It has been suggested that previous to this, the range was known as the "Carrion Crow Ridge", after an earlier name for the vulture.

[2] The mountains extend parallel with the north-east coast of the island, bounded to the west by the banks of the Rio Grande, and joining with the eastern end of the Blue Mountains in the south-east.

[3] The John Crow Mountains are also home to the endangered Papilio homerus, the largest butterfly in the Americas.

[5] In 1885 Inspector Herbert T. Thomas of the local constabulary began an attempt to reach the highest peak of the range, and in 1890 was successful, publishing an account in his book Untrodden Jamaica.

The matter was settled by the Jamaican Surveyor-General, who decided that though Thomas had been the first to scale the highest peak, and explore the ridge in a north–south direction, Routledge had traversed the valley and further range beyond: so he had first "actually crossed them from west to east".