About Key West

This laid-back city on the Florida Keys island of the same name is the southernmost city in the continental United States and about 90 miles from Cuba. Key West was visited by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon in 1521 and remained a Spanish territory until U.S. Navy Commander Matthew C. Perry claimed it for the United States in 1822. Famous writers Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams lived in Key West during the mid-1900s. Several U.S. presidents including Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy visited the city. Notable sites in the city and on the island are Mallory Square, Duval Street, The Ernest Hemingway House and Museum, Southernmost Point monument and The Key West Museum of Art & History.