The Barretts of Wimpole Street fame came to Jamaica in the 1660s and amassed great wealth from their sugar plantations. They built Greenwood in 1790 as a guest house.

Greenwood Great House located in the parish of St. James, on Jamaica’s North Coast, is a fine example of late eighteenth century Great House construction in Jamaica. Both Greenwood and Barrett Hall, a couple miles up the hill behind it, once belonged to Richard Barrett, a leading planter in the island who was once Speaker of the Assembly and Custos of the parish of St. James.