Morant Point, located in the parish of St. Thomas, is Jamaica’s easternmost point, and marked by the oldest lighthouse on the island. Morant Point Lighthouse was built in 1841 by Kru men, a West African ethnic group indigenous to Ivory Coast and Liberia, who were never enslaved and renown for their exceptional maritime skills and seafaring. This national monument was the first cast iron lighthouse built in the Western Hemisphere, and still works to this day by flashing three white bursts of light every 20 seconds, serving as a useful navigational aid for vessels approaching from the Atlantic or rounding Jamaica’s southeastern coast. The road to the Morant Point Lighthouse is rough but well worth the effort. With that said, here’s how to find the Morant Point Lighthouse and how this unusual adventure went.
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Where is the Morant Point Lighthouse Located?
The Morant Point Lighthouse is located at Morant Point, St. Thomas, Jamaica’s easternmost tip. Morant Point is quite remote, located 32 kilometers away from Morant Bay, the capital of this largely rural parish. The road is mostly good up to the community of Golden Grove, home to the St. Thomas Technical High School. After that, the road deteriorates to a dirt track, stretching on endlessly past the dilapidated Golden Grove Sugar Factory, sugarcane fields and pastures with hundreds of cows. That being said, it was evident that the road is well utilized as it was hardly overgrown, and most areas had marl which meant little chance of getting stuck in mud. As such, we navigated the road with a 2WD crossover SUV. A 4×4 is not required. Overall drive time from Kingston was a little over 2 hours.
Exploring the Lighthouse
The Morant Point Lighthouse consists of a 30 m (100 ft) cast iron tower with a diameter of 5 m (18 ft) at the base and 3 m (11 ft) at the cap with lantern and gallery, painted with orange and white horizontal bands. To protect against surf during hurricanes, a semicircular masonry wall was built around the seaward side of the base of the lighthouse. It is maintained by the Port Authority of Jamaica, an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Mining. Normally, one can climb the narrow staircase leading to the top but it was closed during my visit on a holiday weekend.
Despite the faded paint and a bit of garbage, similar to the state in which I found this other Jamaican lighthouse some years ago, the Morant Point Lighthouse and its surrounding coastline was quite majestic. This lighthouse’s unique location makes it the first place in Jamaica to welcome sunrise each morning, and the first place in Jamaica to herald it goodbye each evening. We couldn’t help but wonder how many seafarers are still guided by this beacon in 2026. There’s evidence of what seems like an old keeper’s cottage and chapel by the lighthouse. After taking a quick look around, we eagerly retreated to civilization. On the long lonely road, we had only passed two other vehicles: a father-son duo who turned back before making it to the lighthouse out of caution, and some policemen who seemed surprised by our idea of adventure.
Wrap Up
Jamaica is home to eleven lighthouses, nine on the mainland and two offshore. These lighthouses are all operational, maintained by the Port Authority of Jamaica. Lighthouses are erected close to navigable waters in order to guide incoming sea and aircraft. I’m pleased to have visited six of these lighthouses, and while I’d love to see them all, I’m afraid some are too remote to entice even an avid adventurer like myself. That being said, the road to Gut River in Manchester, Jamaica still holds the record for most remote road I’ve ever traveled, and I hope that record isn’t broken anytime soon. So, have you ever been to the Morant Point Lighthouse or would you like to visit? Sound off in the comments section below. ‘Til next time.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:
- Galina Lighthouse in St. Mary
- Plumb Point Lighthouse in Kingston
- Folly Ruins & Lighthouse in Portland
- Lovers’ Leap & Lighthouse in St. Elizabeth
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