Two kilometers (1 1/4 miles) south from the center of Ocho Rios, at an elevation of 126m (420 ft.), this exuberantly landscaped park and museum were built on the grounds of a historic farm (the Shaw Park Plantation) that dates back to the earliest days of Britain's colonial age in Jamaica. Components of the site include a low-slung, small-scale compound of museum buildings, each with its own veranda and each facing a flagstone-covered courtyard. Exhibits feature a collection of artifacts from the Arawak, Spanish, and colonial English settlements in the area. In 2005, management upgraded a labyrinth of masonry paths, steps, and walkways that descend from the gardens into the tropical forest and hug the edges of a stream (the Millford River) that splashes down, in a series of rapids and waterfalls, from significant elevations above. There's even a wide spot in the stream that visitors can use as a "swimming hole" if they're so inclined. Overall, the site is conceived as a sedate, eco-sensitive, and charming alternative to the rowdier theme-centered venues that proliferate in Ocho Rios. As such, the compound is visited by church groups, school groups, and by older or more sedate cruise ship passengers, who appreciate this exposure to Jamaican flora, fauna, and natural beauty. The word coyaba comes from the Arawak name for paradise.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Jamaica, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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