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ernest hemingway's house in key west florida

The lush grounds, the preserved living quarters, and the intimate access to Hemingway’s personal artifacts all combine to celebrate the author’s enduring influence on literature and American culture. Nestled in the heart of Key West, Florida, the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum stands as a tribute to the literary giant’s profound legacy. The home, now a museum, provides visitors a window into Hemingway’s life and writings, the very walls echoing with the history of his storied career.

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In the fall of 1921, he married Hadley Richardson, eight years his senior, and, on the advice of friends, the couple moved to Paris later that year. 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.

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Charles and his wife Lorine entertained the Hemingways at their home on Fleming Street. Lorine Thompson proved to be as friendly and gracious as her husband Charles, and it was during those early days in Key West she and Pauline forged a friendship that would endure for the rest of their lives. Both Ernest and Pauline grew to love Key West and its inhabitants, and soon decided to look for a permanent residence. After two seasons in Key West, Pauline’s Uncle Gus purchased the house on Whitehead Street for them in 1931.

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For those unable to visit the museum in person, a wealth of online resources is available. The museum’s official website provides educational materials, including articles, photographs, and a biography of Ernest Hemingway. Throughout the year, the museum hosts various workshops and learning events to delve into specific aspects of Hemingway’s works.

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That’s what he told people anyway, though the truth was more complicated. Ernest Hemingway was a man who lived in many wonderful places, and traveled to many more. But the house on Whitehead Street in Key West was of particular importance, both in Hemingway’s personal life and in his literary development. Until the 1940s when Key West first had fresh water piped in and the pool was converted to a fresh water system, the pool was very high maintenance.

The Ernest Hemingway House and Museum in Key West

Ernest Hemingway lived an exciting life and the guides do a great job telling the story. 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. The Ernest Hemingway House in Key West, Florida is full of interesting stories and even some legends.

Tours

Hemingway’s pool was an extravagant addition, costing, at that time, an astonishing $20,000 to construct. About half of the cats at the museum have six or even seven toes on each front paw, but all the cats carry the polydactyl gene and can pass on the trait to their offspring. 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). When Hemingway returned, he famously shouted, “Pauline, you’ve spent all but my last penny, so you might as well have that! Hemingway would sometimes joke that he chose the location of the house because of its proximity to the lighthouse. On drunken evenings returning from his favorite bar, Sloppy Joe’s, he’d never get lost making his way home.

00am-5:00pm for walk-in visits.

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. For the last two decades of his life, Hemingway would spend his winters at Finca Vigia, eventually joined by his fourth and final wife, Mary. His Cuban home became a pilgrimage of sorts, as admirers, friends and fans from Hollywood, society and the literary world flocked to his doorstep.

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 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. 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.

The coach house became a pool house, and Hemingway had walls built around the grounds. He also installed a catwalk that allowed him to walk from the bedroom to his studio in the pool house. There he wrote the nonfiction Green Hills of Africa (1935), the novel To Have and Have Not (1937), and the short stories “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” (both 1936). 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.

ernest hemingway's house in key west florida

All FHS members receive our newsletter, The Society Report, a 10% discount at our Florida Books & Gifts bookstore in Cocoa Village, and early notice of special events, including our Annual Meeting & Symposium. Hemingway was inspired by the folklore legend to begin collecting the polydactyl cats. A photo in the dining room of the Hemingway House and Museum shows the writer’s sons Gregory and Patrick holding Snowball, the first of the family’s six-toed cats. The experience covers 2 people who will have a guided tour and exclusive access to the writing studio where Hemingway wrote many of his greatest works. The Ernest Hemingway House, located in Key West, Florida, is a National Historic Landmark and museum dedicated to the life and works of famed American author and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway.

After a night of drinking, Hemingway and “Sloppy Joe” Russell hand carried the urinal to Hemingway’s home. They placed it next to Pauline’s pool, where it still serves as the water bowl for the family’s cats. About 50 cats lived on the property while Hemingway lived there, and the same number is maintained at the museum today. While you can explore the home on your own, we recommend that you go on one of the guided tours.

The trait can appear in any breed, Calicos, Tabbies, Tortoise Shell, White, Black, etc. This house-turned-museum at 907 Whitehead Street, which once brimmed with Hemingway’s creative spirit, now opens its doors daily to the public, offering guided tours and a glimpse into the author’s Key West lifestyle. Within these walls, Hemingway penned literary classics such as “A Farewell to Arms” and “To Have and Have Not,” the latter inspired by the surroundings of the Depression-era Florida Keys.

Normal cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their back. Hemingway’s first cat, Snowball, was a polydactyl cat with six toes on her front paws and five toes on her back. At times as many as 30 cats descended from Snowball had the run of the place. Descendants of Snowball descendants, at least 50 or so, have the run of the place now – those weird, six-toed cats that are a favorite of tourists. 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.

ernest hemingway's house in key west florida

Routine procedures such as ear mite treatment, flea spraying, and worming are performed here at the museum by our Veterinarian. They also administer annual vaccinations, and performs routine animal health maintenance. Recently, the Zoetis Company has come forward to provide us with Revolution® for our cats to protect them from heart worms, fleas and other harmful parasites. You find many more interesting things to do in Key West near Ernest Hemingway House & Museum. Key West Lighthouse & Keeper’s Quarters Museum is located just across the street from the Hemingway House. Jerry Joyce has been a Florida resident since 1988 and has lived in a variety of places in the South Florida area.

Ernest Hemingway's Florida mansion suffers wind damage from Hurricane Ian but cats fine - Daily Mail

Ernest Hemingway's Florida mansion suffers wind damage from Hurricane Ian but cats fine.

Posted: Thu, 29 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

In the 1930s, sea captain Stanley Dexter gave Ernest Hemingway a white six-toed cat named Snow White. Currently, the Hemingway House and property is home to between 40 and 50 polydactyl cats, some of which are descendant from the original white cat. 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.

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