Bienvenido a Carolina

Carolina is pronounced (kah-ro-LEE-nah)

I’d love to take you on a quick trip to Carolina also known as “La Tierra de Gigantes” (land of giants), in honor of one of its inhabitants: Don Felipe Birriel, who was the tallest man in Puerto Rican history, with an unconfirmed height of 2.413 meters or seven feet eleven inches (7′ 11″). Grab a seat and grab something to sip on as I take you through the history of one of my fav spots in Puerto Rico.

Carolina is also known as “El Pueblo de los Tumba Brazos” (arm hackers town), because in old days, it is said that people resolved their conflicts with a duel. Lorenzo Vizcarrondo founded Carolina in 1857. The city’s original name was Trujillo Bajo. It took on a new name when Don Gaspar Martínez, the person who donated the land to establish the municipality, requested that the town be called Carolina in honor of his daughter Carolina de San Juan.

Carolina, town, northeastern Puerto Rico. Part of metropolitan San Juan, it is located about 12 miles (19 km) east of the capital, on the banks of the Loíza River just above its marshy lowlands near the coast. The town was in 1816 constituted a pueblo, named Trujillo Bajo. In 1857 the barrios (wards) north of the Loíza were separated under a new name, San Fernando de la Carolina, after Charles II of Spain. Under the new name, the town eventually absorbed the remainder of Trujillo Bajo. Manufacturing plants produce pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and chemicals.

Carolina once was an important center for sugar production. Today, Carolina is Puerto Rico’s fourth largest city and is dubbed the Industrial Capital of Puerto Rico for its concentration of factories.

Carolina is bordering the Atlantic Ocean; south of Gurabo and Juncos; east of Trujillo Alto and San Juan; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Its rivers are: Grande de Loíza, and Canovanillas.

There are many well-known “carolinenses”, among them:

• baseball player Roberto Clemente
• Jesús T. Piñero
• poet Julia de Burgos
• Elsie Van thin
• Esteban de Jesus
• Ramon Hernandez
• Alfredo Escalona
• Ramón Mellado Parsons
• Domingo Gonzalez
• Ezequiel Quillin Angulo
• Maria Teresa Serrano
• Jesús Maria Sanromá
• Guillermo Angel Luciano

Did you know Carolina is made up of 13 barrios? (wards/districts):

• Martín González
• Pueblo
• Sabana Abajo
• San Antón
• Santa Cruz
• Trujillo Bajo