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Firefly Estate

Firefly Estate
NoelCowardFirefly.jpg
Statue of Noël Coward by Angela Conner in front of Firefly
Firefly Estate is located in Jamaica
Firefly Estate
Firefly Estate
Location Port Maria, Jamaica
Coordinates 18°23′35″N 76°53′50″W / 18.393135°N 76.897237°W / 18.393135; -76.897237
Type Historic house museum

Firefly Estate, located 10 km (6 mi) east of Oracabessa, Jamaica, is the burial place of Sir Noël Coward and his former vacation home. It is now listed as a National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. 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.

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 (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.

Named for the luminous insects seen in the warm evenings, Firefly estate has entertained a wide range of guests, including both the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Sir Alec Guinness, 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 instructed Coward in oil-painting technique while visiting at Firefly. The Firefly art studio holds Coward's paintings and photographs of his coterie of famous friends, including Laurence Olivier, Errol Flynn and Marlene Dietrich.


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