Kenscoff () is a commune in the

Port-au-Prince Arrondissement Port-au-Prince () is an arrondissement in the Ouest department of Haiti. It had 2,109,516 inhabitants at the 2003 Census which was estimated to have risen to 2,759,991 in 2015 in an area of 735.78 sq km (284.09 sq mi). Postal codes in the Port- ...

, in the Ouest department of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, located in the foothills of the Chaîne de la Selle mountain range, some 10 kilometres to the southeast of the capital city of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

. The elevation is approximately 1500 meters, making the town the highest permanent settlement in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It has a population of around 52,200.

Climate

Because of its elevation, the temperature is constantly cooler than the capital and, during winter months, can be very chilly relative to the rest of the country. However, it is not the coldest settlement on

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, as Constanza in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

is colder on average year-round, most likely due to being more inland than Kenscoff, which is only around 12 km (7.5 mi) from the coast. Kenscoff has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(''Cwb'') with monthly temperature averages ranging from in January to in August. This climate borders on a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(''Aw'').

Commerce

The town has a weekly market where rural farmers congregate to sell their goods and produce; some farmers traveling great distances on foot to do so.

Organizations

Kenscoff is the home of th
Baptist Haiti Mission
Hospital De Fermathe, th
Wynne Farm Ecological Reserve
and the Architectural Association Haiti Visiting School.

References

Populated places in Ouest (department) Communes of Haiti {{haiti-geo-stub