Mary's Hope | |
|---|---|
Village | |
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| Coordinates: 05°52′37″N56°19′00″W / 5.87694°N 56.31667°W | |
| Country | |
| District | Coronie District |
| Resort | Welgelegen |
| Time zone | UTC-03:00 (SRT) |
Mary's Hope is a village in the Welgelegen resort of the Coronie District of Suriname. The village can be accessed from the East-West Link. [1]
Mary's Hope started in 1817 [2] as a slave plantation, producing cotton, owned by Edward Conolly [3] who was originally from Ireland. 138 people were enslaved on the plantation at the time of the emancipation of slavery in 1863. [2] Later, the plantation changed ownership several times, and was in a neglected state. In 1872, Mary's Hope was the fourth largest settlement in the district of Coronie. [2]
On 15 December 1874, land was donated to a Roman Catholic mission to build a school, a church and a rectory. In 1875, a little church was built. In 1884, Peter Donders was the parson, and Mary's Hope had developed into the most important parish in Coronie. [2] In 1892, the Church of Immaculate Conception was constructed. The church was built by Frans Harmes who also constructed the cathedral in Paramaribo. [4]
In 1922, Father J. de Kort embarked on a plan to create a rice polder. In 1935, the Sint Jozef vereniging [5] was founded, a cooperation of rice growers, [6] and Mary's Hope has developed as a rice growing community. [5]
The village is connected to the electricity grid, but has no telephone connection. [1]