Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum

The Nobel laureate's Spanish Colonial house, now home to dozens of six-toed cats

The Hemingway Home is Key West's most visited attraction, and it earns the attention. The Spanish Colonial house, built in 1851 and purchased by Hemingway in 1931, is where he wrote "A Farewell to Arms," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and "Death in the Afternoon." The rooms are preserved close to how they looked during his residence, with many original furnishings.

The real charm is the atmosphere — the tropical garden, the pool, and the 60 or so six-toed (polydactyl) cats that roam the property, all descended from a cat given to Hemingway by a ship's captain. Each one is named after a celebrity. You can pet them; they are entirely accustomed to visitors. The house's elevated position in a well-shaded garden makes it one of the more pleasant places to spend a hot Key West afternoon.

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A story
Hemingway's swimming pool, installed in 1938, was the first private pool in Key West and cost $20,000 — an enormous sum at the time. When his wife Pauline showed him the bill, he pressed a penny into the wet concrete and said, "You've spent my last cent." The penny is still embedded in the concrete beside the pool.