1/6/01 - Key West - Ernest Hemingway's House

Ernest's place was really cool!

There were 62 cats (all with the 6 toe gene), almost half of which had 6 toes. According to our guide, Ernest's house was very solidly built by a shipbuilder -- the first floor, for example, has 15 inch thick walls!

The house does have a basement too, something that is extremely unusual for not only Florida, but the Keys as well. Ernest used the basement as his wine cellar. ;)

Ernest did all of his writing upstairs in a second smaller guest house, which you will see below.

Enjoy!




"Okay, you guys are clear to go to Key West, Beck & I will guard the palace.." Pean roo'd.

"Sometimes I get so tired my eyes barely stay open, but overall, I enjoy my guard duties."

Welcome to Ernest Hemingway's house on Whitehead Street in Key West.
 

In the living room, one of the cats were curled up on a sofa.

Here is where Ernest did all of his work (upstairs in the guest house).

Another view of Ernest's work space.
 

When Ernest was out of town for a while, his wife had this pool built for him. The pool cost $20,000 in the 1930's (Ernest entire house and property was bought for $8,000 only a few years before!)
By the way, this is a salt-water pool.

Here's a look from the back of the house toward Whitehead Street.

One of Ernest's favorite places to hang out was Sloppy Joe's Bar. When they were doing some remodeling, Ernest asked if he could have the urinal trough and the owner said sure! Well, here it is, serving as a watering hole for the cats. :) The tour guide said some of the cats refuse to drink from the urinal trough, and instead lick the water as it comes down the side of the big vase.
 

Here is a view from the ground up to Ernest's workspace.

Top view of a six-toed kitty! (Check out the pictures below for a zoom on the kitty's feet).

A view of the paths around the property.
 

A view of one of the paths going to the house.

A 6 TOED CAT! :)

This guy (or gal) was nice enough to pose for us and let us see his/her sixth toe...
 

A look up the stairs in Ernest's house.

Upstairs, the master bedroom, Tara is checking out the master bathroom.

Pineapple lamps surround the bed.
 

A look from the master bedroom over to Ernest's workspace.

From the master bedroom we walked out on the porch...

...which wrapped around almost the entire house.
 

This is the exit/entrance from the master bedroom to the 2nd story porch.

Here's a view of the hallway outside of the master bedroom (looking toward Whitehead Street).

Pictures of Ernest Hemingway -- the top middle picture is what Ernest looked like when he lived in this house.
 

The upstair's bathroom -- you can see one of the beams on the ceiling that were used to hold up a huge cistern which was on the roof. This, along with gravity, allowed this bathroom to have running water (except when the cistern ran out of water, which the tour guide said happened occasionally!)

Another view of the bathroom.

A view down into the garden from the 2nd level porch.
 

Another view of the garden from the 2nd level porch.

Photo of the 2nd level porch.

Another photo of the 2nd level porch.
 

Down on the ground, there are hundreds of kitty foot prints permanently frozen in the cement.

Here is a view into the basement, or as it was known when Ernest lived here, the wine cellar.

The first floor porch... ;)
 

This was quite comical -- he sat this way for a long time...

Ernest's house -- this photo was taken from the garden.

A view of the guest house and the pool.
 
 
Another shot of the entrance as we leave and proceed to visit Key West's Lighthouse!
 
 
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