Guides · Key West
Key West
61 places · 9 areas · a free route, then $4.99 for the whole city · offline map 1.4 MB
The free route
Free in the app, permanently, before you pay anything. 8 stops, 1 day, about 1.7 km, planned by the app's own engine.
Day 1 · ~1.7 km
1
Cornish Memorial AME Zion Church
702 Whitehead: a wooden Gothic Revival church for the congregation founded by Sandy Cornish in the 1860s
Stand across Whitehead Street to take in the white wooden church with its pointed windows, then read the state historical marker at the corner of Angela Street.
2
Blue Heaven
729 Thomas St: a garden restaurant in the old yard where boxing, gambling and cockfights once drew crowds
Come for breakfast and take a table under the trees in the open-air yard, order a big island breakfast, and finish with a slice of Key lime pie.
3
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
907 Whitehead: the 1850s house where Hemingway lived and wrote through the 1930s, with its six-toed cats
Join one of the guided tours that start from the front of the house, then wander the gardens on your own: climb to the writing studio over the carriage house, find the pool Pauline put in, and count toes on the cats sleeping in the shade.
4
Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters
938 Whitehead: the 1848 lighthouse with 88 steps to the top and keepers' stories next door
Climb the 88 steps to the observation deck for the view over the tin roofs of Old Town, across to the Hemingway Home and out to the ocean. Then walk through the Keeper's Quarters for the photographs and belongings of the families who ran the light.
5
Bahama Village
The historic Black Bahamian neighborhood west of Duval, entered through the arch on Petronia Street
Walk in under the arch on Petronia Street and wander the grid of small streets toward Whitehead: wooden cottages with porches, the two historic churches, Blue Heaven's garden, and the Frederick Douglass center on Olivia Street. Go slowly, and greet the people on their porches.
6
Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory
1316 Duval: a glass-domed garden where hundreds of butterflies and birds fly free, with two resident flamingos
Walk slowly through the dome and stand still near the flowering plants until the butterflies land on you, then stop at the learning area where caterpillars feed on their host plants. Say hello to the two flamingos, Rhett and Scarlett.
7
Southernmost House
1400 Duval: an 1897 Queen Anne mansion on the ocean, now the hotel The Mansion on the Sea (exterior)
Look at the house from the end of Duval Street: turret, wraparound balconies and stained glass, set right on the Atlantic. The small park at the foot of Duval next door gives you the ocean view that the house was built for.
8
Southernmost Point Buoy
The painted concrete buoy of 1983 billed as the southern tip of the continental U.S., "90 miles to Cuba"
Take your photo with the striped buoy and the ocean behind it, then look out south across the water toward Cuba. Go early in the morning, when the line is short and the light falls softly on the painted side.
More of the top sights
A few of the 61 places in the full guide. Each one has its own written guide in the app: what to do, what to notice, the history, and why it hits.
Mallory Square
The harborfront square where the nightly Sunset Celebration of performers and vendors sends off the day
Harry S. Truman Little White House
The 1890 naval officers' house where Truman spent 175 days as president, seen on a guided tour
Areas
Mallory Square and Front Street · Duval Street · Whitehead Street and Southernmost Point · Bahama Village · Truman Annex and Fort Zachary Taylor · Historic Seaport and Eaton Street · Old Town East and Key West Cemetery · South Shore · Beyond Old Town
Illustrations are drawn for the app. Place descriptions are written by hand and checked against a primary source; facts draw on Wikidata (CC0) and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors.