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Key West Sights

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

2 reviews | Write a review

  • Address
    • 907 Whitehead St
  • Website
  • Phone
    • 305-294-1136
  • Price
    • adult/child $12/6
  • Hours
    • 9am-5pm

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Lonely Planet review for Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum offers tours every half-hour, during which bearded docents spin yarns of Papa. You'll see his studio, hear about his unusual pool, and witness scores of descendents of his six-toed cats languishing in the sun, on furniture, and pretty much wherever they feel like.

 

Traveller reviews for Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum (2)

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    Lots of Hemingway trivia

    juliaringma recommends this,

    I thought it was worth the $11 entry fee. I was lucky and got a woman guide who knew her subject thoroughly and made it interesting for all of us. She knew all the cats by name (of course, she could have been faking - how would we know?) and they all seemed to have old movie star's names. Most of them are spayed and neutered but they do allow them to breed to keep up the population of 47 at the time I was there. The house was a treat to tour except for the pervasive smell of cat pee. I wouldn't want to live there! I was especially interested in the construction - they made a quarry on the spot, using the limestone dug out for the 2 foot thick walls, and thus creating the only basement in the Keys. Considering the house has stood up to all the hurricanes over the years, they did a good job. The Hemingway history I already knew but it was interesting to hear it from this perspective.

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    Beautiful house, strange cats but poor guides

    borntorover does not recommend this,

    This is a must-do in Key West. Allow about 60minutes tops. The setting, like the house, is beautiful. It represents everything that is wonderful about Key West in terms of style. But somehow the building seems little more than a hollow backdrop lacking any sense of place. I think this is why our tour guide was poor. The old boy meant well but he'd nothing to say, nothing to that brought either the place or the man to life.
    Much more interesting were the forty seven - not a typo, I promise - cats. Half of them have six toes which is a little odd. Of course their presence means there's not a single Key West feral chicken in sight. Another oddity.

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