Happy birthday, Ernest Hemingway! The Nobel Prize-winning author was born on July 21, 1899 and is remembered most for his famous literary works, such as A Farewell to Arms or The Old Man and the Sea.1 Here at Pinch A Penny, we also like to remember him for his famous backyard pool!
Built in 1938, the pool at Hemingway Home is extraordinary even by today’s standards. This massive pool is 24’ wide and 60’ long. The shallow end of the pool starts at 5’ in depth and extends from north to south. The maximum depth at the south end is 10’ deep, giving it a total volume of 80,784 gallons.2 The pool cost $20,000 to build, which translates into $365,670 in 2020!3 Ernest complained constantly to his wife, Pauline, about the ever-growing cost of the pool. Legend has it that he tossed a penny onto the patio and exclaimed, “Pauline, you’ve spent all but my last penny, so you might as well have that!” Nobody knows for sure if that story is entirely true, but you can still see the penny embedded in the cement near the pool to this day!2
The pool is a marvel not only due to its size and cost but due to the intense labor that went into building it. Because of its coastal, Key West location, the pool had to be dug out of sheer coral and down to the saltwater table. There was no running water on the island at that time, so it was equipped with a pump that retrieved salt water to fill the pool. It took up to three days to entirely fill the pool in this way. Back then, pools were not sanitized as they are now, so every couple of days the pool had to be drained, scrubbed, and filled back up again.2
Though salt pools are still popular today, they are a bit different than they were in Hemingway’s days. In today’s pools, salt systems are installed to convert the salt into chlorine that keeps the pool sanitary. Be sure to speak with the experts at your local Pinch A Penny for more information on converting your pool into a saltwater oasis!
1. 10 Best Books by Ernest Hemingway, Ranked
