Hemingway Home keeps Key West's literary side close

The Hemingway Home helps explain why Key West feels tied to writers, not just sunsets and bars.

Ernest Hemingway first came to Key West in 1928. After two seasons on the island, Pauline Hemingway’s uncle bought the Whitehead Street house for Ernest and Pauline in 1931. The house itself was built in 1851 in the Spanish Colonial style, using native rock from the grounds.

The home had work done in the early 1930s, and it became the place where Hemingway wrote, fished, gathered with friends, and settled into island life. The pool, built in 1937 and 1938, is part of the story too. So are the cats, many of them known for extra toes.

For Key West, the house adds a literary layer to the island’s shipwreck, fishing, Navy, and tourism stories. Check current tour hours, ticket details, weather, and crowd levels before going. The house is popular, but the slower details are the best part: the studio, garden paths, stonework, and the way the island shows up in the writing.