Negril City Map Poster

About Negril

The name "Negril" is derived from the Spanish word negro (black), referring to the dark-colored rocks in the area. The Negril area was first settled by Europeans in 1670, when a group of settlers led by Captain James Hill established a plantation on what is now called Haulover Beach. In 1845, this settlement was abandoned and residents moved inland to establish Savanna-la-Mar. In 1872, John Clifton built one of Jamaica's earliest all inclusive resorts at what would become known as Clifton Bay Hotel (now Cliff's Amusement Park). This hotel had its own private beach and dock for yachtsmen traveling across Kingston Harbour from Port Royal or Montego Bay; it also offered horseback riding along Negril Point Road into Westmoreland Parish where there were many sugar plantations including that owned by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton who later became Baronet Buxton of Alsa Hall in Essex England .