Mile Zero and Hemingway’s Six-Toed Cats – Key West, Florida, USA

Conch Tour Train
Key West is a pretty, pedestrian-friendly city of neatly-painted weatherboard houses and leafy streets.

Driving the Bridges
Key West is the southernmost island in the Florida Keys. Highway US1 is as much bridge as it is road as it stretches the 190 kilometres (120 miles) from the bulk of Florida, and across countless tropical islands to the tip of the archipelago.
In this picture, on the stretch between Bahia Honda Key and West Summerland Key, the derelict Bahia Honda Railroad Bridge sits in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. (iPhone4S)

“Conch Fritters”
Key West owes much to the Bahamian immigrants – referred to as “conchs”, possibly because of their love of shellfish – who have been in the Florida Keys since the 1700s. Originating from a traditional Bahamian recipe, conch fritters are now a famously popular Key West delicacy.

The 65 Foot Lookout Tower
This lookout, belonging to The Shipwreck Treasure Museum, is modelled on the observation towers that ‘wreckers’ once used to watch for ships in trouble on the reefs along the coast. They would then race out into the waters to claim lucrative salvage rights.

“Time for Fun”
A number of large, trompe l’oeil painted bronze statues by part-time Key West resident Seward Johnson are installed in front of the Custom House, Key West’s Art and History Museum. This six metre (20 foot) depiction of an old fashioned dancing couple was inspired by Auguste Renoir’s painting “Dance in the Country.”

“The Fisherman”
Also in front of the Custom House is a life-sized bronze cast statue of Ernest Hemingway as a fisherman.

Chicken in the Road
You know you are not in a big city when the chickens wander freely next to the roads!

Audubon House
White weatherboard with airy verandahs and shuttered windows: the family home built by Captain John Huling Geiger in the 1840s is typical of Key West housing.

American Coot
The noted American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter John James Audubon (1785 – 1851) stayed here in 1832, and the house, which is open to the public, now bears his name. The restored mansion features many of Audubon’s beautiful and detailed illustrations of American birds.

Truman’s Little White House
The restored Harry S. Truman Little White House, built in 1890, is also open for guided tours. American Presidents, from Howard Taft to Bill Clinton, are among the notables and dignitaries that have used the residence for meetings and working holidays. President Harry S. Truman spent 175 days of his presidency installed here.

Guide Marta – Little White House
The house has seen many historic moments, as the guide explains.

In the Words of the Presidents
Naturally, the gift shop focusses on presidential memorabilia and famous quotes.

Pink Frangipani and Spanish Moss
The gardens everywhere are lush and beautiful.

Frangipani and Ferns
One of my favourite plants, the wonderfully scented frangipani (known as plumeria in this part of the world) is native to the tropics of Florida and Central- and South America.

58 Front Street from Emma Street
The houses are set close together, but they all have an airy, spacious feel.

Orange Palm Fruit

Six Toed Cat Cafe
Next door to the Hemingway House, the roof of the charming and well-rated Six Toed Cat Cafe is almost covered in “flame tree” flowers. The royal poinciana (Delonix regia) is the city of Key West’s official tree.

Six Toed Cat in the Hemingway House
Ernest Hemingway was, among other things, a cat lover. In the 1930s, a sea captain gave Hemingway a white polydactyl (many-toed) kitten named Snow White. Polydactyly in many creatures (including humans) is inherited from a dominant gene. Sailors preferred polydactyl cats because they were thought to be good luck, and it is claimed they are better mousers and have better balance on rough seas.

Hemingway’s Six Toed Cat
Hemingway bought his 1851-built Spanish Colonial house in 1931 and lived here until 1940. It is now a museum, and a home for the 40-50 descendants of his cats – about half of whom have extra digits, and all of whom carry the polydactyl gene.

Cat’s Headstones
Hemingway named all his cats after famous people – and that tradition has been carried on. Flagstones in the garden mark the deceased.

Hemingway’s Carriage House
Hemingway converted the free-standing carriage house into his writing studio, and connected it to the master bedroom in the main house with a second story walkway.

Writer’s Studio
The walkway no longer exists, but the studio has been maintained. He wrote some of his best work here, including A Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, before moving to Cuba with his third wife in 1940.

Audubon Layers
Key West leaves the visitor with a kaleidoscope of impressions.