The most incredible experience I had while being a Local Guide is adding places of historical value that were previously neglected or unknown to the public. One of the places described below was found because of my passion for history, while the other one - by pure accident, while playing a computer game!
My name is Irina and I’d love to share these two stories with you.
Tacky Falls: Let me start with Tacky Falls first. Back in 2016 while studying Jamaican history I learnt about one of the most significant fights for freedom in the Caribbean, which happened in 1760 and known as Tacky’s War. A person named Tacky and his men were using a cave by big waterfalls in Jamaica to hide and plan their rebellion. Later the waterfalls were named Tacky Falls to commemorate this historical event.
Despite the heritage value and the beauty of the waterfalls, hardly any people knew about them in Jamaica, namely because they are hidden deep in the rainforest in the middle of nowhere. I spent almost a week doing the research to identify the approximate area and finding a person, who visited the falls at some point. We hiked small trails and climbed steep hills in dense forest for over an hour before we found the waterfalls.
All the research and effort paid off and it was an incredible rediscovery! I added Tacky Falls to Google Maps in 2016 and now adventurers can see their exact location. These falls are still not easy to find, but I’m so glad to see that other people made it there. My first two photographs of Tacky Falls were viewed over 70,000 times.
Edinburgh Castle: I’ve added this historical landmark to Google Maps only recently and I still can’t believe it hadn’t been added earlier! It all began with a computer game (Assassin’s Creed Black Flag), where there was a scene with main character visiting the so-called Mad Doctor’s Castle in Jamaica. At that time I had lived and travelled in Jamaica for several years and assumed I knew all archaeological sites and historical landmarks. Well, I was wrong!
I began the research trying to find the castle that the game was referring to and to my big surprise in one of the archives I found an article written in 2002 “The Mad Master of Edinburgh Castle”.
Along with the fact that the castle was real, it turned out that the story of the first Jamaican serial killer Lewis Hutchinson wasn’t fiction either! No wonder, I decided to go and find the castle or whatever remained. At that time Google Maps kept sending me to Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, but nothing was there for Jamaica with this name. This made me want to go and find it even more!
From the article I knew it was in Pedro District in St.Ann, Jamaica, but it took us three trips before we managed to find the Castle. As we were returning home thinking third trip was also unsuccessful, my husband suddenly noticed some ruins sitting on top of the hill! It was rather close to the road, but because of the trees, we kept missing it! I must say, the two towers and the historical ruins nearby were much more than I expected and it was just that amazing feeling of discovery that made me come back there again.
On our 4th trip I dressed up to take some video footage of the place. I’ve added Edinburgh Castle in Jamaica to Google Maps and now people can find its exact location and learn more about Caribbean History.
As a Local Guide in Jamaica, I always encourage people to leave their resorts and travel off-the-beaten-path, because this is the only way to get that feeling of new discovery and adventure.
All of this is now possible only because of Google Maps and Local Guides who invest their time to add places and keep information up to date. I would like to thank all the Local Guides for making such a great impact on our lives and I’m so proud to be a part of this community!