What Is the Ernest Hemingway House?
This museum was the home of author, Ernest Hemingway, from 1931 until 1940!
What Makes It Historical?
The 1850 home of wharf owner, Asa F. Tift, wasn’t much to look at in 1931 when Pauline Hemingway’s Uncle Gus bought it for her and her husband, Ernest. The Hemingways had been renting around Key West for four years and fallen for the climate, the community, and, for Mr. Hemingway especially, the sport fishing! They put a lot of elbow grease into restoring this Spanish Colonial home, the only one in Key West with a full basement and the only one for a hundred miles with an in-ground pool! There’s still a penny in the cement at the pool, which Mr. Hemingway pressed into it while it was still wet, “The last penny I’ve got!”
It’s hard to know exactly which books Mr. Hemingway wrote while living here. After all, the author of The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises traveled extensively across the globe! Here, though, he installed a catwalk so he could go directly from his bedroom to his poolhouse studio first thing in the morning, write all morning, then socialize all afternoon. During the time he was living here, he wrote the bullfighting book, Death in the Afternoon; the memoir, Green Hills of Africa; the short story anthology, Winner Take Nothing; and the Depression-era fishing novel, To Have and Have Not!
Only two years after finishing their pool, the Hemingways divorced, and Mr. Hemingway left Key West for Cuba, only visiting here once more in his life. This home stayed in the Hemingway family until 1961, and today, the home is a museum that’s still full of his hunting trophies and the descendants of his six-toed cat, Snow White!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
- Buy something from the online store!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
907 Whitehead St
Key West, FL 33040
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
The museum is open daily from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM!