Travel Guide Savanna-La-Mar

The capital of Westmoreland parish, colloquially known as Sav' or Sav-La-Mar, was established in 1730 and is one of the oldest established cities in Jamaica. Severely affected by cyclones in 1748, 1780, 1912 and 1948, and more recently in 1988 by Gilbert (of sinister memory), it has often been wiped off the map. During the first cyclone, reports indicate that boats were found in the trees; in 1912, the Scooner Latonia was found in the middle of Great George Street. This former sugar port, at the mouth of the Cabarita River, still has some modest old buildings that bear witness to its history and will hold the attention of old stone stakhanovists. Sav' is today a provincial town, constantly rebuilt, active and without much charm, which has very few assets to seduce the visitor. In front of the courthouse, the parish church built in 1905 is only a reproduction of the original structure dating from 1739, swept away by a cyclone in 1780. The surrounding wall of an old provincial fort still stands. This modest fort was never completed and was damaged by a cyclone that swallowed a third of the building into the sea