In late January 2020, I spied the Key West Lighthouse from the side porch of The Hemingway House in Key West, FL across Whitehouse Street. Built in 1848, it was the first female lighthouse keeper.
View of top of Key West Lighthouse with The Lighthouse Keepers Quarters in the foreground
Leaving The Hemingway House there is a small alleyway at the closest corner of the property where you stroll down to find the ticket booth and entryway to the lighthouse grounds which house the Lighthouse and the Keepers’ Quarters — plus a necessary house, a monstrous Banyan Tree. The entry fee was $12 for adults and $5 for children 6 and up.
Banyan tree 
Retired Outhouse
Visitors follow a sidewalk to a park bench with an artist installation sculpture of a woman on a park bench facing the lighthouse doorway. She appears to be rummaging through her purse and waiting for someone.
Looking in the lighthouse’ entrance door you gaze up at the spiral staircase (88 iron steps) to the lighthouse’s observation platform. The walls were 2- to 3-feet thick. Several windows ran along the stairwell which didn’t seem such a climb until the space narrowed along with the steps. I was fine until I had to pass someone and space got tight. I was happy to reach the top and step out without any fear — especially when a grown man younger than me refused to walk out the doorway.
The surrounding island views from the platform were breathtaking! The entire island was visible in every direction. The Key West Naval Base, Mallory Square, The Custom House, Cornish Memorial AME Zion Church, Whitehead Point, The Southernmost Point of The United States (90 miles north of Cuba) and, of course, The Hemingway House among its palms are all visible. It is breathtaking.
Hemingways House 
Climbing down the 88 steps was physically easier than ascending, but a bit more trepidating. Just hold on to the rails and you’ll be fine. I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when I exited the lighthouse and was not locked in (which a sign outside cautions visitors who stay after closing or don’t descend when a storm pops up).
Admiring the banyan tree and the roosters and chickens wandering the grounds, I had to visit The Keeper’s Museum. There were exhibit rooms displaying personal effects of the lighthouse keepers over the years and an exhaustive display of keepers’ words, lamps, lenses and other technology used in this now obsolete way of guiding seafaring vessels.
Visiting the Key West Lighthouse and Keeper’s Quarters grounds is a great way to spend a few hours in this historic city. Admissions go to support the Key West Art & Historical Society. For more information, visit: https://www.kwahs.org/museums/lighthouse-keepers-quarters/visit
