Yallahs

Yallahs
Town
Yallahs
Coordinates: 17.8832195°N 76.5947914°W / 17.8832195; -76.5947914
Country	Jamaica
County	Surrey
Parish	St Thomas
Founded	1671
Government
• Councillor	Maud Turgot
• Mayor	Hanif Brown Sr.
• Member Of Parliament	James Robertson
Population
• Town	7 641
• Metro	10 274
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
Area code	+1876

Yallahs is a town located on the southeastern coast of Jamaica in the parish of St Thomas and is home to an estimated 10,000 inhabitants. The town may have received its name from Captain Yallahs, a 1671 privateer, or the privateer may have received his pseudonym from the town. Yallahs' name could have simply come from the Spanish word 'yalos', meaning frost, because the high white cliffs in that area have been thought to give an appearance of frost.

Yallahs was chosen as the site of the first Baptist church in Jamaica in 1822. The Rev. Joshua Tinson’s attempt to start the Baptist church was thwarted, but he returned in 1828 and succeeded in establishing both a church and school. The Yallahs River is a source of fresh water for the inhabitants of the neighbouring City Of Kingston and St. Andrew and provides residents with water through the Yallahs Pipeline. It is home to a plethora of Christian denominations and is a contributor to the mining industry through gravel extraction that happens along the Yallahs River bank. The township is governed by the St. Thomas Parish Council which is located in the parish's capital town, Morant Bay.

Geography

The town of Yallahs is located in the southwestern section of the parish of St. Thomas in Jamaica. It is made up of a collaboration of districts, communities and villages surrounding the Yallahs River Basin including:

West Of The River;

• Sun Valley
• Albion Estate
• East Albion (North Of Albion Estate)

East Of The River

• Poor Man's Corner
• Yallahs Housing Scheme 1
• Yallahs Housing Scheme 2
• Yallahs Housing Scheme 3
• Heartese
• Norris
• Hampstead
• Logwood
• Montpellier
• Newland District
• Lloyd's Pen
• Southaven
• Knightsville
• Baptist
• Pondside (North Of The Yallahs Pond)
• Lowden Hill (North Of The Yallahs Pond)

History

The town was one of the main towns in which the Taino's once lived. The Spanish explorers renamed the town when they arrived in the island.

External links

• Aerial view.
• Yallahs at Official Jamaica Tourist Board