Key West Art & Historical Society

My partner and I went to the Key West Museum (located in the former customer hall) because we were interested in learning more about Key West. Overall, it’s a very comprehensive museum with an interesting traveling exhibit on Hemingway while we were there.
The building itself is pretty substantial, and it speaks to the huge importance of Key West back in the day when it was a huge trading hub. For instance, I didn’t know that in its heyday, Key West was the largest city in Florida. That’s the kind of stuff you learn when you peruse the history exhibits. Whether you’re interested in the geological underpinnings of the Keys or the political history of the roadway being built to Key West, all that is described at the museum.
There is also an upstairs space for a visiting exhibit, and I went to one on «The Old Man in the Sea.» Very topical and very interesting.
The gift shop is one of the few places where you can find Key West history books as opposed to just historical fiction about the Keys. I would check that out for souvenirs.
I recommend a visit, but it’s not like you can miss the location right off Mallory Square.

I was really impressed by the collections housed within the society. It is a not a large museum and you can probably see all the exhibits in a couple of hours — it is well worth your time here. I learned many things about the history of Key West, and its favorite son Hemingway as well as other local artists.
The building itself is gorgeous inside and out with a large wood staircase, big windows with lots of light — they take great pride in the history of Key West and it is a rich one. It also has a nice gift shop to pick up many different Key West and other artistic items.
The exhibits I saw were Roberta Marks, a local artist that uses a lot of found objects in her creations that moved me. There was a photography exhibit just opening that had many historical photos of Key West. Up the stairs is series of drawings based on the Old Man and The Sea by Hemmingway. The upstairs exhibits focuses on the history of Key West — the importance of Flagler and his vision of the railroad, devastation of hurricanes to the region, the overseas highway among much more.
Everything here presents a history that goes deeper than the façade of only the party place many people believe the Key West to be. Yet again, another highlight of my visit here that I recommend.

Cute museum it always has new exhibitions. I enjoyed my time here. Will be back again

For anyone who loves history, art, or Hemingway — this is a must visit!
For $ 10 for standard pricing (not being a senior, student, or military) you get 3 extensive floors of exhibits that contribute to not just local DC history, but largely to stuff in Americana generally.
I mainly examined the second floor since I am not hugely anointed into Hemingway. After this trip I should change that thought. He really was an interesting character both personally and professionally.
The second floor mainly comprises of history of Key West through the ages from when people first started settling there, how it played a major role in the sinking of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor of Cuba, World War II, the railway that was established to Key West, and much more.
The museum is housed in the former customs house in Key West built in the Victorian style.
It’s a beautiful place and worth visiting while in town.

You can visit this museum in under 2 hours. My personal reason for visiting was to see the Flagler Overseas Railroad exhibit but also enjoyed the other displays. There is a rotating exhibit downstairs that, at the time we were there, was the photography of Arthur Rothstein when he was on assignment in Key West in 1938. Fort Zachary Taylor history also downstairs in a separate exhibit. Follow the stairs up and enjoy Guy Harvey’s illustrations of Hemingway’s book Old Man and the Sea. Upstairs is a full overview of the history of Key West with minor exhibits on key personalities. The bookstore had trinkets, typical souvenirs, and a decent-​sized library of books. (Buy Hemingway books at Hemingway House if you plan to go there because Hemingway House has special stickers and stamps they post inside their books.)

The woman who works the gift shop front desk in her late 50’s with glasses. Is by far the absolute rudest person I’ve ever encountered in my life. I am local and I will not return to the custom house.

Now, I haven’t gone in yet… but based on the outside sculptures this place deserves a perfect rating!
The giant man and woman dancing statue is pretty much a staple photo for anyone visiting Key West. I’d say that statue and the Southernmost point are the two most recognizable things in Key West.
There’s a ton of other really cool photo ops and interesting statues around the outside of the museum. Coming here when it’s dark is pretty scary — some of the statues can look SUPER REALISTIC at night — don’t get startled.
The photographer — the janitor sweeping — the little girl eating a sandwich — the old tennis couple — dude eating ice cream — and my favorite: the dancing naked people — just to name a few.
There’s a ton of opportunities to get funny pics and worth the quick 15 minutes it takes to go around the outside and see everything. Look forward to coming back when the museum is open and experiencing the inside as well.

Lots of cool historical information on key west in the bottom left room. There is an old television commercial that is a must see. There is also a great tribute to how the gay community really were at the forefront of creating modern key west. However, as a museum enthusiast I was highly dissappointed by the state of this museum. I understand that they are replacing the windows but the walls were dirty. The displays and models were dirty inside of the cases. Lots of things faded. Just doesn’t seem to be the gem that it has the potential to be. Maybe it will be after the window replacement.

You could almost call this a boutique museum lovingly and professionally developed by locals. The building is historic and it has been renovated to house a very interesting collection of items from local artists to the ever present Hemingway. Getting a refresher course on Flagler’s amazing life was worth the visit. Low key, quiet and a bargain at $ 6 admission. Did not take long and we found it very relaxing and informative. OUTSIDE next to the museum they have some realistic figures good for a quick fun photo. The town also has a set of large nudes done by who knows and for what reason? The nudes have been erotically defaced regularly or at least each time we have visited by persons with even less sense than the original artist. They sadly give an impression of «what were they thinking?» So be ready to answer the kids when they see the nudes which are impossible to miss. But, considering what kids see on TV every day they may not even notice.

Was a fun experience! Saw some of Hemmingway’s belongings, got to sit amount sculptures which recreated famous paintings and have our pictures with them, and saw some great models of boats. A great place to stop by and only paid $ 5 to get in.

This place is the most unique buildings in Key West that we’ve seen on our recent trip to FL. Outside there is a huge statue of a man and a woman in the front. There are also smaller statues of a photographer and a few other statues in the front and more on the second level outside.
In the back, there is a huge circle of nude pink people in a circle, lol! There are smaller statues in the small garden there as well. Inside, the admission is only $ 5.00. They were having a special that day, so it might be more now. It’s a self guided tour. The lower level has a gift shop and more statues inside. One of them is of Marilyn Monroe.
Upstairs there is more artwork, but it’s not as interesting as what was outside and downstairs. It’s still worth checking out though. They mostly have black and white pictures upstairs. There is an elevator there which was nice as we were worn out from walking in the hot sun most of the day. To my surprise, they sold water for only $ 1.00 here which is great since every other place around the area sold it for two or three times as much. You have to ask for it though as it’s in a small fridge. If you’d like to check out their website, go to:

the museum of art & history at the custom house was not a planned stop, but we had a little time to walk around old town and happened upon it. to be honest, you really can’t miss it. the imposing ‘american gothic’ characters at the entrance tower over you. more of j. seward johnson’s ‘icons’ were located inside on the ground floor. it was like i was walking through history come to life… marilyn’s dress flying up, manet’s olympia, a 3D sculpture of the mona lisa, the girl with the pearl earring…
there were a few other exhibits on the second floor of the custom house. a history of key west filled one room… eh. i had experienced enough history of key west during the previous few days, so i was kinda over it. another room was filled with history of hemmingway (shocker). i probably was a bit over hemmingway as well, but there were some great old photos and other items i hadn’t seen yet. but the real treat upstairs was mario sanchez’s key west folk art. they have a large collection of his wood carved and painted scenes of old key west. they were utterly charming and amazingly detailed. he even used local products to paint them… eggs for yellow, dirt for dirt, etc.
johnson & sanchez’s exhibits were a do-​not-​miss.