THE HISTORY OF PLUM MITAN

​Author : Historian Angelo Bissessarsingh ( HMG)

Did you know that Plum Mitan Village on the east coast of Trinidad owes its name to a plantation that existed in the area in the 19th century?Some argue about the prevalence of plum trees in the area being the origin of the name, but this is yet to be proven. Archaeological evidence suggests that as early as 650 AD the vicinity was populated by Kalinago-esque peoples who left their remains scattered throughout the hillsides which comprise the main settlement. This part of Trinidad was largely forested (and heavily) for much of the 19th century. An odd group of settlers came to the area in 1816. They were black soldiers who had fought for the British in the War of 1812. Former slaves who turned on their American masters, they were promised freedom and parcels of land. These veterans were given their due lands in isolated and forested areas to separate them from the slaves in Trinidad who might have taken their presence as an inspiration to struggle for freedom themselves. Several of these veterans were still alive in 1884 when Sir Louis De Verteuil wrote:
“The settlements of Cuare, Turure, and la Ceyba were formed, in the year 1816, of disbanded
soldiers from the first West India regiment. These settlements, or villages, ranged along the banks of the rivers bearing their respective names, and the soldiers were located thereon, with a grant of sixteen acres of land to each man. They were placed, to a certain extent, under the supervision of their serjeant, who was allowed a larger and more convenient dwelling, on condition of admitting travellers to a temporary lodging, when requested so to do. Some of the locations also bordered along the road leading to the eastern coast, with a view, it seems, to keep that line in good repair, as well as to place labour within the reach of the neighbouring proprietors of estates ; but the experiment proved a complete failure the King's men (as they called themselves) being too proud to become day-labourers. In the year 1849, after the passing of the Territorial Ordinance, the lands of these and other settlers were surveyed, and fifteen acres granted, free, to each settler or his descendants ; but the lands of Cuare, la Ceyba, and Turure being of the very worst description, the occupants will be soon compelled to give up their property particularly as the tax is levied on the land, irrespective of its quality. Cacao, a little coffee, and provisions are the only productions. The cacao plantations are along the rivers Oropuche and Matura, and the article is brought to Arima on mules. The Oropuche is a fine stream, but is not accessible to craft, in consequence of the heavy surf which breaks all along the Matura shore, and of the bar at its mouth : this river is also noted for the quantity of huillias, or water-boas, it contains.”
The village was one of those which sprang up in the wake of a massive spike in the price of cocoa in the 19th century which caused an economic boom. Many forested lands on the east coast were opened up to plantation activities and the town of Sangre Grande emerged as the market center. Hitherto, produce had to be transported to Arima as Sir Louis had noted. The boom was also due to land reforms introduced by governor Sir A.H Gordon in 1867 which allowed peasant proprietors to purchase crown lands at nominal rates thus creating a strong and independent farmer class. Many of these small proprietors were ex-indentured labourers from India who had served their five and ten year contracts on sugar plantations along the east coast such as in Mayaro and as far afield as Tacarigua. They used their meager savings along with bonus money (an incentive to settle in the island that was offered from 1866-80) to acquire five and ten acre parcels which they speedily transformed into cocoa estates. The area was also known for its extensive stands of mora trees and this valuable timber provided a living for many of these early Indo-peasants who culled the trees, sawed them and then sold the lumber in the booming construction industry. Much of this wood was lugged to the coast at Manzanilla and the mouth of the Lebranche River. From the 1850s onward, a weekly steamship service connected the remote coastal depots of the island to Port of Spain. This was vital for the communities like Plum Mitan that relied upon it for mails and goods because it was not until 1898 when the Trinidad Government Railway opened a spur-line to Sangre Grande, that a viable form of transport came into being. Even so, the road connecting Plum Mitan was very very bad indeed. It was dusty in the dry season and a sea of mud in the wet. L.O Innis, a venerable old Trinidadian , wrote about journeying from Port of Spain on foot to visit his father at Mayaro and somewhere in the forested area near Plum Mitan, allegedly seeing a hat lying in the path. Upon lifting the hat he was to discover a person underneath who had sunk into the mud. This story, though humorous, is a highlight of the challenges of rural communities in the period. There were no services to Plum Mitan except the establishment of a primary school by the Rev. Dr. Harvey Morton around 1904. Rev. Morton was the son of the Rev. John Morton who in 1868 founded the Presbyterian Church’s Canadian Mission to the Indians (CMI) which was the catalyst that signaled the removal of the Indian from the sphere of the cane -field to aspire to the highest ranks in the island. A bus service connected the village to Sangre Grande as early as 1912, being one of the earliest in the island. Several tradesmen in Sangre Grande plied delivery vans (horse-drawn) to the village before the cocoa market crashed in 1920 and thus Plum Mitan had daily consignments of fresh bread, ice and aerated water. There was at least one shop owned by a Chinese merchant. The collapse of the world cocoa market plunged the village into some hardship which saw the waning of the plantations and a turn to mixed cropping among the peasants. One of the quirky and colourful characters of the period was planter G.A Farrell who owned El Recuerdo Estate which was the largest single plantation in the district. Farrell was something of a genius and in addition to experimenting with agricultural science, also built (and wrecked) what must have been the first aeroplane in Trinidad as was described in 1910:
“The roads are fairly graded and were surmounted without difficulty, and at the bottom of the long descent from these hills, lay El Recuerdo, about 2 miles from Manzanilla beach, my resting place for the night. The house is prettily situated on a ridge, nearly 100 ft. above the level of the King's Highway, which has been carefully leveled, round edged, and terraced. The " coupd'oeil" that presented itself at dawn next morning when I went outside the house, was truly picturesque. Each terrace was lined with a wealth of plants of all kinds, palms, crotons, colei, canna, dracenas, roses, begonias, all too numerous to recapitulate, and G. A. F. assured me that they had all been originally planted from slips just placed in the ground, and not from rooted cuttings, proof positive of the generous nature of the soil. Westward of the house, a lawn had been laid out and planted with grass, and contiguous to this plot is a small hill, on a rise of about 50 ft. from the house, known as Mt. Beverley, on which the proprietor intends to build a chalet, where he can pass a week-end far from the madding crowd, and a delightful spot it is. Right above the lofty tree-tops come with an uninterrupted rush, the cool winds of the eastern sea, bringing fresh life from across the Atlantic ; looking towards the North, the opposite slopes are one mass of the flame-coloured Immortel (Erythrina umbrosa), while immediately beneath are the engine room, drying houses, and barracks of the plantation. On the South, one looks down into rich dells with a perfect kaleidoscopic arrangement of the glossy green cacao leaves interspersed with the pods of many hues ; while on the West, Brigand Hill, about which gruesome tales are retailed in the quarter about the days of the old buccaneers, especially the renowned Blackbeard who is supposed to have opened many a dead man's chest and bottles of mm in the Caves of Brigand Hill. Further off in the blue-grey Mt. Harris forms an appropriate background. But the "piece de resistance" of the picture is a large Pois doux (Inga), which has been entirely monopolized by the cat's claw vine now in flower, and covering the tree with a veritable shower of gold. Nor is bird life wanting. Jacamars with their greeny-gold breasts flit from bough to bough, brilliant humming birds in all hues from flower to flower, the ubiquitous shrike or "qu'est ce qu'il dit", of course, is omnipresent, whilst overhead flocks of green parroquets and blue and yellow macaws fly past chattering and screeching. G. A .F. having ventilated his political opinions and finished with wine and wassail, returned from Port of Spain by first train, and we made arrangements to go at once to Nariva and Mayaro. I must here side-track a moment to narrate a rather amusing incident that occurred on his return. I have previously mentioned G. A. F.'s retainer, Harris, who in a humble way reminded me of his illustrious prototype, the Harris of Mark Twain in " The Tramp Abroad." Those who have read that book may remember that America's champion jokist always insisted on Harris experimenting in the first place on every new enterprise or undertaking. So it is with mine host and his Harris. G. A. F. happens to be a very ingenious mechanic, and has with infinite care and labour built him an aeroplane. The machine had just been finished, and lay on the terrace before the house ready for trial. G. A. F., being a very large and heavy man, thought that it would be better to have the trial trip conducted by a light weight,and called Harris for that purpose. Having shown him how to handle the lever and explained the steering gear, he ordered him to get into the aeroplane and try to clear the curing house, about 50 ft. below the house terrace, and drop lightly, if possible on the high road, another fall of about 30ft. Poor Harris jibbed, so G. A. F. , who stands about 6 ft. 2 in. in his socks, made a dive for him with a hand like that of Providence, and sad to say, Harris "took bush."
Plum Mitan’s strong agricultural base took a hit during Word War II when in 1941 the American Army constructed the Wallerfield Airbase in Cumuto. This employed hundreds of local workers, many of whom turned their backs on their farms to earn a quick dollar working for the Yankees. Plum Mitan was however , to survive this rip-roaring period and keep its identity as a hardworking agricultural community. Largely forgotten for decades by successive governments, it is only in the last three years that aid has come to the farmers and villagers in the form of pipe borne water and the installation of massive pumps to prevent flooding of the farmers’ crops.
Photos :
A roadway connecting Manzanilla and Sangre Grande near Plum Mitan (1910).
A cocoa estate house at San Leon near Plum Mitan in the 1920s.
(Source: Angelo Bissessarsingh;s Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Sept 24)