Inside Hemingway's Havana House

(CBS)  This Havana house is more than a home, it's a time capsule. The clock stopped in the summer of 1960, when Ernest Hemingway walked out for the last time.

It's amazing to look inside these rooms and imagine him here, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. That's what it's all about - getting inside here and looking through the open door - his collection of books, his objects.

For 20 years Hemingway lounged in these seats, drank from these bottles, wrote one of his greatest works, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and dreamed up his last great classic on this typewriter, "The Old Man and the Sea," inspired by fishing trips on a boat that sits right outside the door.

William DuPont is an American leading a team of experts in a rare collaboration with the Cuban government to preserve the home, right down to the wall where Hemingway obsessively recorded his weight.

"I think we might be the only architects, engineers, professionals license to do our job in Cuba since the revolution," DuPoint said.

They were able to help the Cubans take the house from this four years ago…to this today.

"It's an exchange because they know special things about preservation but we know how to preserve in a tropical climate," said Gladys Rodriguez Ferrero, the first curator of Hemingway's house in Havana.

Hemingway spent 30 years in and out of Cuba. He met Fidel Castro only once. Today it's hard not to walk in his Havana footsteps. Hemingway is a major tourist attraction - his favorite hotel room is a mini-museum.

What Hemingway fan wouldn't want to stand where he once stood, and critics say that's the problem. You help restore his house, you help the Cuban tourist trade, which helps the Castro regime. Conservationists say it's not about politics. It's about the legacy of a great American author.

Stored in the basement of this old house are thousands of Hemingway's papers, unseen by American eyes in more than 40 years.

"There were many letters he had written to Mary Hemingway when he was a war correspondent during World War II," said Susan Wrynn, the curator of the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library.

Like this one - in the fall of 1944: "I'm so damned anxious not to be killed, Pickle on account of loving you." And this letter from fellow writer Sinclair Lewis: "Dear Ernest- Jesus, that's a great book, "Bell Tolls."

"What would have happened if these documents had been left as is?" Wrynn asked. "They would have continued to disintegrate."

Instead, Hemingway's words, and his world on this island will survive for generations.

[Ayahuascayage]

I can't believe the genius who wrote the copy for this segment had to go into the concerns that restoration of this historical landmark would aid the Castro "regime". What an ignorant, unenlightened postion. CBS should be ashamed to have aired a news story with such a mentally challenged position.

What about Iraq? Maybe if we build up the infrastructure there, there may be (I should say definitely will be)some dictator there who will take advantage. Oh yeah, if there be a dictator, we will make sure that he is on our side (corporation friendly).

[docpeter1953]

From above article, "For 20 years Hemingway lounged in these seats, drank from these bottles, wrote one of his greatest works, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
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Of all the books I had to read in college, this was the most boring book ever. I hated this book so much I burned my copy after the test.

[quapawsix]

Great Story

[ClaudiaW2010]

This is a great story, thanks. The conservationists are right, this isn't about politics, "it's about the legacy of a great American author". I love the thought of the Cuban people roaming around the home of the writer of For Whom the Bell Tolls. I love the idea that people the world over read good books and treasure the experience of going to a great writer's home. Thanks for this wonderful story from all book lovers.