Ernest Hemingway House
A trip to the Florida Keys would not be complete without visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. During our family vacation, we made our way to this famous house where one of America’s most celebrated writers lived and worked during some of the most productive years of his career.
Built in 1851, the house is one of the oldest and most distinguished homes in Key West. Hemingway purchased the property in 1931 with his second wife, Pauline, and lived there throughout much of the 1930s. During his years in Key West, he wrote or completed several important works. The writing studio behind the house remains one of the most visited parts of the property and offers a glimpse into the environment where Hemingway worked
The home is surrounded by lush tropical gardens and provided Hemingway with a retreat from the outside world while keeping him connected to the sea that inspired so much of his writing. His love of fishing. sailing and adventure became woven into many of the stories that made him famous.
One of the most famous stories connected to the house involved the swimming pool. In the 1930s, Hemingway’s wife Pauline oversaw the construction of what was then the first in-ground swimming pool in Key West. The project cost $20,000, an enormous sum during the Great Depression. According to local legend, Hemingway returned from a fishing trip, learned how much the pool had cost, and handed Pauline his last penny, telling her she might as well take this too. The penny was later embedded near the pool and remains on display today.
No visit to the Hemingway House would be complete without meeting its most famous residents: the descendants of Hemingway’s six-toed cats. According to local tradition, Hemingway was given a polydactyl cat named Snow White by a sea captain, and many of the cats that roam the grounds are descendants of that original feline. They have become almost as famous as the author himself and remain one of the unique features we remember long after our visit.
The Hemingway House remains one of the most visited attractions in Key West, preserving the legacy of a writer whose work helped define twentieth century American literature.
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