A brief history
Key West got its name when it was dubbed Cayo Hueso by early Spanish explorers, who found a raft of human bones (hueso) on the shore when they landed here. That name was eventually corrupted to Key West and the monicker stuck. Some say it was bones of previous Spaniards, some say it was Indians, the more conservative among us say that no ones really sure just whose bones those were. However, the discovery proved a trifle dampening to the enthusiasm of those who found them and it was many more years before the island was to find its place in the sun.

In 1820, the island was bought from the Spanish for $2,000, quite a substantial sum in those days, and the purchaser was John Simonton, an Alabama businessman a canny businessman, it might be added, whose name and descendants live on here and remain a powerful influence in the region.

Pirates were eventually driven out and the islands ragtag population of English Bahamians, Southerners and transplanted northerners rose to 2,700, many of them happily engaged in the pursuit of wrecking ships or waiting for the rocks to do so, then salvaging the cargoes.

So profitable was that enterprising career, in fact, that one wrecker, a Bahamian named William Curry, is said to have worked his way to a million dollars, making him Floridas first millionaire and wealthy enough to buy a $100,000 Tiffany table service. In those days, that was about 10 times more impressive than it is in todays dollars and its not something to sniff at even now!

In the 1850s, however, a lighthouse was built, putting a bit of a damper on the wrecking business, and the towns industry began to change. A devastating fire destroyed the town in 1859. About the same time, cigar makers, fleeing war in Cuba, arrived in Key West, where they established a thriving industry. Key Wests port was a hot spot, too, and by the 1880s, the city was said to be the wealthiest in the nation.

It was pretty much downhill from there until promoters in these Keys discovered that the real gold in these islands was incessant sunshine, clear seas and iconoclastically bohemian residents, all items of surpassing interest to the winter-weary and the weird watchers. Thus was discovered the gold of tourism, and no one here has ever looked back.

Author Ernest Hemingway was sufficiently seduced by a visit to Key West to move in permanently, six-toed cats and all. Here the author met Sloppy Joe, the owner of a local Duval Street bar, and the two often retired to the back room to drink copious quantities of whiskey and exchange tales. Joes stories are said to have inspired several of Hemingways books, and he wrote a number of his stories while living the very good life right here in Key West. You can still visit his house, now occupied only by the descendants of his unusual six-toed cats. You can visit the bar, too, and join in the local discussions over which is the 'real' Sloppy Joes. Tonys Saloon, which is generally believed to be the spot, or the current Sloppy Joes, which certainly looks as if it could have been. Presentation is everything.

Those bars alone make Duval Street a "district," so put that on your list, although it will be virtually impossible to miss as it cuts straight down the west side of the island, ending at the ocean, as do many streets here. Duval Street is the center of Key West life, with many hotels, guest houses, inns and bed & breakfasts, plus dozens of shops and restaurants, nestled into its tropical ambience.

Playwright Tennessee Williams, who authored Streetcar Named Desire among others prize-winners, moved right in and today one of the towns theatres is named for him. Robert Frost spent some time here, and you can still see his cottage at Jessie Porters Heritage House Museum, which also chronicles many other eras of Key West life. John James Audobon, whose delicate and exacting drawings of plants and birds gained him fame as one of the worlds best known botanists, came here, too, and was so enchanted by rainbow-hued flowers and birds that he, too, moved in for a while and completed many drawings in what is now known as Audubon House. If you visit it, you'll see some of his famed work.

All of these spots are about a conch shells throw from each other and from Duval Street, so park the car somewhere (good luck) and exercise the shoe leather to get the best look into secluded courtyards, cascading rainbows of magenta, peach and purple bougainvillea, swaying palms, glowing hibiscus, intricate Victorian gingerbread woodwork....

One more possible "district" can be found just at the entrance to Key West. Its a small island called Stock Island, reportedly where the islands cattle and other stock were kept many years ago. Today the "stock" on Stock Island includes charter boats awaiting fishing fans, boaters and visitors who want to get a look at the crystalline waters that surround the islands. From here, too, you can take a ferry to what might be called another "district" of Key West, the Dry Tortugas islands, one of which is home of Fort Jefferson, once a prison housing just one miscreant, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who unknowingly treated John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Civil War President Abraham Lincoln. Mudd spent years alone in this fortress prison.

When Key West was the wealthiest city in the nation, there were those intent on enjoying their bank accounts at home, and they constructed some handsome homes in which to count their money. Trimmed on the outside in ornate woodwork known as gingerbread, and on the inside in stained glass, acres of elaborate woodwork, and miles of embellished plasterwork, these homes have been restored and are today a pastel wonderland, many of them inns, restaurants or shops.

At the ciys port, an intriguing outdoor-indoor market has developed at which you can buy everything from handmade jewelry to hand-rolled cigars.

Above it all rides a relentless sun, the orb that unifies it all, adding non-stop heat to an already-hot party, and, fittingly enough, winding up each day with a built-in festival known as Sunset at Mallory Dock. While that little daily celebration is viewed by many of its juggler/street-performer/animal-trainer/jewelry-seller participants as an opportunity to pry the tourist dollar from the tourist wallet, there is a certain beguiling innocence about it all and little of the raw mercantilism that you would expect. Instead, it is an eclectic gathering at which all and sundry join in a celebration of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which has an amazing array of definitions here in the nations southernmost city.