NATIONAL Heroes Park is a botanical garden
located in Kingston, Jamaica and is the burial
site for many of the cultural leaders, Prime
Ministers and National Heroes. When the park
was founded it was known as the National Heroes Park.

Previously, it was a horse racing track known as Kingston Race Course.

In 1905, the track was converted to a public park and renamed George VI Memorial Park in honour of King George VI of the United Kingdom. When Jamaica gained Independence in 1972, the park's name was again changed to its current name.

The Jamaica War Memorial is a prominent feature of the park honouring the Jamaicans killed in combat during World War I and World War II. The monument for Marcus Garvey consists of a tomb at the centre of a raised platform in the shape of a black star. The Monument for Donald Sangster consists of an opposed pair of curved members, turning inward and wider at the top than at the novel base. Norman Manley's monument contains 12 pillars, arranged in two concentric circles, with the inner pillars taller than the outer ones. Sir Alexander Bustamante's monument is an arch, narrow at the top and widening toward the base, which stands above Bustamante's tomb, finished with marble from the region. Nanny's monument reproduces the sound of the abeng and Samuel Sharpe's monument is shaped like a Greek cross, to honour his Baptist faith, and its corners are left open as a representation of freedom. The Monument for Michael Manley's monument resembles a graph of exponential growth when viewed from the side. A bust of General Antonio Maceo was added as a donation from the people of Cuba, in recognition of Jamaica having offered him asylum. A monument also serves as a burial site for 140 elderly women killed in a fire at the Myers Ward of the Eventide Home for the Aged.

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Historical Events that are Associated with the Park

 

• August 2, 1838, grand festivities marking the end of apprenticeship and the beginning of full freedom were held here.

• Queen Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilees were honoured here in 1887 and 1897 respectively.

• The Jamaica National Exhibition was held from January 27, to May 2, 1891, in a building called Quebec Lodge. This site is now occupied by the Wolmer's School.

• In 1953, the Kingston Race Course was renamed the George VI Memorial Park in honour of the late King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II. The grounds were prepared for the Queen's first visit to the island.

• In the same year, a War Memorial to honour those who died in the First World War was removed from its original location at Church Street and relocated here. Each year, on Remembrance Day, the first Sunday in November, veterans gather around the Cenotaph to honour the memory of those who died in World Wars I & II.