December 19, 2021

KEY WEST MUSEUM OF ARTS & HISTORY AT THE CUSTOM HOUSE

281 Front St, Naval Air Station Key West, FL 33040

“Monumental civic building from 1891, restored as a museum for the Key West Art & Historical Society.” Wikipedia

I was walking by the Custom House Museum and remembered the trolley guide from earlier this morning saying this would be an air-conditioned place to visit in the afternoon, and so I decided to stop in. This combination art and history museum was worth the $12 admission. The first floor had two temporary art exhibitions, the first was a selection of a mainly Cuban art form of carving wood and then painting it. The works here were beautiful. The other art exhibit were samples of two commercial illustrators from the 50s-60s. Their work was fascinating. Lining the staircase to the second and third floors were 59 sketches by Guy Harvey illustrating Hemmingway’s The Old Man and The Sea. The second floor told the history of Key West starting with the Civil War. Then told of the early days when Key West became a bustling city because of cigar making, ship salvage (called wrecking), and harvesting sponges. The next boon came when Henry Flagler brought the railroad to Key West to capitalize on the shipping industry’s use of the Panama Canal. And then tells how the hurricane of 1935 changed the city’s economy when FDR did not rebuild the railroad, but instead constructed the Overseas Highway which connects the mainland with Key West. The economy changed from shipping/industrial to tourism, which is how it thrives today. The museum also had an exhibit dealing with Ernest Hemmingway and some art of Tennessee Williams. I would definitely come back to this museum again.