Notice the design of the fountain below. It was built by Asa Tift in 1862 and replicates the cutting edge warship design he and his brother, Nelson, developed for the Confederacy—the Ironclad Warship.
The Confederate Secretary of Navy, a friend . . . — — Map (db m246967) HM
Captain John H. Geiger, skilled pilot and master wrecker, built this house in 1830. It is typical of the era when, in 1832, the famed naturalist, John James Audubon, visited Key West to study and sketch the birds of the Florida Keys. On March 18, . . . — — Map (db m243863) HM
Welcome to the Audubon House & Tropical Gardens, named after the famous naturalist John James Audubon. (1785-1851) This historic house museum was established in 1960 to commemorate his 1832 expedition to the Florida Keys, during which time he . . . — — Map (db m243864) HM
Michael Mabelty was appointed Principal Lighthouse Keeper in 1826 for the first Key West Lighthouse. His wife Barbara was hired as the Assistant Keeper. Michael did not serve long - he contracted yellow fever and died. Since his wife was familiar . . . — — Map (db m232473) HM
Welcome to the oldest Roman Catholic Parish in South Florida. There is evidence that Spanish Jesuits serving in Cuba first attempted to establish a mission in Key West as early as 1724.The first Catholic Church on the island was dedicated February . . . — — Map (db m101385) HM
Battery Adair was designed in the early 1890s as part of the Endicott Period upgrades to
Fort Taylor. It added four 3-inch 15-pounder Rapid Fire Rifles on masking parapet mounts. Construction began in 1898 under the supervision of the U.S. Army . . . — — Map (db m240165) HM
Battery Osceola was added to the fort in 1898. It mounted two 12-inch long-range rifles on barbette carriages. The guns each weighed over 117,000 pounds and fired shells which could reach targets over 30,000 yards (or almost 17 miles). They fired . . . — — Map (db m240160) HM
This historic site is the last remaining of four battery fortifications built as part of Key West's coastal harbor defense system. The battery consists of two open-topped concrete reinforced mortar gun pits separated by a central magazine. Each of . . . — — Map (db m243933) HM
Built by Benjamin Curry, Jr., the brother of Florida's first millionaire, the property has remained in the family for well over a century. His grandson, Beniamin Curry Moreno, was a city engineer responsible for developing Key West's modern roads . . . — — Map (db m223264) HM
Bernie Papy was born the 13th of 14 children in a family of modest means. He left school in the 6th grade to help support his family. In 1924, he entered the real estate business. Later with Victor Moffat and Charles Perez he bought Saunders . . . — — Map (db m223711) HM
Model 1844 8-inch Columbiad
The original guns brought to the Fort in 1856. Two guns were recovered in the early 1980s from the base of the concrete foundation of Battery Osceola.
Model 1858 10-inch Columbiad
Later addition to Fort . . . — — Map (db m240184) HM
This building was its first office
On Oct. 28, 1927 Pan American flight No. 1 taxied down a runway in Key West bound for Havana. This was the first United States international air service in scheduled operation. — — Map (db m243865) HM
Other than bread, fish, shrimp, and turtles, most of the food—salted pork, salted beef, and beans—came from the mainland. Officers fared better than the soldiers and prisoners. "The bread was a mixture of flour, bugs, sticks and dirt," Lincoln . . . — — Map (db m248002) HM
In 1787, the HMS Bounty set sail from Tahiti fully loaded with sapling Breadfruit Trees headed for the Caribbean Islands to be planted as a cheap food crop for slaves. The tree produces a high energy, nutritious, cantaloupe-sized fruit. The . . . — — Map (db m243887) HM
Built as part of a Methodist educational complex at Hargrove Seminary, Bruce Hall featured a 600 seat auditorium with a roof garden. It served as part of the United States Navy Hospital during World War I through World War II. After 40 years of . . . — — Map (db m243689) HM
In 1863, during the height of the Civil War, Fort Jefferson was a bustling little city. Laborers, prisoners, and enslaved blacks swatted mosquitoes as they struggled in the broiling sun to complete this massive fort. Soldiers of the 47th . . . — — Map (db m240093) HM
Captain Harold Stanley Dexter was a highly respected shipwreck and salvage captain. He had sailed to KeyWest from his home in Massachusetts with a white six-toed cat named Snowball. They were both well-regarded on the docks of Key West.
Dexter . . . — — Map (db m246978) HM
Born in Key West, a Conch, "Bra" Saunders began his career as a commercial fisherman. As the demand for sport-fishing guides increased, he became a charter boat fisherman. In the 1930's he was fishing guide for Ernest Hemingway, taking him and his . . . — — Map (db m223742) HM
This is purported to be the second oldest house in Key West. Originally built as a two-room dwelling in 1834 by English merchant captain George Carey, who made his fortune in the wholesale liquor business, the home was enlarged in 1844 as a gift to . . . — — Map (db m222466) HM
Captain John Geiger arrived in Key West as a pilot for Commodore Porter's West Indies Squadron. Porter established the first naval base here in 1823. Captain Geiger remained in Key West after the navy moved to Pensacola. He was the first licensed . . . — — Map (db m222888) HM
Built by Captain Hellings, the manager of the International Ocean Telegraph Co. He married the daughter of William Curry, Florida's first millionaire. The Key West Woman's Club Purchased the home in 1940 and operated one half of the house as the . . . — — Map (db m224206) HM
Eddie "Bra" Saunders
Captain Eddie "Bra" Saunders took Hemingway to the Marquesas on his first fishing excursion in 1928. Bra gave Ernest his first lessons about deep-sea fishing in the Gulf Stream.
Charles Thompson
Charles Thomson . . . — — Map (db m246975) HM
This room was enclosed from the open sleeping porch about 1880. On an island where nothing went to waste, the panelling is recycled piano crate likely salvaged from a shipwreck at that time. After entering the room, look back over the doorway at the . . . — — Map (db m243925) HM
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes de Cespedes was the son of Carlos M. de Cespedes a lawyer and wealthy Cuban planter who first raised the cry of "Cuba Libre" at his home in Bavamo
Cuba on October 10, 1868. His father is known as the great Liberator and . . . — — Map (db m223681) HM
Built with bricks from Fort Taylor dating back to 1845, this building is one of Key West's first hotels. It featured a car dealership on the ground floor and hotel rooms on the upper two floors. Ernest Hemingway and his wife stayed here in 1928, and . . . — — Map (db m245852) HM
Key West got its name from a combination of cultures and languages. Early Spanish explorers named the island “Cayo Hueso” which translates in English as “Bone Island”. The Tiano of Cuba call a small island “cayo”. The English call it “cay” and the . . . — — Map (db m224197) HM
Charles Helberg, a successful Chicago realtor, first visited Key West for a fishing trip during World War I. During one of his many return trips he bought his first real estate in Key West, an abandoned cigar factory at the corner of Flagler Avenue . . . — — Map (db m223562) HM
Charley Toppino came to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. He served in the U.S. Army during WW I. He then worked in construction and stone cutting in New York and Virginia. Toppino returned to his hometown in Canale, Italy . . . — — Map (db m223758) HM
At it's peak in the 1890's, Key West had 200 cigar factories of all sizes and 2085 cigar rollers producing one hundred million hand rolled cigars a year. A skilled cigar roller could roll 300 cigars a day or nearly ninety thousand cigars a year. The . . . — — Map (db m245847) HM
In the middle of the night of January 13, 1861, three days after Florida had seceded from the Union, Capt. James M. Brannan, U.S. Army, marched his troops from their barracks on the northeastern side of the island to Fort Taylor on Key West's . . . — — Map (db m224146) HM WM
Following President Lincoln's order for a naval blockade of Confederate ports in 1861, the U.S. Navy established the East Gulf Blockading Squadron based at Fort Jefferson, Fort Taylor, and the port of Key West. The squadron's area of operations . . . — — Map (db m246010) HM
This monument represents two perspectives on how the Civil War affected the residents of Key West. The obelisk in the center of the memorial plot was erected by the Navy Club of Key West for the Union soldiers who lost their lives in Key West during . . . — — Map (db m85270) HM
After the USS Maine battleship was sunk in Havana, Cuba, in February 1898, the US military strengthened its operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to protect strategically important shipping lanes. This concrete pad is all that . . . — — Map (db m225119) HM
Building #1 is the oldest brick structure in Key West. It was built by the U.S. Navy as a coal depot and storehouse. Navy servicemen coordinated refueling steamships at this location from 1856-1900. During the Civil War, the Union's West Indies . . . — — Map (db m223008) HM
In 1892, a hardware store was constructed to service the surrounding cigar and fishing industry. In 1914 Jack and Rosa Williams opened Jack's Saloon. The saloon was well situated to wet the whistle of sailors, fishermen, and workers. By 1923, the . . . — — Map (db m223374) HM
While serving in the Army during the Korean War, Coffee Butler performed for the troops. After his national service he played baseball professionally in Cuba and throughout the Caribbean until 1960.
Coffee gained recognition for sharing the . . . — — Map (db m243926) HM
Cold War
For the first time following a war, the military did not abandon Key West. As relations with the Soviet Union deteriorated, the Navy increased its shore-based and afloat organizations making Key West the largest anti-submarine . . . — — Map (db m224157) HM WM
(Front)
Dedicated to All Men and Women wounded in all our wars
My Stone is Red for
the Blood they Shed
the Medal I Bear
is My Country’s Way
to Show they Care
He who Sheds
Blood with Me
Shall forever be
My Brother . . . — — Map (db m224890) WM
David Porter went to sea in his youth with his father on merchant vessels. He entered the Navy in 1798 as a midshipman serving with distinction in the naval war with France and the war against the Tripoli pirates. He became a national hero during . . . — — Map (db m222905) HM
Built by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, a Canadian Order which first established a school here in 1868. Designed by William Kerr of Ireland, of Romanesque style, with dormered, mansard roofs and central tower. In the . . . — — Map (db m101297) HM
Here in Key West the separate cookhouse kept the heat away from the house and reduced the risk of fire. The cookhouse behind the Oldest House dates to approximately 1838 and is the last remaining original cookhouse in Key West. Emeline Watlington . . . — — Map (db m243923) HM
Founded in 1864, Cornish Chapel members began building their church in 1885. Designed to resemble European cathedrals, it served as a place of worship, school, and refuge during inclement weather. The foundation was quarried from the site and its . . . — — Map (db m101245) HM
Cuban Missile Crisis
Following the discovery of Russian nuclear missile installations in Cuba on October 15, 1962, large numbers of military troops and aircraft began arriving in Key West while destroyers and submarines in the harbor . . . — — Map (db m224166) HM WM
During October, 1962, United States intelligence sources confirmed Soviet construction of nuclear missile sites in Cuba. This provocation, coupled with the strains of the Cold War, was a direct nuclear threat to the United States. Fearing . . . — — Map (db m246013) HM
Dade County pine is a highly
prized old growth lumber that
was the primary source of
wood used to build most of the
buildings in Key West's
Historic District during the
1800s. It is best known for its
ability to . . . — — Map (db m224176) HM
What do you do if enemy troops land on the beach and start across the moat? Catch them in a crossfire from howitzers in the bastions, which extend outward from the fort's six exterior walls. Howitzers could fire canisters that spewed golf ball-sized . . . — — Map (db m243920) HM
Look around you. From this vantage point, the sea seems to go on forever. Fort Jefferson appears to be in the middle of nowhere. But it is really at the gateway to some out-of-sight landmasses. To the south, 106 miles away, is Cuba. To the east, 68 . . . — — Map (db m225074) HM
J.Y. Porter was educated in the public schools of Burlington, New York. His professional training was at the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, PA, from which he graduated in 1870. That year he was appointed an acting surgeon in the United . . . — — Map (db m223716) HM
The Jeptha V Harris family moved from South Carolina to Mississippi, where he attended high school and graduated from the University of Mississippi. Jeptha studied medicine at the University of New York and South Carolina Medical College before . . . — — Map (db m223693) HM
Built as a two story house and later expanded with a rare third-story mansard roof with gabled dormers. Dr. Porter was born here in 1847 and died in the room of his birth 80 years later. Dr. Porter was Florida's first Public Health Officer. His . . . — — Map (db m223438) HM
This is the only community pool open to the public in Key West. The pool and community center were built during segregation for the residents of black town. It was renamed for Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of the American Civil Rights Movement . . . — — Map (db m243934) HM
During and after the Civil War, the US government used Fort Jefferson as a prison for hundreds of military deserters and convicts, but a civilian was the fort's most famous prisoner. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd arrived at the fort in July 1865 with three . . . — — Map (db m240137) HM
The Gato Cigar Factory was constructed by Eduardo H. Gato in 1916. This Neo-Classical Revival, poured-concrete structure with a large central courtyard was constructed after an earlier wood frame factory on this site burned. Numerous windows . . . — — Map (db m93305) HM
This is the second Gato cigar factory located on this site. The first structure was a wooden factory built in 1884 and destroyed by fire in 1915. The second factory was built as a hurricane and fire proof structure in 1920. It features large windows . . . — — Map (db m99444) HM
Eduardo Gato was only eight years old when he left his father's home and walked to Havana to begin to learn the cigar business. During the Cuban Civil War, he moved to New York and worked in cigar factories while assisting the revolutionary movement . . . — — Map (db m223720) HM
This house, with its elaborate Queen Anne style detailing, was built c. 1894 by E. H. Gato, Sr. (1847-1926). The Gato family was one of Key West's most prominent families, and three generations of the family lived here until 1951. Eduardo H. Gato . . . — — Map (db m101296) HM
Before 1492, Cuba was populated by at least two distinct indigenous peoples: Taino and Siboney (some consider these populations to be Neo-Taino Nations). These two groups were prehistoric cultures in a time period during which humans created . . . — — Map (db m243874) HM
In 1846 Elisabetha Merklin left home in Oberhausen, Germany and sailed for Tampa, Florida to live with an uncle. According to her passport, carried in a tube around her neck, she was a citizen in good standing. The passport said she was leaving for . . . — — Map (db m223552) HM
Ellen Russell immigrated from Ireland to Trinidad when she was 13 years old to live with an uncle. Before she was 16,
she met and married Charles John Mallory, a Connecticut construction engineer. In 1820, the family moved to the United States, . . . — — Map (db m223516) HM
Named in Honor of
A Emma Carrero Cates
Key West City Commissioner 1983-1987
Member of the Monroe County Beach Advisory Board 1988-2001
For her tireless dedication and efforts in renourishment and
preservation of Monroe County . . . — — Map (db m225455) HM
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, IL in 1899. During World War I, Hemingway served as a volunteer in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, at which time he was severely wounded. After the war, he settled in Paris where he was a reporter for the . . . — — Map (db m223772) HM
Ernest Hemingway resided here from 1931-1939. During that time, he enjoyed a short commute to his writing studio via a catwalk that once spanned across the gallery roof, connecting the master bedroom porch and his writing studio.
Hemingway . . . — — Map (db m246966) HM
The windows of a building are often referred to as the "eyes" of the structure. Eyebrow houses, an architectural style unique to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean, got their name due to the overhanging porch roof that partially obscures second . . . — — Map (db m243936) HM
This is the third and largest cigar factory owned and operated in Key West by cigar manufacturer Ferdinand Hirsch. Hirsch originally came to Key West from New York and started producing cigars in 1892 during Key West's cigar boom. Hirsch owned this . . . — — Map (db m243847) HM
Ferries were the lifelines of the Florida Keys during the last century. Henry Flagler relied on these vessels both to build the Over-Sea Railroad, which stretched 156 miles from the mainland to Key West, and to carry his train cars over 90 miles of . . . — — Map (db m243842) HM
Built in 1907, the Fire Department consisted of 12 paid firemen and 200 volunteers. It is believed to have been the oldest active fire station in Florida until it's closing in 1998. The Station has endured numerous hurricanes. One of the worst . . . — — Map (db m232016) HM
You are standing on 134 acres of land created in 1910 to house Flagler's train terminal. The two Coast Guard piers nearest you date back to 1912. They were built as an integral part of Henry Flagler's plan to use his railroad to connect the United . . . — — Map (db m243841) HM
This is one of three Civil War era forts on the island. Construction began in 1862 making it part of a chain of fortifications that controlled Key West's maritime waterways. The architectural design is a Martello Tower, a Genoese defense system . . . — — Map (db m232191) HM
• Longest serving U.S. coastal fortification (1861-1947)
• Originally sited 1,100 feet off the island of Key West to protect its harbor
• Held by the Union Army for the duration of the American Civil War
• Never . . . — — Map (db m240158) HM
Fort Taylor was constructed in 1845 as part of the Third Tier System of Defense which called for the establishment of masonry fortresses constructed along America’s coastline to prevent sea attacks upon the United States. This fort was an important . . . — — Map (db m168313) HM
One of 3 civil war era forts built in Key West. At the onset of the Civil War, the Union seized control of the fort preventing it from falling into Confederate hands. It played an important role curtailing the threat of Confederate blockade runners. . . . — — Map (db m240149) HM
This gymnasium is the remains of the fourth Fredric Douglass High School. Named for Frederic Douglass, a black social reformer, abolitionist, orator and statesman. The first school was built in 1884. It was built to separate and educate the black . . . — — Map (db m243931) HM
The Dry Tortugas keys sit at the crossroads of biologically rich sea currents, migratory bird routes, and strategic shipping lanes that link the eastern United States with Gulf Coast ports like New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola. From tiny coral . . . — — Map (db m226169) HM
This park was part of a community of 40 cigar makers’ cottages surrounding the Gato Cigar Factory. The structure at the rear of the property is a representation of the cottage that stood here in 1897. The cigar sculpture is believed to be the . . . — — Map (db m245844) HM
Edward H. Gato created one of the first successful industrial communities in the US. By building 40 cigar makers cottages around his cigar factory Gato attracted the most talented workers. The homes were simple two room wooden structures, with a . . . — — Map (db m243849) HM
This grand house was constructed by George Henry Curry in 1886. It is one of 7 Curry Mansions in Key West, and built by the children of Florida's first millionaire William Curry. Much of the family's wealth was built on servicing the sailing and . . . — — Map (db m233579) HM
Fort Jefferson, the largest all-masonry fort in the United States, was built between 1846 and 1875 to protect the nation's gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. Supply and subsidence problems and the Civil War delayed construction. Sections of the fort . . . — — Map (db m225108) HM
The 8- and 10-inch columbiads were standard U.S. cannon for coast defense. They were cast-iron, muzzle-loading smoothbores. The 8-inch weighed 9,210 pounds and when elevated 4” threw a 65-pound ball about a mile. From the top of the fort, the . . . — — Map (db m100238) HM
Harbor House, at 423 Front St., ravaged by fire twice in it’s history, is a two story brick building with a long Key West history. Built in 1885 by George Lewis and George Allen, this structure was home of the Bank of Key West, which the two men had . . . — — Map (db m224924) HM
The Northwest Bastion provides an excellent view of the Key West Harbor. To the left (south) is the main ship channel and to the right (north) is the main harbor.
Blockade Headquarters
Key West was the headquarters of the East Coast . . . — — Map (db m240183) HM
Harry Truman born in Lamar, MO., was a farmer, army officer, county official and judge in Missouri before his election as a United States Senator in 1934. Truman was elected Vice President when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected for a . . . — — Map (db m222857) HM
At Ernest's request, Clarence Hemingway purchased boxing lessons at a Chicago gym for his son's 14th birthday.
During the first lesson Ernest boxed a few minutes in the ring with the high-ranking middleweight Young A'Hearn. Almost immediately, . . . — — Map (db m246980) HM
In the spring of 1928, newlyweds Ernest and Pauline Hemingway left Paris for Key West. They had been encouraged by novelist John Dos Passos to explore the fishing in Key West. When their P&O Ocean Liner docked at Trumbo Pier on April 8th, their . . . — — Map (db m246973) HM
Henry Flagler grew up in New York and Ohio and left home to make his fortune at the age of 14. In 1867, with a loan of $100,000 he entered the oil refinery partnership with John D. Rockefeller. They founded Standard Oil Company which by 1884 was the . . . — — Map (db m222870) HM
Henry Flagler grew up in New York and Ohio, and left home at the age of 14 to make his fortune. In 1867 with a loan of $100.000, he entered the oil refinery partnership with John D. Rockefeller that became the Standard Oil Company. By 1884 it was . . . — — Map (db m224555) HM
In the Beginning
On December 22, 1968, Howard S. England and a small group of volunteers started an eight-and-a-half year quest at Fort Taylor. Using shovels and a borrowed civilian construction crane, they began the search for American Civil . . . — — Map (db m240162) HM
Cayo Hueso y Habana
Spanish/Cuban Key West
The Spanish Cayo Hueso literally translates to Bone Island, the first name of the island we now know as Key West. It was given by the Spaniards who discovered scattered . . . — — Map (db m231884) HM
Cayo Hueso y Habana
Spanish/Cuban Key West
The Spanish Cayo Hueso literally translates to Bone Island, the first name of the island we now know as Key West. It was given by the Spaniards who discovered scattered . . . — — Map (db m231886) HM
National Park Service rangers, researchers, maintenance workers, and their families live here year-round. Most of them live in small apartments built within the fort's casemates and have their own kitchen, bedrooms, living room, and bathroom. Staff . . . — — Map (db m240103) HM
“...upon occasion of the prevalence of the yellow fever...Samuel A. Mudd devoted himself to the care and cure of the sick and interposed his courage and skill to protect the garrison...from peril and alarm, and thus...saved many valuable lives . . . — — Map (db m9305) HM
After the Great Fire of 1886, Indian Block became a popular building material. The all concrete material was heralded as fire proof. Portable concrete forms were used to shape hand mixed cement into uniform blocks of concrete with an easily . . . — — Map (db m245268) HM
This block, which was originally on the water's edge, housed seven structures that supported some of the islands most important industries. There was a large cigar box factory, a sawmill, a building to kiln dry wood, and lumber storage buildings. . . . — — Map (db m222664) HM
Most of Fort Jefferson's heavy guns were mounted in intricately built casemates like this one. Notice the arched ceiling, which was designed to transfer the massive weight of brick and cannon on the upper tiers to the vertical piers. To build the . . . — — Map (db m240108) HM
This wooden structure was built in the 1880s by a wealthy Charleston merchant. The private residence was well situated in what was then the center of town. In 1908, the owners transformed the house into a hotel in anticipation of the completion of . . . — — Map (db m232330) HM
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