Nestled in the heart of the Old Town section of Key West, a mere one block from the Tropical Inn Bed & Breakfast, is the one time home of Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway. The colonial southern mansion style home witnessed some of the most prolific years of Hemingway’s career.

Located at 907 Whitehead Street, the Hemingway House has been listed as a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 1968. Serving as his home from 1931-39, this where Hemingway wrote such classics as the final drafts to “A Farewell to Arms” and short classics “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”

The original structure was built from limestone quarried from the site by Asa Tift in 1851. Only 16 feet above sea level, the house sits on the second highest location on the island and has survived many hurricanes, a testament to its location and construction.

Other notable facts of the Hemingway House include being one of the first homes on the island fitted for indoor plumbing and the first to have an upstairs bathroom with running water fed from a cistern collecting rainwater on the roof. The high brick wall surrounding the property was built in 1935 after Hemingway’s house was published in a Key West tourist brochure.

The home also has other notable features that will not be given away here, you have to see it for yourself. The house is a great tribute to one of America’s most fascinating but complicated authors. It is a must on any Key West itinerary and literally right around the corner from the quaint bed and breakfast, the Tropical Inn.

Numerous historic and interesting sites dot the landscape of Key West. One way to easily see these sites, and understand their extensive history, is to take a trolley tour during your stay at the quaint bed & breakfast, the Tropical Inn. Two main trolley tour companies in Key West, Old Town Trolley Tours and the Conch Tour Train, cruise the streets of the city, passing by such landmarks as the Ernest Hemingway mansion and the Little White House. Each tour departs from the Mallory Square area, only blocks down Duval Street from the Tropical Inn Bed & Breakfast.  The Conch Tour Train departs from the Front Street Depot in front of Mallory Square every 30 minutes from 9-4:30 daily. The tour includes 2 stops, one for 10 minutes at the Station Depot and a short stop at Flagler Station where passengers can disembark; see some of the sites, and return to catch a later train to finish the trip. The first train for Old Town Trolleys leaves Mallory Square at 9:00, departing every 30 minutes until 4:30. This tour can take as little as 90 minutes or the whole day. Passengers are allowed to go off and on the train 10 times so you could stop and visit the Hemingway House for instance. Trains come around to each stop every 30 minutes. Referred to as “transportainment” a trolley tour provides a lively mix of transportation and entertainment. Live narration brings history alive and makes you a part of the story of Key West.

Each night starting about 2 hours before sunset, the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square is where visitors and local residents gather to see what was rated in 2006 as the best place to watch a sunset in Florida by Florida Monthly magazine. Located only 5 blocks down Duval Street from the Tropical Inn Bed & Breakfast, Mallory Square is an eclectic venue where artists, musicians, and performers display their talents with the sun disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico. In a way, the Sunset Celebration can be termed a mini circus. Plenty of entertainment can be found including jugglers, comedians, magicians, and more. Currently at Mallory Square in the evenings, world renowned animal trainer Dominique the Catman performs a magnificent act with his trained house cats.
Mallory Square and the deepwater port it borders have seen much history since the inception of Key West and before. Pirates once used the area as an anchorage point and the square also served as an assembly point for American troops for four wars. Many ships and submarines have wrecked just offshore.  Plenty of other attractions from museums to shopping abound at Mallory Square. The Sunset Celebration however is something that must be on your list of things to do.