little bit. It's pointing to Maroon Town which is Northwest of Accompong. Also, there are a few places in the area that rent rooms (no real formal hotels/motels/Holiday Inn's) but good luck finding them on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try and update my map, it was hard to pinpoint it down.
ReplyDelete