Milk River is 36 miles from Mandeville. Take the highway south from Williamsfield down Melrose Hill via Porus past stalls replete with luscious citrus and other fruit to TOLLGATE and turn R Flat canefields and pastures border seven miles of road to REST crossroads where you turn R to Milk River Spa another 3.5 miles away.
MILK RIVER SPA AND HOTEL belong to the government and is operated by the Ministry of Tourism. The hotel, built against a limestone cliff and upstairs of the mineral baths, overlooks the Milk River. Manager Desmond Edwards heads a friendly staff, including a trained masseuse. Accommodation is not plush, but clean and comfortable.
The food is good, with plenty of fish from nearby FARQUHARS BEACH. Downstairs there are nine tiled baths with a continuous flow of lukewarm mineral water. The analysis of the mineral spring shows it as more radioactive than leading European spas, (fifty-four times as active as Baden in Switzerland and three times as active as Karlsbad, Austria).
The waters are reputed to cure numerous ailments including rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, sciatica, lumbago, nerve conditions and liver disorders. The recommended treatment is 3 baths per day, each lasting no longer than 20 minutes. There are two springs, the water of the second can be taken internally for digestive complaints. The baths are open 24 hours a day to hotel guests and 7am to 9pm to the public. There is also a public mineral water swimming pool open at weekends. Milk River is popular with Jamaicans. The atmosphere is very homey. You are likely to meet hotel guests wandering around in their dressing gowns on their way to or from the baths or sipping early morning coffee on the screened verandah. Locals drop by for a bath or a meal. At weekends there is usually a crowd.
The spa was discovered in the eighteenth century by a slave belonging to Jonathan Ludford. The slave, who had been punished and severely beaten escaped from Ludfords estate and hid in the nearby hills where he discovered a salty spring, drank the water and bathed his battered body before returning in fine shape to the slave village. Ludford, amazed at the mans recovery promised never to punish him again if he would show him the miraculous spring. He then fenced the place, put the slave there as a watchman and eventually willed the property to the government. The first baths were constructed and opened to the public in 1794.
Where the Healing waters flow
I visited MR over 47 years ago so it was a delight returning. I enjoyed every moment. The cost per night was very reasonable, the room fairly comfortable, meals quite tasty, the workers pleasant, but relaxing in the warm, mineral water was the best you'll ever experience.
I'm encouraging my readers to make use of this awesome gift God has blessed us with, which is the best mineral waters in the world.
I'll be returning soon.
