Monday, April 29, 2024

A Brief History Of The Ernest Hemingway House In Key West

hemingway house key west

It was partially restored and reopened to the public in 2007, and it, along with his Key West home, stand almost frozen in time, testaments to Hemingway’s dramatic and eventful life. Send us an email and one of our staff will receive it in no time. The former home of Ernest Hemingway is located at 907 Whitehead Street on the island of Key West in Florida. The Ernest Hemingway House, also known as Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, is located in the heart of Old Town Key West. It sits just a block away from the busier Duval Street and with great Key West hotels just around the corner. We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits.

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For a literary adventure, visitors come from all over to step back in time in Key West and experience the life of Ernest Hemingway. Reading can’t provide the same feel as visiting the bars the great author frequented, the waters he roamed for fish and even his Key West home, known to have been owned by Hemingway from 1931 until his death in 1961. 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. It was his private residence from 1931 to 1939 and provides an insight into the literary genius who lived there with his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer, during some of the most productive years of his career. Normal cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their back.

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The old man and his sea: How Ernest Hemingway’s Key West home spawned some of his finest work - Fox News

The old man and his sea: How Ernest Hemingway’s Key West home spawned some of his finest work.

Posted: Fri, 02 Jul 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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.

Home & Museum

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.

hemingway house key west

Pfeiffer, well acquainted with her husband’s often unstable moods, calmly had the penny embedded in concrete, forever immortalizing his outburst. Hemingway helped make Key West famous, and he and the city became almost impossibly intertwined during his years there. He immortalized his favorite haunts and drinking buddies through his writing, most famously in 1937’s To Have and Have Not, a Key West-set novel inspired by a group of local black-market smugglers. His hard-partying ways even came home with him, quite literally, in the form of a urinal, drunkenly carried home from Sloppy Joe’s Bar and installed in his backyard, which is still working as a water fountain today. Hemingway also built a boxing ring on the property, allowing the self-styled pugilist a place to spar.

So you have plenty of chances to make their acquaintance when you visit the Ernest Hemingway house in Key West. 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. You won’t get a full history of Hemingway’s life and body of work on this 30-minute tour. But even those completely unaware of his story or his impact on American literature will leave with a basic understanding of the legend of this complex man. Hemingway lived in the home with his wife and their two sons from 1931 until 1939. When Hemingway left for Cuba in 1939 to pursue another relationship, Pauline stayed in the home and lived there until her death in 1951.

Ernest Hemingway’s Works Written in Key West

The Key West Lighthouse that was built long before he entered the scene stands just across the road from the old home. As the story goes, the lighthouse was very well-needed, if not necessary, to guide Hemingway home to the house after his wet nights on the town. Whether or not you believe the Hemingway cats will give you good luck, the cats themselves are certainly lucky. They have the run of the property, and you’ll often find them napping in unexpected places in and around the house.

hemingway house key west

The two-story house was built in 1851 of native limestone in a Spanish colonial style by noted marine salvager Asa Tift. Pfeiffer’s wealthy uncle bought the then-derelict house as a wedding present for her and Hemingway in 1931, and the couple had the entire interior restored. The second story of the coach house in the back was made into a writing studio for Hemingway.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY in KEY WEST

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.

OUR MUSEUMS IN KEY WEST - Key West Florida Weekly

OUR MUSEUMS IN KEY WEST.

Posted: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It is also famous for its large population of so-called Hemingway cats, many of which are polydactyl. The cats with extra toes that you find at the Hemingway Home in Key West are called polydactyl cats. A fun touch when visiting the Hemingway home is that approximately six-toed cats live on the property.

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.

The Hemingway pool—the only one within 100 miles in the 1930s—was truly an architectural feat. The guided tour includes information about all aspects of Hemingway’s interesting life. But you surely don’t have to be a fan of Hemingway to find a visit to Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum inspirational.

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.

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