The Hemingway Museum at Finca Vigia in Cuba is where the great American writer lived during the last 21 years of his life and where he produced some of his best-known works, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea.”

The Hemingway Museum at Finca Vigia in Cuba

Finca Vigia, or “Lookout Farm,” is infused with the spirit of Ernest Hemingway more than 50 years after he lived here. In the garden, there is his boat “the Pilar,” used to hunt marlin and then Nazi subs off Cuba during World War II.

Antelope and buffalo heads, taken as trophies from African safaris, decorate the walls. “Yellowing Time” and “The Field” magazines are still on the shelves.

There is also a recording is from Hemingway’s October 1954 acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unwilling to travel to Stockholm, after two nearly fatal plane crashes, Hemingway asked John C. Cabot, U.S. ambassador to Sweden at the time, to read his speech.

During the last 21 years of his life, Hemingway wrote a total of nine novels at this estate, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

“What we have here is an English edition of Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises,’” said Ada Rosa Alfonso Rosales, curator, Hemingway Museum.

“During his prolific career, Hemingway has written over 500 books and they’ve been translated into over 30 languages. We also have over 2,000 letters and some 3,000 personal photos owned by Hemingway. Hopefully, they could be published once we’ve finished categorizing them.”

Hemingway donated the property to the Cuban government, and it was converted into a museum a year after his death in July 1961. Although the estate fell into disrepair, to the anguish of literature scholars, Finca Vigia was restored and opened to the public in 2007.

Finca Vigia - or "Lookout Farm" - is infused with the spirit of Ernest Hemingway more than 50 years after he lived here.