Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, Key West

Above, the front of the Hemingway Home. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the stops during the trolley tour of Key West, Florida was the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum.

From the official website:

The Hemingway home was built in 1851 in the Spanish Colonial style, and was constructed of native rock hewn from the grounds. The home was in great disrepair when it the Hemingways took ownership, but both Ernest and Pauline could see beyond the rubble and ruin, and appreciated the grand architecture and stateliness of the home. The massive restoration and remodeling they undertook in the early 1930’s turned the home into the National Historical Landmark that thousands of tourists visit and enjoy today. 

A unique and extraordinary feature of the grounds is the pool, built in 1937-38, at the staggering cost of $20,000. It was the first in-ground pool in Key West, and the only pool within 100 miles. The exhorbitant construction costs once prompted Hemingway to take a penny from his pocket, press it into the wet cement of the surrounding patio, and announce jokingly, “Here, take the last penny I’ve got!” Tourists are invited to look for the penny, still embedded between flagstones at the north end of the pool. 

The Hemingways’ personal touches still abound throughout the house. Many of the unique furnishings are European antiques collected during their stay on the continent. The trophy mounts and skins were souvenirs of the Hemingways’ African safaris and numerous hunting expeditions in the American west. Ernest’s presence can still be felt in his studio where he produced some of his most well-known works. In addition, a very visible and living link to the past are the descendants of Hemingway’s cats. The story goes that Hemingway made the acquaintance of a sea captain who owned an unusual six-toed tomcat, which captured Ernest’s fancy. Upon his departure from Key West, the captain presented the cat to Hemingway. Today many of the numerous cats that inhabit the grounds still possess the unusual six toes. 

Ernest’s friends Charles Thompson, Joe Russell (also known as Sloppy Joe), and Capt. Eddie “Bra” Saunders, together with his old Paris friends became known in Key West as “The Mob.” The Mob would go fishing in the Dry Tortugas, Bimini, and Cuba for days and weeks at a time in pursuit of giant tuna and marlin. Everyone in The Mob had a nickname, and Hemingway was often referred to by his friends and family during this time was “Papa”—it was a moniker that eventually stuck with him throughout his life. Hemingway’s Key West was a town unlike any place he ever experienced. It was filled with interesting people, ranging from well-to-do businessmen and lawyers, to down-on-their-luck fishermen, to shipwreck salvagers. Throughout his career, Hemingway freely used the people and places he encountered in his literary works, and many Key Westers appear as characters in his novel “To Have and Have Not,” a novel about Key West during the Great Depression.

Here's some photos:

Above, the view from the street. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above and below, some of the 50+ cats. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, a latter day photo of Hemingway. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, posters of movies based on Hemingway's novels. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the kitchen. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, a portrait of a young Hemingway. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above and below, one of the cats on the Hemingway bed. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the second floor balcony. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the stairway leading to Hemingway's office. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above and the next three photos, Hemingway's office loft. Photos by Armand Vaquer.

Above, a fountain made from a former bar's urinal. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the cat cemetery. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the front entrance to the house. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the second floor balcony. Photo by Armand Vaquer.