Milk River Spa

The Milk River Bath/Spa lies at the foot of Round Hill in Vere, Clarendon. The bath is currently operated by the Government of Jamaica. It was declared a national heritage site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust on the 13th of September 2009.

The story of the discovery of Milk River Bath is somewhat still unclear. The most popular story however is that a slave belonging to a man called Mr. Jonathan Ludford ran away from the plantation after being brutally beaten and stumbled upon the bath in the hills. After bathing in the warm salty water several times, the slave is healed of all his bruises and wounds and returns to the plantation days afterwards much to the surprise of slaves and master alike.

He was coaxed into taking Mr. Ludford to the spring and his awe filled master fenced the spring and put the slave there to guard it. Upon his death in 1791, all the properties of Mr. Jonathan Ludford passed into the hands of the Government of Jamaica. The Justice of Vere reportedly worked towards developing the spring and it has been opened to the public since 1794.

Milk River Spa is said to have more radio activity and healing properties than any other bath in the world. As a matter of a fact, it is:

• 9 times as active as Bath, England
• 50 times as active as Vichy, France
• 3 times as active as Karlsbad, Austria
• 54 times as active as Baden, Switzerland

The water of the spa does not come from the river but from a saline mineral spring which runs from the rocks issuing from Round Hill.