December 18, 2021
HEMINGWAY HOME AND MUSEUM
907 Whitehead St, Key West, FL 33040
“The Ernest Hemingway House was the residence of American writer Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s. The house is situated on the island of Key West in Florida. It is at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West Lighthouse, close to the southern coast of the island.” Wikipedia
No trip to Key West would be complete without a visit to Hemmingway’s Home. The house itself is nice, built in 1851 by a wealthy marine architect and salvager. Hemmingway lived in the house from 1931 to 1939. It is said he wrote some of his best received works here. The quick guided tour through the house was full of interesting and anecdotal stories of Hemmingway, his wives, and the cats. After the tour one is able to stroll through the house and grounds at their own pace. There are 58 cats living on the property today, about half of them have six toes. All the cats’ lineages can be traced back to a white, six-toed, cat named Snowball which Hemmingway’s young sons owned. The Hemmingway house did not disappoint.
The front of the house.
One of the cats, this one has four six-toed paws.
"While Hemingway was reporting in Spain in 1937, Pauline installed a large pool on the grounds. The first swimming pool in the Florida Keys, the 24 x 60 foot 80,000-gallon pool was immensely expensive. At $20,000, it was two and a half times the purchase price of the entire property. Upon his return, Hemingway was irate at the costly addition. With melodramatic flourish, he threw a penny from his pocket onto the ground, declaring, "You might as well take my last cent," despite the fact that Pauline had paid for it herself. She kept the penny and later had it embedded in the concrete. Despite his initial rage, the pool grew on Hemingway and he later had a 6-foot brick wall erected around the property so that he could swim nude." Wikipedia The penny is still there.
Cats showed up in strange places.
Hemmingway's writing studio.
The side of the house.
The back yard fountain. The base is a urinal from Hemmingway's favorite bar, Sloppy Joes. There are many stories about how the urinal ended up at his home. One said he took it in anticipation of the bar being remodeled, arguing that he had "pissed away" so much of his money into it the he owned it.
A view of the garage and upstairs studio.
A portrait of a young Ernest Hemmingway.
Dining Room. Pictures on the wall are of his four wives.
Hemmingway's bed.
The Key West Lighthouse across the street. It is said Hemmingway used the landmark to guide him home after a night of drinking at Sloppy Joes.
Loved the porch that surrounded the second floor of the house.
A view of the fountain from the second floor porch. The fountain was designed and built by the home's original owner who designed ships.
