Living La Vida Local - Part 2

Where were we? Oh yes. The first Sunday of the month, which meant some free stuff for locals. We decided to start with the Hemingway House. Let's see what life could be like if Oprah picked my book for her book club. Tours take off every few minutes so you can just jump in one and tip if you feel generous. The house was built in 1851 by a marine architect and salvage wrecker. We would later learn on the Conch Train tour that most of the houses on the island had been built by men with similar backgrounds and skills which meant that the houses were built to marine standards - e.g., the right woods (like mahogany and certain pines) and with braces that would explain why so many old homes are still standing despite some powerful hurricane hits (half the city couldn't escape a major fire in 1886 though).
Hemingway's house definitely had some unique features: 1) It was built out of the stone it sat on, so was as thick and strong as it was going to get; 2) Because of all that digging, the house was the only one in Key West with a basement; and 3) The basement never flooded because the house sits on the highest point in Key West - a whole 16 feet above sea level (most of Key West is at 5 feet above sea level). The place was also one of the few with indoor plumbing and was the only one to have running water in its second-story bathrooms thanks to the ingenious idea to put a couple of cisterns on the roof ("city" water didn't come into play until 1944).