friends who would brave the drive. Later on he completely retreated
to the estate to live full time, and only at the end of his life did he
return to Kingston out of medical necessity. Doreen recalls when one
of his models, who had to brave a long taxi ride from Kingston to the
studio for sitting sessions, turned on Barrington and threatened to
burn the place down. This, and the pervasive presence of a ghostlike
figure Barrington insisted was a former resident who lingered among
the walls, and who appeared in several portraits as Samantha, were
the only disruptions to an idyllic country life.
The Jamaica National Heritage Trust keeps a record of Orange Park
noting that the earliest records of the plantation exist from 1821 as a
coffee plantation, which by 1847 had diversified to include pimento
and breed cattle, but by 1920 was somewhat abandoned and un-
cultivated.
“The property has a main house, two tennis courts, three studio
cottages, and a main studio which is filled with some of the artist's
most prized paintings and antique furniture. According to one
writer, Watson has demonstrated by his life's work a commitment
to contribute to the realisation in Jamaica that art is not only an
expression of human creativity, but also an aid to the cultivation of
human sensibility and consequently to a more humane and civil
society...Watson's presence at Orange Park has transformed the
old coffee plantation into a meeting place for artists and art lovers.
Watson commented that the property has been a rendezvous for
several distinguished artists including the late Edna Manley who in
speaking of it said "this is a creative place."In keeping with his wishes and laid out with legal instruction
almost a decade before his passing in 2016, a star-filled corporateOne of Barrington’s more widely
circulated mantras was “I utilise
...the light of Turner; the line of
Ingres; the range of Rembrandt;
the techniques of Velasquez; the
emotion of Goya; and my birthright
of Benin.”Orange Park was a former
coffee plantation