Firefly Estate, located east of Oracabessa,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, is the burial place of Sir Noël Coward and his former holiday home. It is now listed as a National Heritage Site by the

Jamaica National Heritage Trust The Jamaica National Heritage Trust is responsible for the promotion, preservation, and development of Jamaica's material cultural heritage (buildings, monuments, bridges, etc.). The organisation maintains the list of National Heritage Sites in J ...

. Although the setting is Edenic, the house, built in 1956, is surprisingly spartan, considering that he often entertained jet-setters and royalty. The building has been transformed into a

writer's house museum Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...

History

Noël Coward's mountaintop Jamaican home and burial site was originally owned by the infamous pirate and one-time governor of Jamaica, Sir

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming we ...

(1635-1688). The property offered a commanding view of the St. Mary harbour, and Morgan used it as a lookout. As part of the hideaway, Morgan had caused a secret escape tunnel to be dug, opening at

Port Maria Port Maria is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary. Originally named "Puerto Santa Maria", it was the second town established by Spanish settlers in Jamaica. The ruins of Fort Haldane, built 1759, overlook the town. It has a p ...

. Named for the luminous insects seen in the warm evenings, Firefly estate has entertained a wide range of guests, including both

the Queen Mother ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and Queen Elizabeth II, Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, Lord Olivier, Sophia Loren, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Sir Alec Guinness, Peter O'Toole,

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

, and neighbours

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

, Ruth Bryan Owen, and Ian Fleming. The Firefly art studio holds Coward's paintings and photographs of his coterie of famous friends, including Laurence Olivier, Errol Flynn, and

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Of his time at the Firefly estate, Coward wrote in his diary: "Firefly has given me the most valuable benison of all: time to read and write and think and get my mind in order . . . I love this place, it deeply enchants me. Whatever happens to this silly world, nothing much is likely to happen here." Writing, he believed, came easier when he was here, "the sentences seemed to construct themselves, the right adjectives appeared discretely at the right moment. Firefly has magic for me. . . ." Coward died of

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

at Firefly on 26 March 1973, aged 73, and is buried under a marble slab in the garden, near the spot where he would sit at dusk watching the sun set as he sipped his brandy with ginger ale chaser and looked out to sea and along the lush green coast spread out beneath him. A statue of him gazing out over the blue harbour graces the lawn. The stone hut on the lawn that was once a lookout for pirate

, then converted to a bar by Sir Noël, is now a gift shop and restaurant. On one of Firefly's walls is written his last poem. It begins:
When I have fears, as

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

had fears,
Of the moment I'll cease to be,
I console myself with vanished years,
Remembered laughter, remembered tears,
And the peace of the changing sea.http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-01/entertainment/ca-1163_1_firefly-hill His last poem

References

External links

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Aerial view
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Tourist attractions in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Museums in Jamaica Monuments and memorials in Jamaica Literary museums in Jamaica Historic house museums in Jamaica Houses completed in 1956