Like Matilda’s Corner and Red Gal Ring, Mary Brown’s Corner remains shrouded in mystery. While bustling Constant Spring Road leads travellers to this well-known intersection, the identity of Mary Brown herself is unknown. Was she a real person, a legend, or something more ghostly — perhaps a duppy, as some might wonder? Despite the lively shops, homes, and gardens that now line the area, her story remains untold, leaving us to speculate about the origins of yet another curious Jamaican landmark.

Published Thursday, February 21, 1974

Jamaica places: Mary Brown’s Corner

By Alex D. Hawkes

Some time ago, we discussed Matilda’s Corner, and later on, Red Gal Ring. Now we come to Mary Brown’s Corner. No one seemed to have known who Matilda might have been, there were several conflicting ideas regarding the origin of Red Gal Ring, and relatively recent comments in The Daily Gleaner would lead us to believe that Mary Brown was also a person of mystery. I wonder if the trio were all duppies or otherwise related?

Mary Brown’s habitat is reached by travelling up the bustling Constant Spring Road, upon which traffic restrictions and governmental pleas for car pools and the like seem to have absolutely no effect. The road leads to the intersection with Mannings Hill Road, seen extending straight ahead in my photograph. One school lies off to the left in Constant Spring Gardens on the way up, for the main road constantly and gradually ascends towards the peril of Long Lane and on to Stony Hill. Lined up one after the other, as if in tandem, are a neat shop selling handsome plants and flowers and the thriving Texaco station, where on happy occasions, one can acquire a modicum of precious gasoline.

On Mannings Hill Road, one can see a towering yoke tree, with its pretty blooms and long, string-bean-like pods, and in the neighbourhood are several nice homes with well-tended gardens. I was pleased the other day to note that several of these have, at the behest of the Prime Minister, added small door and vegetable gardens. These are in addition to the food trees that have always been there as well as some prized ornamental shrubs and pretty flowers.

With the prices being asked by the vendors up the way at the Constant Spring Market, I feel certain that this homegrown produce is much welcomed, both at the table and for the stretched budget.

So we have Mary Brown’s Corner, and perhaps some thoughtful person will, in due time, enlighten all of us as to her identity.

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