Rockstone is a village on the right bank of the

Essequibo River The Essequibo River ( Spanish: ''Río Esequibo'' originally called by Alonso de Ojeda ''Río Dulce'') is the largest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana b ...

in the

Upper Demerara-Berbice Upper Demerara-Berbice (Region 10) is a region of Guyana, bordering the regions of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara, Demerara-Mahaica and Mahaica-Berbice to the north, the region of East Berbice-Corentyne to the east, and the regions of Potaro-Si ...

Region of Guyana, altitude 6 metres (22 feet). Rockstone is approximately 26 km west of Linden and is linked by road. The village demographics are mostly Amerindian, but there are also Afro-Guyanese. The population has dwindled as residents seek employment opportunities elsewhere. The town governance is done by a Community Development Council (CDC) and a Community Council that formed in 2012 (also called a village council). The community council seeks to have the village registered and recognized as an Amerindian village, but that has created some conflict as the CDC and village councils have separate aims and property rules. In 1897, a metre gauge industrial railway was built between Rockstone and

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

(nowadays called Linden). The Essequibo River was hard to navigate, but the

Demerara River The Demerara River is a river in eastern Guyana that rises in the central rainforests of the country and flows to the north for 346 kilometres until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. Georgetown, Guyana's largest seaport and capital, is situated o ...

was suitable for ocean-going ships. The railway line gave access to the gold fields,

balatá ''Manilkara bidentata'' is a species of ''Manilkara'' native to a large area of northern South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include bulletwood, balatá, ausubo, massaranduba, quinilla, and (ambiguously) " cow-tree". D ...

and hardwood plantations for the region around Rockstone. In the 1940s the railway was closed. Various economic initiatives have been made to encourage growth in Rockstone, but with very little success. Farming and fishing are major economic activities. The town hosts the Rockstone fish festival annually since 2006.

Public Services

The village has a primary and a nursery school which, together, accommodate over sixty children. There is also a health center.

References

{{Settlements in Guyana Populated places in Upper Demerara-Berbice