The square at the heart of Spanish Town — variously called Emancipation Square or simply the Parade — is one of the finest examples of Georgian urban design in the Americas. Laid out in the 18th century when Spanish Town was Jamaica's thriving colonial capital, it is framed on all four sides by significant buildings: the Court House (1819), the ruined King's House, the former House of Assembly (now part of the Jamaica Archives complex), and the Rodney Memorial.
The square is quieter than it once was, and the buildings around it show their age. But standing in the middle on a weekday morning, with the Georgian facades intact and pigeons on the memorial, you get a clearer sense of the old colonial capital than almost anything in Kingston. The contrast between the architectural ambition of the 18th century and the present-day working-class city around it is stark and worth thinking about.