Holland Bamboo (Bamboo Avenue)

The two and a half miles of Bamboo on the main road between Lacovia and Middle Quarters in St. Elizabeth is said to have been planted by the owners of the Holland Sugar Estate as windbreaks (Senior 2003:231). Holland Estate was established around the end of the 18th century. In the post-emancipation period, Holland Estate, one of the smallest central factories, belonged to John Gladstone (1764-1851), the innovative merchant planter and father of British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1808-98). Gladstone made a fortune from trade with the West Indies, America and India. In the early 19th century, Gladstone began to acquire sugarcane estates. His interest was primarily in British Guiana, and he took over Jamaican estates reluctantly, and only at the end of the 1820s. By 1848, he retained only Holland and Lacovia Estates. The sugar factory was closed in 1982, and the estate now belongs to J. Wray and Nephew, who cultivate cane there.
Worldwide, there are over 1000 species of bamboo. The variety planted in Bamboo Avenue is the Bambusa Vulgaris species, which is the largest variety introduced in Jamaica. The Avenue was ravaged by Hurricane Ivan, which led to extensive thinning of the canopy. Added to this, the grazing of cattle and the harvesting of bamboo by residents in the area have depleted the Avenue. In 2006, the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Tourism Product Development Company and the Ministry of Agriculture embarked on a project to resuscitate Bamboo Avenue. It involved the cleaning of the roots of existing shoots and the replanting of plant stocks to fill the gap. TPDCo. has also refurbished the rest stop concession there.
Holland Bamboo was declared a national monument by the Jamaica National Trust Commission. However, it was subsequently determined that the list of national monuments existing under the Jamaica National Trust Commission cannot automatically be regarded as declared under the JNHT Act, as they are two distinct entities. This is due to the absence of a savings clause in the JNHT Act, which would allow for a transition. As such, each previously gazetted site during the period of the Trust Commission has to be declared (or regularised) under the JNHT Act. Holland Bamboo is therefore a site which is to be regularised by the JNHT.
Under the JNHT Act, a site is declared a national monument if, in the opinion of the Trust, its preservation is a matter of public interest by reason of its historic, architectural, traditional, artistic, aesthetic, scientific or archaeological value.