Firefly Estate
Encyclopedia
Firefly Estate, located 10 km east of Oracabessa
, Jamaica
was Sir Noel Coward
’s vacation home and is listed as a National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust
. Although the setting is Eden-like, the house built in 1956 is surprisingly Spartan, considering that he often entertained jet-setters and royalty. The view from the estate, now a government-sponsored museum dedicated to the English author, is magnificent.
Noel Coward’s mountaintop Jamaican home and burial site was originally owned by the infamous pirate and one-time governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan. The property offered a commanding view of the St. Mary harbour and Morgan had used it over 3 centuries ago as a lookout and dug a secret escape tunnel to Port Maria
.
Named for the luminous insects seen in the warm evenings, Firefly estate has entertained a wide range of luminaries from the political and entertainment worlds, including both the Queen Mother
and Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill
, Sir Laurence Olivier
, Sophia Loren
, Elizabeth Taylor
, Alec Guiness, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton
, and neighbours Errol Flynn
, Ruth Bryan Owen
and Ian Fleming
.
"An Englishman has an inalienable right to live wherever he chooses", said Winston Churchill, who taught Coward oil painting in his art studio at Firefly. The studio holds Coward's paintings and photographs of his coterie of famous friends, including Laurence Olivier, Errol Flynn and Marlene Dietrich
.
Of his time at his beloved 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 under a Jamaican heaven at Firefly on March 26, 1973, at 74 of a heart attack. He is buried in a marble tomb embraced by a gazebo-like wrought iron frame in his garden on the spot he would sit each night watching the sun set as he sipped his brandy with ginger ale chaser and looked out to sea and along miles and miles of 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 Henry Morgan, then converted to a bar by Sir Noel, 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 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.
Oracabessa
Oracabessa is a small town in St Mary, Jamaica east of Ocho Rios. Its population was 4,108 in 2009.Lit in the afternoons by an apricot light that may have inspired its Spanish name Oracabeza, or "Golden Head", it is a friendly town with a covered produce market and a few shops and bars...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
was Sir Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
’s vacation home and is listed as a National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust
Jamaica National Heritage Trust
The Jamaica National Heritage Trust is responsible for the promotion, preservation, and development of Jamaica's material cultural heritage .The organisation maintains a list of National Heritage Sites in Jamaica....
. Although the setting is Eden-like, the house built in 1956 is surprisingly Spartan, considering that he often entertained jet-setters and royalty. The view from the estate, now a government-sponsored museum dedicated to the English author, is magnificent.
Noel Coward’s mountaintop Jamaican home and burial site was originally owned by the infamous pirate and one-time governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan. The property offered a commanding view of the St. Mary harbour and Morgan had used it over 3 centuries ago as a lookout and dug a secret escape tunnel to Port Maria
Port Maria
Port Maria is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary. It has a population of approximately 7,500 people and is the seat of the Saint Mary Parish Council. The Mayor of Port Maria is Richard Creary...
.
Named for the luminous insects seen in the warm evenings, Firefly estate has entertained a wide range of luminaries from the political and entertainment worlds, including both the Queen Mother
Queen mother
Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...
and Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Sir Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Alec Guiness, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
, and neighbours Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, Ruth Bryan Owen
Ruth Bryan Owen
Ruth Bryan Owen was the daughter of William Jennings Bryan and mother of Helen Rudd Brown. A Democrat, in 1929 she became Florida’s first woman representative in the United States Congress, coming from Florida’s 4th district. Representative Owen was also the first woman to earn a spot on the...
and Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
.
"An Englishman has an inalienable right to live wherever he chooses", said Winston Churchill, who taught Coward oil painting in his art studio at Firefly. The studio holds Coward's paintings and photographs of his coterie of famous friends, including Laurence Olivier, Errol Flynn and Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
.
Of his time at his beloved 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 under a Jamaican heaven at Firefly on March 26, 1973, at 74 of a heart attack. He is buried in a marble tomb embraced by a gazebo-like wrought iron frame in his garden on the spot he would sit each night watching the sun set as he sipped his brandy with ginger ale chaser and looked out to sea and along miles and miles of 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 Henry Morgan, then converted to a bar by Sir Noel, 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 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.