The house
White verandas, red roof.
Simon_sees from Australia — CC BY 2.0 · amanderson2 — CC BY 2.0 · Pi3.124 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pi3.124 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stephen Glauser from Auckland, New Zealand — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Unknown authorUnknown author — Public domain
The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is a large two-storey house with a red roof and white wooden verandas, set in a wide green lawn at the foot of Mount Vaea above Apia, Samoa's capital. It was the last home of the Scottish author of Treasure Island and is now a museum of his life. Stevenson and his family came to Samoa after a voyage through the South Pacific, and in 1890 he bought 127 ha of land; the house was finished in 1891. It had five bedrooms, a library and the only working fireplace in Samoa. Samoans called him Tusitala, the teller of tales. He died in 1894 and was buried on top of Mount Vaea. The house later served as the home of the islands' rulers, was damaged by cyclones in the early 1990s and was then restored. You walk the wide garden, then tour the house with a guide, seeing the furnished rooms as he lived in them and a room lined with traditional tapa cloth. The veranda looks over the lawn and forest. Behind the house a steep trail climbs to his grave on the mountaintop. The museum is about 4 km south of Apia. Visitors report entry of about 20 tala per person. The trail to the grave is steep and slippery after rain, so start early and bring water.
White verandas, red roof.
Traditional cloth walls.
A trail to the top.
Vailima village, south of Apia, Upolu
Yes, the house is toured with a guide.
About an hour, on a steep trail.