Key West Sights

We jumped on the Old Town Trolley Tour to learn more about Key West and visit more of the sights including the southernmost point of the contiguous 48 states (actually the military land just to the west is further south but not accessible to civilian tourists). Contrary to whats written on the buoy, its actually 98 statute miles to Cuba at the closet point.





Things we learned about Key West:

• It's original Spanish name was "Cayo Heuso" or Bone Island due to it being littered with remains from an Indian battlefield
• It's closer to Havana, Cuba than Miami (about half the distance)
• Key West declared independence from the US in 1982 and named itself the Conch Republic. The US has never officially challenged this.
• Locals are own as Conchs (pronounced "conks")
• Pan American Airlines was founded here to fly visitors to Cuba
• Has almost doubled in size with landfill
• Has been home to many artists and writers, most notably Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams

After the Trolley Tour we walked over to the Ernest Hemingway House which is maintained mostly how he left it in 1939. 47 cats reside at the house, all supposedly descendants of Hemingway's cat Snowball. The cats are "polydactyl" which means most have extra toes (check out the paws in the photo).