Christmas in Key West

The Holidays in Key West:   my 52nd Road Scholar program!   We began traveling with Elderhostel in 1996 when they changed the age requirement.  My parents traveled with EH, too, so I'm second-generation.   Click on the tab to see the entire list.

When Stevens was a parish pastor he worked on Christmas, of course, so for all those years we didn't travel during the holidays. When he retired we realized that we could, and in 2013 we went to Quebec  with Road Scholar.  Key West was next on the list but we didn't get around to it (the program fills quickly) and then he was unable to travel.  This year I was determined to fulfill that goal (and to avoid being alone or the awkward guest).  

Sunday, December 21:  ORD-MIA.      I didn't realized that I could fly nonstop to Key West.  Instead I took the Keys Shuttle  from MIA to Key West. It was expensive and long (4 hours) but it provided a tour of sorts through the Keys that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. 

A key or cay is a specific type of small, low-lying sandy island formed on coral reefs, often in the Caribbean and Florida, while an island is a broader term for any landmass surrounded by water, which can be large, continental, or volcanic.  

I arrived just as the group was finishing dinner. I got the meal to go and everything was just fine.  We stayed at Fitch  Lodge,  a pleasantly funky assemblage of early 20th century houses converted to hotel rooms.  

There were 23 in the group.  Four other solo women (three widows, one divorced), two solo men (one single, one whose wife couldn't attend), and couples (their children/grandchildren were with the other grandparents).  Texas, California, Ohio, Arkansas, Tennessee, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, and Illinois (me).   Group leader Howie  Geib was a real pro, able to keep us on schedule and answer every question. 

 Monday, December 22:  Old  Town   tour by trolley followed by a tour of the Truman  Little  White  House     The building was originally officers’ quarters for the Navy  base,  finished in 1890. (The Navy has been in Key West since the 1820’s, at first to combat the real pirates  of the  Caribbean    (and Gulf).  The land belongs to the Navy but the museum is owned by the state of Florida, not the federal government. Seven presidents have stayed here for working vacations, beginning with Taft (obviously before it was named for Truman), Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Carter, and Clinton. Truman truly loved it, and it is furnished as it would have been in 1949.   

 Lower right: Truman's Hawaiian shirts. Upper left:  some of the staff/aides/officials dressed the part but others couldn't quite manage it.  Upper right:  they played a lot of poker; ashtrays are made from shell casings. There was a table cover (not shown) for photos because heaven forbid they should be seen gambling.   Lower left: a note from Harry to Bess.

After lunch we went to the Mel  Fisher  Maritime  Museum. . “Today’s the day” was his upbeat saying as they searched for years for the .Atocha. , the Spanish  treasure  ship that sunk off the keys (along with other ships in the fleet) in 1622. Fisher and his crew first found the Henrietta Marie,  a slave ship, in 1972. They found the Atocha in 1975. Its treasure was valued at $450 million. Silver ingots, gold and silver coins, gold jewelry, fine emeralds, and so much more. And it is said that that was only half what the treasure fleet was taking back to Spain.

The museum collection shows off many of the artifacts and provides the context for the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the extraction of the mineral wealth (and exploitation of the natives), and the many aspects of shipboard life and the trans-oceanic shipping of the 17th century.

Exhibits on the second floor are about the Henrietta Marie and the slave trade: west African society (economic, cultural) and the plantation economy of the Caribbean and U.S. south.

**One reason it took so long was that the ‘guidebook’ to Caribbean wrecks misestimated the probable location of the Atocha, placing it considerably to the east.  Fisher found a clue in some archival record that it might be farther west and that turned out to be correct. 

**After the treasure was found the US government sued to take it on the basis that the waters belonged to the US. The case went to the Supreme  Court . They ruled finders keepers.   

Monday afternoon: free time. I went across the street from the Fisher museum to the Audubon  House.  .Audubon. visited Key West in 1832.  . Capt.  John  Geiger built the house in 1849. Thus the house is named to commemorate Audubon’s time in the Keys. The house remained in the Geiger family for more than a century. The last descendant who lived in the house let it fall into disrepair. It was slated for demolition (a gas station was proposed to be built) in 1958 when it was purchased and restored. That began the historic preservation movement in Key West. 

The house now has a few Geiger pieces but most furnishings are typical of the period **with quilts!!!** 

The third floor is a gallery of Audubon prints and paintings   including several from elephant folios (so called because the paper was the size of an elephant’s ear).

  

After dinner: holiday lights tour on the trolley. There is a contest and a lot of people go all out.

Tuesday, December 23:   docent-led tour of the Key West Art & Historical Society. Housed in the former Customs  House,  designed by Boston  architect  H. H.   Richardson   for a more northerly climate. Great comprehensive history of Key West with a lot about the Maine (the ship), Henry Flagler and his railroad, Hemingway, cigar makers, Tennessee Wiiliams, and more.  

After the museum tour we had free time. 

 I visited the Key  West  Woman's  Club.   Their clubhouse is the 1892  Martin  Hellings  House.   The club was chartered in 1915 and bought the house in 1941. They’ve contributed extensively to civic improvement, including founding the library. Of course I brought greetings from the Zion  Woman's  Club.   

The docent is a snowbird who lives in Evanston the rest of the year. 

Next stop:  Books  and Books  owned by Judy   Blume.  She goes in to work a couple of days a week (she's 87!) and she was there!  

We talked a few minutes about the books that were popular that week.  I bought a t-shirt instead. She understood. 

 

 

 

I walked down the block and there was the Key West Public library, so of course I went in. [Remember that the woman’s club established it.] Now it’s a part of the Monroe  County  Library  System.  They have a patio garden with a story walk.

As you can tell, Old  Town  Key  West is very walkable.  In a few more blocks I reached the  quilt  shop.  They have yarn and upholstery fabric, too.  The quilt fabric is tropical bright.  I indulged in an eighteen FQ  bundle (Riley Blake) and a half yard of lime green just because.   

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at a potter's workshop. She was having a clearance sale to make room for new creations. (I completely understood).  I had a few minutes back in my room to put my feet up.   (“Rest and relaxation” is not my vacation style.). 

Five of our group (Laura & Jimmie, Janet & John, and I) bought tickets for a champagne sunset cruise. At this time of year that means 4-6 p.m. (sunset was 5:45). We sat in the stern along with two other couples and had a great time chatting. They served wine, champagne, and soft drinks, along with with crudites, some charcuterie, shrimp, and cookies. Unfortunately a cloud bank came up at 5:40 and obscured the actual sunset. But it was a lovely late afternoon to be on the water. (Stevens would have been in his element.)

Back on shore we met up with a half dozen from our RS group and went out to dinner. I opted for dessert:  French toast with Key lime filling garnished with bananas and blueberries. 

Wednesday, December 24:   the Hemingway House, with cats.  It was build in 1851 and unoccupied for many years when Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer (wife #2) moved in.  Her uncle bought it as a wedding gift. They lived here from 1931-39.  He wrote To Have and Have Not, Islands in the Stream, and short stories (including Snows of Kilimanjaro). It became a museum in 1961.  

The six-toed cats are legendary.  They all have names and wander the grounds.  They are very well cared for. 

 

I climbed the 88 steps to the top of the Key West lighthouse.   This 1848 structure replaced the original (1825) that was destroyed in a hurricane.  It used to be on the shoreline but much of the current Key West land is fill.  

View from the top, with Ken from Massachusetts. 

Note the metal roofs. That's the building code, required after a devastating fire that went from wooden roof to wooden roof among the closely-packed houses.  

And that inspired the name of Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

 
The founders of the Tennessee Williams Museum couldn't afford to buy the house where he lived so they bought this little house.   It happened to be open on Christmas Eve afternoon so several of us went in.  I had no idea he'd written so many plays.  

Christmas Eve:   Another group member and I went to the 5pm service at Key West UMC. We were so glad we did! Lovely church, lots of people, good homily on “make room at the inn.”   The church was on the same street as our hotel.  The rest of the group met us after the service and we went out to dinner. 

Christmas sunrise 

    

Thursday, December 25:     to the Dry Tortugas on the Yankee Freedom III, a high-speed catamaran. 2-1/2 hours, 65 miles each way.   

Ponce de Leon named the group of seven islands Dry Tortugas because there were turtles (tortugas) and there is no fresh water except rainfall.  The first lighthouse was build in 1825.  Construction on Fort Jefferson began in 1846 (19 million bricks).   It was strategically important as the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico and just 90 miles from Cuba.  

The fort served as a Union prison in the Civil War (despite Florida being a Confederate state) for captured deserters.   Among the more notorious prisoners was Dr. Seeley Mudd who treated John  John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln’s assassination. The Army abandoned the fort in 1874.

I was surprised at how large the parade ground is.  The cannonball 'furnace' was very interesting!  

The Dry Tortugas were designated a wildlife refuge in 1908, a national monument in 1935, and got national park status in 1992.  

The day-long tour included breakfast on board and lunch picked up on board and eaten at the dock.  Snorkeling was available to those so inclined. 



I chose to wade.  It was lovely!

Back in town:  our closing dinner.  We posed in front of a Christmas tree made out of lobster traps.

Friday, December 26:   the Keys Shuttle picked me up at 9:30.  Just as with the incoming ride, the driver provided interesting information about the area.   I got to MIA at 1:30.  It was relatively un-busy.  The flight home was uneventful. I was home at 9 p.m. and asleep by 10:30.   What a great Christmas vacation!

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Feral chickens are both a nuisance and a tourist attraction.  They were introduced by Cuban immigrants (cigarmakers) partly for eggs but also for cockfighting.  They wander everywhere.  It's illegal to feed them.  

They are a mix of junglefowl and fighting bantams. 

Kapok tree; senita cactus; bamboo.

Strangler fig; roots of ??; Malabar almond.