It had been talked about for some time, and now it is done: the house Bob Marley lived in at 56 Hope Road, former home of the Tuff Gong International studios and now turned into the Marley museum, has been designated by the government as a "national heritage site", the equivalent of a protected historic monument.
The house, which first belonged to Chris Blackwell, has been, since it opened in 1986, one of the most visited tourist sites on the island with 20,000 visitors a year, even though Bob Marley stopped living there after the assassination attempt of 1976. For Jacqueline Lynch-Stewart, the museum's director, "it is a guarantee for future generations (…) the house will always look like the one Bob knew".
An official ceremony was held on Tuesday 7 February. On this occasion, government representatives and the Gong's daughter unveiled a commemorative plaque quoting Marley's words from Trenchtown rock: "One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain".
Source: Seattle PI