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Our tour of the two-story, 3000-square-foot Spanish Colonial began downstairs in the parlor. This sun-filled room is full of Hemingway memorabilia from various periods along with furniture Pauline collected when she lived in Paris. Dixon left the property to her family, who continue to operate the Hemingway Home and Museum today. Tift owned the home until his death in 1889, living in it alone for much of his life after the death of his wife and two sons from yellow fever in the 1850s, and his daughter’s passing in 1869. Electricity was added to the house around 1899, and plumbing was installed about 1944, when Key West began receiving piped-in water from Florida City.
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But in 1931 when the Hemingways received it the house was in massive need of restoration. So they made an overhaul to get the Key West home to the state and National Historic Landmark it is today. Hemingway loved polydactyl cats, especially because sailors believed they bring good luck. Hemingway suffered multiple serious injuries and survived numerous accidents during his life. Many of his books are really short stories, so you could read one on the flight down or a few days before your trip.
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When Hemingway returned, he famously shouted, “Pauline, you’ve spent all but my last penny, so you might as well have that! A notable spot on the grounds is the swimming pool, which Pauline built when Hemingway was away covering the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent. Although it was his idea to build a pool, he left the oversight of the project to Pauline while he was away.
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It is a reminder of the many works he wrote while living in Key West, including To Have and Have Not, which was largely set in Key West. Pfeiffer continued to live in the house until her death in 1951. It remained vacant for the next 10 years, until Hemingway’s death, after which his heirs sold it.
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In ill health and increasingly suffering from the depression that ran through his family, and which he had struggled against all his life, Hemingway settled in Idaho. On July 2, 1961, he shot himself in his Ketchum home and died, aged 61. During Hemingway’s Key West years he wrote some top novels and poems. From the Key West house famous Hemingway works written include The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Death in The Afternoon and to Have and Have Not. Did the cats actually bring him the wrong kind of luck, or did they share some of their nine lives with him? Likely fueled by alcohol, Hemingway ripped out the bar’s urinal and brought it home to use as a watering trough for his cats.
Hemingway's Last Penny – Key West, Florida - Atlas Obscura
Hemingway's Last Penny – Key West, Florida.
Posted: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 08:00:00 GMT [source]
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In addition, the house and grounds are occupied by dozens of six-toed cats that are said to be descended from a cat that Hemingway owned. The Ernest Hemingway House was the residence of American writer Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s. It is at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West Lighthouse, close to the southern coast of the island. Due to its association with Hemingway, the property is the most popular tourist attraction in Key West.
After Hemingway’s death in July of that year, his widow gave the ship to Gregorio Fuentes who had served as her captain. Fuentes also served as the basis for the character Santiago, in The Old Man and The Sea and passed away in 2002 at the age of 104. Wheeler was known and rewarded for producing exceptional hand-crafted wooden boats. He also requested extra-large fuel tanks so he could stay at sea for longer periods of time. The boat had two motors - a 75hp for traveling and a 40hp for trolling.
And just as the famous author once did, the cats are named after famous people. The two-story house was built in 1851 in a Spanish Colonial style with an open courtyard and fountain surrounded by lush tropical plants. The house is filled with artifacts from Hemingway’s life, including old photographs, letters, books, furniture, and even the typewriter he used to write some of his most famous works. The home where he and Pauline lived is now open to the public, offering tours of the house and the studio where Hemingway worked. Many of the places Hemingway loved to visit, such as Sloppy Joe’s Bar, celebrate his patronage. Several years earlier, he’d met journalist Martha Gellhorn while she was vacationing in Key West.
Because the car had been delayed in transit, the Ford dealership insisted that they take up residence in an apartment located above the showroom on Simonton Street. Ernest and Pauline accepted the offer, and he resumed work on a war story he had started on the ocean passage to Key West. Hemingway continued his Paris habits of writing during the early mornings, and taking time to explore his surroundings in the afternoons. Hemingway’s time at Finca Vigia long outlasted his brief, tempestuous marriage to Gellhorn. They divorced after five years, thanks in part to mutual infidelity and Hemingway’s resentment of her flourishing career.
Hemingway’s home was originally built in 1851 by Asa Tift, a former naval architect and sea captain from Groton, Connecticut. Tift owned several stores in Key West, along with ships and a large salvaging operation, making him one of the wealthiest men in the area at the time. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is located at 907 Whitehead Street, close to the Key West Lighthouse and Museum. The line can be long, especially on days when cruise ships are in port. He landed at Normandy to report on the D-Day invasions and earned his Bronze Star as a civilian.
Some of the cats that live on the ground today are descendants of the original cat. As an author myself, I loved seeing where Hemingway wrote so many of his novels and short stories! It was surprisingly neat, which may or may not have been exactly as he left it. I loved all the natural light, but also the mementos from his life of adventures that very likely inspired him while he wrote.
When the pool was built, it was the only one within a 100-mile radius of Key West, and it was an impressive feature, to say the least. Everything in Old Town Key West is quite walkable, including the Hemingway Home. There is parking available, but it’s extremely limited, so I recommend walking, Ubering, or taking a pedicab there. No reservations required for this back-in-time experience and tickets can be purchased at the gate. The Ernest Hemingway Home is located in Old Town Key West at 907 Whitehead Street, approximately 0.8 miles from Mallory Square. If you board the free Duval Loop Bus, get off at stop number 8 for Whitehead & Petronia.
When poor eyesight kept him from enlisting during World War I, Hemingway volunteered as a Red Cross ambulance driver and was severely wounded in Italy at age 18, leading to a long convalescence. For more than a decade, Ernest Hemingway called Key West home, producing some of his most famous works and immortalizing what had been a somewhat remote stretch of land in southern Florida. Today, his estate is a tourist hotspot, providing visitors with a unique look into the legendary writer’s life. One of the more stunning and unusual features of the Hemingway Home property is the in-ground swimming pool, an extraordinary luxury for a residential home in 1930s Key West. Even more mind-boggling is the sheer labor of digging, in solid coral, a massive hole 24 feet wide, 60 feet long, 10 feet deep at the south end, and 5 feet deep at the north end.
He sailed his boat, Pilar, around the Keys and fished the Gulf Stream extensively. Many famous images of Hemingway picture him standing dockside in the Caribbean, the catch of the day hanging beside him. Those tourists bothered him, knocked on his door, distracted him from his writing. That’s what he told people anyway, though the truth was more complicated. The cats are not shy at all and you find them all over the grounds.
Hemingway lived in this house from 1931 to 1939, years during which he wrote some of his greatest novels as well as short stories and poems. Among the most famous works that Hemingway completed in the Key West estate include were Death in The Afternoon, The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and To Have and Have Not. It’s an iconic piece of literary history that offers visitors the chance to learn about one of America’s greatest writers – and the cats that made him smile. From exploring the grounds to learning more about his wives, there is something for everyone at this unique Florida attraction. The Ernest Hemingway House also serves as a tribute to the author’s immense influence in the literary world. The house has been preserved with much of its original furniture and artwork, giving visitors an idea of what life may have been like for Hemingway during his time there.
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