Devon House. The name that conjures up long walks on beautifully maintained green grass , through lush gardens and along brick and stone pathways armed with an ice cream cone in hand. Growing up, Sundays evenings were synonymous with either a visit to the grounds or enjoying Devon House ice cream at home.

The park definitely has more to offer the 4th ranked best worldwide ice cream and even much more than the wide variety of eateries, bakeries and gift shops that reside on site.

Devon House offers a rather insightful and informative tour of their 139 year old mansion built and owned by Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel. With well preserved rooms and furniture and well documented information, the tour guide will take you on a journey that teaches you not only about the comings and goings inside the great house and around the property, but how they were tied to the development of Jamaica.

Built with the Georgian architecture archetype, Devon House once known as Devon Penn, used to house a race track to the south of the property. Other tidbits of info include the fact that Devon Penn was all of 10,000 acres when purchased in 1881, the house was once a gallery when it was owned by the government (still houses artwork on loan by the National Gallery of Jamaica) and a lot of the furniture still in the house are the original pieces, built using either mahogany (which there was a lot of around the estate), or Jatoba from Brazil. There are original tiles and floorings from construction in 1881 and a lot of the artifacts on display were the original ones used by the Stiebel family while they lived there.

The house was inhabited by several families from the time of the Stiebels, including the Melhados and the Lindos but it was former Prime Minister, the late Edward Seaga that saved the house from being demolished (like what happened over at Abbey Court across the street) by encouraging the government in power at the time to purchase it and establish it as a national monument by the National Heritage Trust in 1990.

That’s all the info I’ll drop, and there is a WHOLE lots more to learn on the tour, so when you get the chance, visit their page and book your adventure through the history of one of Jamaica’s most loved heritage sites!

In the meantime, here are some of the sights you will see on your visit:

I do hope you’ve enjoyed the sneak peak into the adventure that awaits you at Devon House! And I hope you are excited to go see it for yourself! If you have been already, drop your experience in the comments below and if you haven’t and have any questions, also drop them in the comments! Let’s talk!

Your adventure awaits!