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The cats don’t seem to mind their human visitors and enjoy pets and scratches from their adoring fans. His writing studio at the home was on the second floor of the converted carriage house. The only typewriter on the property that Hemingway actually used sits on the desk. During his time in Key West, Hemingway wrote many notable books and short stories, including Green Hills of Africa, Death in the Afternoon, To Have and Have Not, and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
The Ernest Hemingway House and Museum in Key West
When the 30-minute tour ends I buy another copy of “The Old Man and the Sea” in the gift shop, which I always seem to do, and a postcard that shows a grinning Hemmingway posing with a dead marlin. The Hemingway on the postcard reminds me of my bare-chested dad when we lived in Key West when I was a boy, only my dad was one of those men who fished off the seawall because he got seasick. Writers have always loved the Keys, none more famous than Ernest Hemingway, who bought a beautiful Spanish colonial home at 907 Whitehead Street in 1931 and stayed eight years. The warm waters surrounding Key West seemed to beckon Hemingway. He quickly became obsessed with deep-water fishing, and soon bought his own boat, the Pilar. "Papa" Hemingway, as he’d dubbed himself, took to sailing the nearby waters with friends in tow, who were soon nicknamed the Key West Mob.
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Bernice Dixon, a local jewelry store owner, bought the house at auction after Hemingway’s death for $80,000. She lived in the home until 1964 when she moved into the guest house and opened the main building as a museum. The house was the first in Key West to have an upstairs bath with running water (fed by the cistern on the roof), and one of the first with modern plumbing. It was also the first with a swimming pool, installed by Hemingway’s second wife Pauline in 1938. Tickets include an optional 30-minute guided tour of the house and grounds, but you’re welcome to explore the property on your own.
Hemingway's home is the cats' meow - VC Star
Hemingway's home is the cats' meow.
Posted: Fri, 17 Jan 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]
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The Hemingway property has two notable fountains with interesting histories. Asa Tift constructed the fountain, and it’s in the form of an ironclad ship. JL stopped us for a bit at what she called the “Wall of Wives” to talk about Hemingway’s four marriages. He certainly followed a rogueish pattern of meeting women, falling desperately in love, and marrying them soon after the last wife served him with divorce papers. Asa Tift was a slave owner, and enslaved people likely were the primary labor source for the excavation, stone cutting, and construction of the home.
The photo above shows Hemingway atop that flying bridge as Pilar pulls out of Havana harbor. Regardless of the legend behind the pool, it was an architectural feat in 1937. To construct the first in-ground pool in Key West, solid coral had to be excavated with picks and sledgehammers. The only pool within 100 miles, it measured 24 feet by 60 feet and was filled with 80,000+ gallons of salt water which had to be drilled because there was no running water (at the time). The Ernest Hemingway House in Key West, Florida is full of interesting stories and even some legends. Key West afforded Hemingway the opportunity to enjoy the sport fishing that he loved so much.
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Just remember, you may pet the cats, play with the cats, and photograph the cats, but please don’t pick them up. If you choose docent-guided, you can also come back through on your own to take a closer look, spend more time in any of the rooms, or lie in wait for the perfect cat-inclusive photos. Pilar was docked at Cojimar, a small fishing village east of Havana, which was the inspiration for Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. My name is Lynda and I am a recovering sugar addict and travel junkie. I’m also a mom of two children & 2 dogs, wife of 1….and a messy cook taking life one bite at a time.
Hemingway's granddaughter says family 'devastated' if his Key West home destroyed by Hurricane Ian - Daily Mail
Hemingway's granddaughter says family 'devastated' if his Key West home destroyed by Hurricane Ian.
Posted: Wed, 28 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
To make the most of every visit the general admission fee includes a 30-minute guided tour. The tour takes you around the extremely well kept Hemingway property in Key West. Imagine the stories that they would tell about the previous occupants. Imagine the parties on those porches and then around the pool once built. The story about the urinal truly made me smile - classic Hemingway. Excavating the limestone for the pool was a massive undertaking, and the project cost $20,000 when construction finished in 1938 (that’s about $365,916 in today’s dollars).
Hemingway made his way to Florida after his first divorce
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.
The home remained in Ernest Hemingway’s possession until he died in 1961. The home’s location is on the second-highest point on Key West, about 16 feet (4.88 m) above sea level. Tift chose an elevated spot in order to excavate limestone from the property to construct the house. The excavation also allowed for a basement under the home, a rarity on Key West. She used the perfect mix of humor and history to keep our group entertained and engaged while we learned about the house and Hemingway’s time in Key West. For a literary retreat like no other, step back in time to the Hemingway Key West days!
Whether your tour guide looks like Ernest Hemingway or not, you will learn a lot about the great writer, his wives, his time in Cuba, and so much more. While you can explore the home on your own, we recommend that you go on one of the guided tours. One of the things you may first notice is the remarkable resemblance of some of the staff members to the writer. Mary was able to return to Finca Vigia to retrieve some of Hemingway’s belongings, but the house itself soon fell into disrepair.
These cats are descendants of the cat Snow White that a ship captain once gave to Hemingway. The Hemingway house in Key West was a gift to Ernest Hemingway and his wife Pauline from the latter’s well off uncle. Originally the Key West house was built in 1851 from rock and in Spanish Colonial style.
Not all the cats actually have six toes (about half of them do), but they all carry the gene, so they could have six-toed kittens, even if they don’t have six toes themselves. They’re all well-cared for, and their personal vet makes sure they’re healthy. Located at 907 Whitehead Street, the Hemingway Key West residence still stands and welcomes thousands of fans from all over. Their tour guides can tell you all about the history of the home and Hemingway’s many adventures in Key West while you roam his house and gardens, among the more than forty cats who now claim this place as home. To quote Hemingway, “One cat just leads to another.” Walking around the property you will see how accurate this is as descendants of that original cat freely roam the property.
Ernest Hemingway lived an exciting life and the guides do a great job telling the story. So expect a few laughs along the way as you tour the Hemingway house. Ernest Hemingway lived in the house in Key West from 1931 to 1939.
The Hemingways quickly became part of a group of American expatriates who poured into the French capital in the decade after WWI, including F. Dubbed the “Lost Generation,” they wrote, painted and composed by day, and drank, debated and caroused the City of Lights by night. Ernest Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain and some of the cats who live on the museum grounds are descendants of that original cat, named Snow White. Key West is a small island and it is possible that many of the cats on the island are related. The pool has a mammoth 80,784 gallon capacity, and at the time of installation there was no fresh running water in Key West. Accordingly, in 1938, pool construction involved drilling down to the salt-water table and installing a water pump to retrieve salt water to fill the pool.
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