Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum at 907 Whitehead Street in Key West, Florida, is a National Historic Landmark preserving the Spanish Colonial house where the Nobel Prize-winning author lived from 1931 to 1939 — the most productive decade of his literary career. Hemingway purchased the property with money from his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer's family, and the house's distinctly Caribbean architecture, wraparound verandas, and lush tropical garden provided the setting for writing A Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, and For Whom the Bell Tolls among other major works. The house was the first in Key West to have a residential swimming pool, built by Pauline while Hemingway was away — reportedly prompting his famous quip about the pool's cost being his last penny, with a coin cemented into the pool deck as a joke still visible today. The interior retains Hemingway-era furnishings and personal effects including his library, mounted trophy animals from African safaris, and writing equipment in the studio built above the carriage house at the rear of the property. Guided tours depart every 30 minutes and are led by knowledgeable guides who provide lively personal history alongside the literary context. The property's resident cats — polydactyl (six-toed) descendants of Hemingway's own cats, all named after famous figures — number around 50 and move freely through the house and gardens. Visitors often spend as much time photographing and interacting with the cats as exploring the house itself. The surrounding Old Town neighborhood includes the Key West Lighthouse directly across the street and the Southernmost Point marker a short walk away, enabling easy combination with a broader Key West exploration.