Hemingway's Key West Estate in Domino

Somehow while living in Florida for five years, I never made it to Key West. Life just gets busy! But I have wanted to go mostly to take a tour of Ernest Hemingway's house. I was really excited to see these beautiful photos of the place in a tour on Domino's website.

images from Domino

concours d'elegance

We just attended the concours at Amelia Island. We've gone for a few years now and I love it every time. The weather is always perfect! Some photos to share - enjoy!


Horsehair stuffing, original

Steve McQueen and Jerry Seinfeld Porsche 917

Photos by me! Please credit if you borrow :)

st. augustine lighthouse

I would be remiss to discuss St. Augustine and omit the lighthouse. I'm not a lighthouse person, but I know many are. And I find this fascinating from the perspective of life on the "frontier" as it were. It was the first lighthouse established in Florida by the new, territorial, American Government in 1824. As you can imagine, there was not a whole lot there. The lighthouse keeper and his family had to farm and hunt to feed themselves. If memories serves the first few versions were of wood, kept by the Spanish. In 1824 the first coquina structure was established.


By 1870 beach erosion required a new tower. Construction began in 1871 and it stands as it was to this day.

Hall at the base of the lighthouse, where oil was kept to be carried to the top for burning. As you can see, quite a number of stairs. No need for fad workouts here.

The Keeper's House

Images from here, here, here, here, here

colonial st. augustine

I swear, this is the last of it, well almost. When I first went to St. Augustine, I thought it to be a very hokey tourist trap. Beyond the kitschy beach shops and seafood shacks (both of which I actually do enjoy!) is a wonderful historic gem.

Fort Matanzas

This is my favorite house tour. It is the "oldest" house and has been in near continuous occupation since the Spanish. It shows the evolution of the town. You can see the basic house on the first level, the English addition with the second. While it has been restored, it once also bore the ornamentation of the Victorian era.

The Peña-Peck House

The Ximenez-Fatio House

And worth mentioning is the Fountain of Youth, in case your regimen is insufficient...

Images from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here

flagler's st. augustine, part 5 of 5

Lastly for the period, historic photos from the Hotel Alcazar. As my last post in the series, I have to say this series started as one post until I realized it was going to be just an absurd pain to load. There's so much to this town, so forgive me.


The Turkish baths

Lounging Room

The gym

Steam room


Massage room

Cold Plunge Pool, post steam naturally

Images from the Lightner Museum

flagler's st. augustine, part 4 of 5

The last Victorian destination is the Hotel Alcazar. Now home to some very interesting galleries and antique shops. I believe it is also presently home to the local city hall and, my favorite, the Lightner Museum.

The center courtyard.

The lobby, now of the Lightner Museum

These rooms contained the spa and gym.

The Ballroom is particularly remarkable as there are working sky lights and the dance floor surrounds the pool two stories below where gondoliers would row about with the musicians. Quite a sight to behold, I'm sure. Now the pool floor, at the deep end, is home to a nice cafe.

Lobby of the spas and gym

image from my flickr, here, here, here, here, here and here

flagler's st. augustine, part 3 of 5

The church's of St. Augustine are truly remarkable. To start, this is the Grace Methodist. As you can see this whole area of town is very stylized.

My favorite is, naturally, Flagler's Memorial Presbyterian Church where he is entombed with his family.

I wish I could have found a photo of the pulpit. The carving is so beautifully executed however there was a wedding in progress when we were there... I suppose it would have been rude to interrupt for blog photos!

images from my flickr, here, here, here