The Firefly Estate, located east of

Oracabessa Oracabessa is a small town in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica east of Ocho Rios. Its population is nearly 7,000. Lit in the afternoons by an apricot light that may have inspired its Spanish name, ''Oracabeza'', or "Golden Head," Oracabessa's commer ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, was the Caribbean home of Sir

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

and is the site of his grave. 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 Ja ...

. Although the setting is idyllic, 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.

History

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

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...

(1635-1688). Morgan had in turn purchased it from his lieutenant Lawrence Prince, who gave the estate its original name of "Lawrencefield". The property offers a commanding view of the St. Mary harbour, and Morgan used it as a lookout. Named for the luminous insects seen in the warm evenings, Coward bought the Firefly Estate in the late 1950s, having previously lived in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. He entertained a wide range of guests at Firefly, including both

the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was also ...

and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

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 . (, ; ...

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was an English actor known for his leading roles on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include the Academy Honorary Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Golde ...

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

, and neighbours

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

Ruth Bryan Owen Ruth Baird Leavitt Owen Rohde (née Bryan; October 2, 1885 – July 26, 1954), also known as Ruth Bryan Owen, was an American politician and diplomat who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1929 to 1933 and served as ...

and

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

. Of his time at the 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 Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

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 coast spread out beneath him. A statue of him gazing out over the blue harbour stands on the lawn. A stone hut that was once a lookout for Henry Morgan, then converted to a bar by Coward, is now a gift shop and restaurant. The Firefly art studio holds Coward's paintings and photographs of his famous friends.

References

External links

*
Aerial view
{{authority control Noël Coward 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 Henry Morgan

History

References

See also

External links