Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters

The Key West Lighthouse is the simplest pleasure in Old Town: a whitewashed tower on Whitehead Street, a spiral of 88 iron steps, and at the top a breezy gallery with a panorama over the whole island — the tin roofs and poincianas of the historic district, the Hemingway Home's garden directly across the street, the Navy property, the harbor, and on a clear day the color change where the shallows meet deep water. The current tower dates from 1848, built inland and on higher ground after a hurricane in 1846 destroyed the island's first lighthouse and killed members of the keeper's family; the keeper at the time, Barbara Mabrity, was one of the few women in charge of a federal light anywhere in the country, and she kept the job for decades. The tower was raised in later years to throw the beam farther, and it guided ships into the harbor until the Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1969. Today the Key West Art and Historical Society runs it as a museum: the climb, plus the restored Keeper's Quarters, an air-conditioned cottage with a wraparound porch and exhibits on the families who lived and worked here, the lenses, and the life of a nineteenth-century light station. It is not a long visit, and it is not a big-ticket attraction, but it gives you the island's geography in a single look, and the view directly into Hemingway's grounds — where the cats sun themselves on the walls — is a delight. Note that the tower is not accessible for wheelchairs, though the cottage and grounds are.

The lighthouse sits in a neighborhood that explains Key West's past. In the mid-nineteenth century the island was the richest town per capita in America, its wealth made from ships that wrecked on the reef — and the lights along the Keys were the federal government's attempt to reduce the toll. The Key West light marked the harbor entrance while reef lights like Sand Key, visible on the horizon from the tower, warned ships off the coral. Barbara Mabrity's story is the heart of the museum: she took over the light after her husband's death in the 1830s, survived the 1846 hurricane that destroyed the first tower, and continued keeping the new light into her eighties. The Keeper's Quarters, built later in the century, has been restored to show how the keepers' families lived, with exhibits that change periodically.

Making the most of it: go in the morning or late afternoon, when the stairwell is cooler and the light over the roofs is warm. The steps are steep and the final section narrow, but there are landings for breathers and the climb takes only a few minutes. At the top, walk the full gallery — south toward the Atlantic and the Navy base, west to the harbor and Sunset Key, north over Old Town, and down into the Hemingway garden. The museum is open daily, with last admission half an hour before closing; online tickets are slightly cheaper, and the society sells a multi-museum pass that bundles the lighthouse with its other sites, including the Custom House on Front Street. Children under seven enter free, which makes it a good family stop.

The lighthouse pairs perfectly with the Hemingway Home: do the house first thing in the morning, cross the street, and climb the tower to look back down at where you have been. From there, Whitehead Street leads south to the Southernmost Point and north toward Mallory Square, past some of the island's finest houses and the Audubon House gardens. If you have time for only one view of the island from above, this is it — the Shipwreck Museum's lookout tower is the harbor-side alternative, and the two together make a satisfying pair of perspectives on how Key West watched the sea.