Ernest Hemingway is Key West's most famous and popular writer. Much is made in this town of the fact that Hemingway fouind inspiration on these streets, in the pubs and cafes of Key West, and at his beautiful home on Whitehead Street. The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum are one of the top attractions in Key West, and they are definitely unique and fascinating. The home itself was built in the mid-1800's and became important when Ernest moved in with then-wife Pauline (more on wives of Hemingway to be seen on the wall in his dining room, a virtual museum itself, of his wife history). Pauline was a forceful decorator and her new swimming pool was the first one in Key West. The pool comes with its own history as well, which the guides at the home/museum will gleefully fill you in on. There's a writing cottage (really just a pool house) by the pool, where some of Hemingway's most famous books were written, including To Have and Have Not, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Death in the Afternoon, The Green Hills of Africa. Ernest and Pauline lived here only eight years, in the 1930s. Ernest's cats were and are everywhere. Distinguishable by their six toes.

There are extensive guided tours all day long here, and the grounds are open every day from 9am to 5pm.