Casillas de Camineros
Casillas de Camineros[1] is the name in Spanish given to structures built every 6 kilometers during the latter part of the 19th century alongside the major roads built in Puerto Rico and provided as residences to the "camineros", specially-trained government workers charged with providing maintenance to the surface of approximately six kilometers of a major road. The island's "Camino Central", which ran from the southern city of Ponce to the capital city of San Juan had 33 Casillas de Camineros, which were built simultaneously as the highway was being built, thus assuring its maintenance from day one.
Abandoned in the latter part of the 20th century, many of these structures have deteriorated or been demolished. Others have been put to other uses. In Bayamón, a structure to the west of the city was turned into a small museum. Another, in the municipality of Cayey's Jájome ward was turned in the first half of the 20th century into the Governor of Puerto Rico's official mountain retreat or Casa Jájome.
Casa Jájome has been refurbished and become a comfortable residence with modern furnishings, expanded to include a dining room and den, in addition to the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and living room located in the original structure, and a multi-level terraced garden has been developed. Damaged by Hurricane Georges in 1998, it was remodeled under the Sila Calderón administration between 2001-2004. Across Jájome Road, a two-story structure houses a security detail, the entranceway to a large gazebo and other facilities.