Jeremi – Rais.cw

In the valley of Jeremi stands the Tree of Life: an impressive Palu di Sia Kòrá (Brazil-wood tree) that looks down from a dam on the extensive natural plain of Jeremi and the ruins of the former industrial complex Newtown.

Jeremi lies between Santa Cruz and Knip, near the village of Lagun. The name Jeremi (Djeremi) — probably of indigenous origin — appears for the first time on a map from 1825 as the "Baaij van Gerimi" (Bay of Gerimi). The word also means "God provides" and, according to the ethnologist Paul Brenneker, is used here as a corruption of Jérémie, a coastal town in Haiti.

Newtown

In the valley of Jeremi there are also the ruins of unique English structures of hewn stone that can otherwise only be seen at Newport (Nieuwpoort). There is a story behind that.

John Godden, an English mining engineer, had earned millions from phosphate exploitation on Klein Curaçao and afterwards on the Tafelberg (Table Mountain) near Fuikbaai, or Newport. When around 1880 promising manganese ores were found on the border of Lagun and Zevenbergen, he decided to go about it on a grand scale. He built an expensive mining complex consisting of four large buildings in the lower part of the valley, close to the Kaya Grandi di Lagun, and two factory buildings higher up in the valley.

Rocks were blown up with explosives to widen the entrance at the bay of Jeremi — the one at Lagun lay too far — so that ships could enter better for the export of manganese.

Manganese is used to improve the quality of steel and for various other chemical purposes. Manganese ore can be seen as a silvery sheen in iron-bearing rock, which is dark red in colour.

After a year, however, the work was stopped because there turned out not to be enough manganese for commercial extraction. Godden then had the valuable fittings of the factory buildings moved to Newport on the Fuikbaai. And the buildings in the lower part of the valley were later sold as part of the land.

Newton studies Newtown

The restoration architect Michael A. Newton studied the ruin complex and concluded that the buildings — in English (Cornish) style — have withstood the ravages of time and are rock-solid thanks to the high quality of the building materials used. In terms of architecture this building style occurs nowhere else on Curaçao except at Newport.

The exact purpose and functions of the buildings at Jeremy can unfortunately no longer be traced because the relevant archives have been destroyed. Newton believes the ruins must probably have been the main building, a kitchen and a living quarters for workers.

The main building is an elongated, rectangular two-storey building, with round arches on the ground floor, divided into three rooms. The unplastered walls, the red bricks in the door and window openings and the zigzag-shaped roof tiles that once lay on the roof refer to English influences.

On the side of one building the construction date, 1880, can be seen in an engraved gable stone together with the initials J. G. of John Godden.

Although the main building is called landhuis Jeremi in popular speech, it is thus definitely not a traditional plantation house as we know them on Curaçao, but an industrial building that was built not on a Dutch model but by the English.

Vanished beams

In 1980 the main building could still be rented from the then owner, Amador Maduro, as a camping centre for scouting and other youth organisations. According to residents, the decline of Newtown began with the start of sports activities in Lagun, 50 years ago. Wood was needed for the construction of the facilities and Maduro offered to use the beams from the roof of the main building of Newtown. Those beams — of high-quality timber — were taken off but never used for the facilities at Lagun.

Goat in the well

In contrast to the two other buildings, the middle building is not elongated: it is an almost square two-storey building, with on the ground floor a boiler room with a chimney and extra ventilation ducts. The third and easternmost building is elongated again, has no upper floor, but does have an exorbitantly large rain-tank structure that is almost as tall as a two-storey building. Goats that go missing from Lagun or Jeremi have often fallen into this well, where they can often survive for days on end thanks to the plant growth at the bottom.

To the left of the Newtown complex there is also a walk-in well, which contained fresh water.

Further on, close to the ruins of two factory buildings at the manganese mine, lies a dam made of mining rubble: six Palu di Sia Kòrá stand here, with in their midst an imposing specimen that nature lovers have renamed The Tree of Life.

Den Bahá

The part of Jeremi that lies east of the bay and the road from Jeremi to Kenepa is called "den Bahá" or "Bahá" because it lies in a valley. A natural well, Pos di Bahá — Well on the Slope — also lay here, once the property of the shon of Kenepa. Residents were only allowed to use it after his cows had been in the water.

Bahá, about 300 hectares in size, came, as part of Jeremi, later into the hands of the Maduro family.

In 1884 Godden rented the Maduro terrain on the condition that no Dividivi and Watapana trees could be felled and that the burning of charcoal would continue unhindered. And to this day it is the case that if valuable raw materials are found on the terrain, one third of the proceeds goes to the landowner.

A large part of the area, including the Newtown complex in the lower part of the valley, was bought in 1990 by the Stichting DOEN. The foundation also bought an even larger adjoining part of the plantation Kenepa. DOEN then transferred the property to Carmabi*, the manager of the nearby Christoffel Park, on condition that it would be added permanently to the nature park. The valley of Jeremi with the Newtown complex can therefore be regarded as an extension of the Christoffel Park.

The "treasure" of Jeremi

Godden had earned millions at Nieuwpoort, but the manganese ore beds at Lagun proved loss-making and the mine was closed. According to the official version Godden had the valuable fittings of the factory buildings transferred to Newport at Fuik.

But according to residents of Jeremi, after the closure in 1881 Godden had all the materials, tools and machines deposited in the mine galleries and sealed off the entrances with dynamite. Since then there has been a coming and going of local and international adventurers, sometimes equipped with the strangest apparatus, who are in search of this hidden "treasure", which would now be worth a fortune.

The Werkgroep Archeologie doubts the existence of this "treasure", however: the costly equipment could in fact still be sold in those days, and the mine was probably closed off in accordance with legal rules to prevent accidents.

Locations in Jeremi

Seru di Jeremi is a hill on the coast, in the north-west of Jeremi, 70 m high.
Broera (smallpox) is a place north of the Seru Djeremi.
Palu di lechi is a location west of the road from Jeremi to Kenepa, north-east of Seru Jeremi. It literally means Milk Tree; it is the rubber plant.
Porta di Ma Fibi is a place east of the road to Jeremi.

Sources

Michael A. Newton: Architectuur en bouwwijze Curaçaose landhuizen (Architecture and construction of Curaçao plantation houses).
Ministerie SOAW: Buurtprofiel Lagun
Werkgroep Archeologie: various reports
Paul Brenneker: Sambumbu, various editions

With thanks to: Elfried Koots, Morela de la Cruz, Nataly Jamanika, Eddy Baetens, Christel Monsanto, Jeroen Heuvel, François van der Hoeven and Unidat di Bario.