Old Jewish Cemetery, Hunts Bay

The historic Jewish Cemetery at 1 Hunt’s Bay in St. Andrew is an important landmark in the history of Jamaica, as it is the oldest denominational cemetery on the island and is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the Western Hemisphere.

It was founded by the Jews of Port Royal in the latter part of the seventeenth century when a Jewish community flourished there. Port Royal was an impressive commercial center, and Jews who arrived there assumed prominent roles in its activities, excelling in the trade of gold and silver as well as currency exchange.

Those buried in the cemetery were brought by rowing boats from Port Royal. It appears that no bodies were taken to Hunt’s Bay cemetery after the eighteenth century since the latest tomb, that of Moses Ferro, bears the date 1771. In 1938, the cemetery was re-consecrated by Rabbi Silverman, a spiritual leader of the Jewish community, and on that occasion Sir Edward Denham, then Governor of Jamaica, spoke of the need for the preservation of the ancient landmarks of the colony of which Hunt’s Bay was one. Today the cemetery has fallen into disrepair. Many of the old tombs have trilingual inscriptions: sentences in Portuguese, Hebrew and English.

The oldest tomb is believed to be that of Abraham Gabay, who died 6 NISAN 5432 (6th April 1672).

Other tombs dating from the seventeenth century are those of Isaac Narbaes 1686, Esther Baruh 1689, and Rachel de Castro 1696. Many of the tombs have a rose and hourglass chiseled on the stone, symbolic of life’s fleeting transience. Others display a tree being cut down by a hand bearing an axe, while others display a skull with crossbones.

The old Jewish cemetery was declared a national monument by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust on July 15, 1993.