The large, creaky, colonial-era wooden house on Hope Rd, where Bob Marley lived and recorded from 1975 until his death in 1981, is the city’s most-visited site. Today the house functions as a tourist attraction, museum and shrine, and much remains as it was in Marley’s day.
The hour-long tour provides fascinating insights into the reggae superstar's life after moving uptown. His gold and platinum records are there on the walls, alongside Rastafarian religious cloaks, Marley’s favorite denim stage shirt, and the Order of Merit presented by the Jamaican government. One room is entirely wallpapered with media clippings from Marley’s final tour; another contains a replica of Marley’s original record shop, Wail’n Soul’m. Marley’s simple bedroom has been left as it was, with his favorite star-shaped guitar by the bed.
The former recording studio out back is now an exhibition hall with some wonderful photos of Bob, and a theater, where the tour closes with a 20-minute film. There’s another recording studio inside the house, which his sons occasionally use for solo projects.
