Eighty-eight steps, the best view on the island, and a ticket that costs less if you buy it on your phone in the line.
The basics
“Today, visitors can climb 88 steps to the top of the Lighthouse Tower to get one of the best views of the island and its surrounding turquoise waters.”
938 Whitehead Street, directly across from the Hemingway Home, which is why most people do both.
“Open Monday to Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (last admission 4:30 p.m.)”
The prices, and the online discount
| At the gate | Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Adults | $17 | $15.50 |
| Senior / local / college ID / retired military | $13 | $11.50 |
| Youth, 7–18 | $9 | $7.50 |
| Children under 7 | Free | Free |
A dollar fifty per adult, stated by the museum itself. Buy online.
Why it is inland
“After the 1846 hurricane destroyed the original lighthouse at Whitehead Point, the U.S. government began construction on a new tower the following year further inland. Without modern radar, the lighthouse served as the only warning ships had about the hazardous waters of the Lower Keys.”
The same hurricane, on 11 October 1846, unearthed the island’s beach-side cemetery and caused the city to move it to high ground — that story is here. One storm relocated two of Key West’s landmarks, and both are still where it put them.
What is in the Keeper’s Quarters
“The current Keeper’s Quarters was originally constructed in 1887 and subsequently renovated several times over the years. In the late 1990s, the Key West Art & Historical Society oversaw the restoration of the Lighthouse and Keeper’s Quarters to their 1901–1915 appearances.”
“There is also a ‘First Order’ Fresnel Lens which originally belonged to Sombrero Key Lighthouse.”
A first-order Fresnel is the largest class of lighthouse lens ever built — the size of a small room, and the reason a lighthouse could be seen twenty miles out. It is worth the walk around the ground floor even if the stairs are not for you.
One society, four museums, and one better deal
The Key West Art & Historical Society runs four sites. Three of them are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with last admission at 4:30, all with the same $17 / $13 / $9 gate ladder — and not the same online price:
| Adult, gate | Adult, online | |
|---|---|---|
| Key West Lighthouse, 938 Whitehead | $17 | $15.50 |
| Fort East Martello, 3501 S. Roosevelt | $17 | $15.50 |
| Custom House, 281 Front Street | $17 | $13.95 |
| Tennessee Williams Museum | $9 | $7.50 |
The Custom House’s online price is marked “Now” — the society’s current offer, deeper than the other two on the same gate price, and the reason this page carries a review date. The fourth site, the Tennessee Williams Museum, is on its own cheaper ladder, and youth get in free there.
Doing more than one? The society sells a Culture Pass — “One Pass, 4 Great Museums” — covering all four, on its booking page. Price it against the online tickets for the ones you will actually visit.
Active military and society members are free at all of them.
Robert the Doll is not in Old Town
This is the logistical detail that wrecks afternoons.
“Today, visitors can explore the preserved battlement’s collection of relics from the Civil War, learn about Key West’s wrecking and cigar manufacturing industries, view the imaginative metal sculptures of Stanley Papio, as well as meet the Ghosts of East Martello, including the infamous Robert the Doll.”
That is Fort East Martello, 3501 S. Roosevelt Blvd — out by the airport and Smathers Beach, not in Old Town. It is a long walk or a bus ride from Duval, and people routinely set off on foot expecting otherwise.
Pair it with Smathers or Higgs and make it an Atlantic-side afternoon rather than an Old Town errand. To meet him after dark instead, the ghost tours page has the one experience inside the fort.
Three forts, same name, three different operators
Genuinely confusing, so here it is in one place:
| Where | What it is | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort East Martello | 3501 S. Roosevelt | Museum, Robert the Doll | $17 / $15.50 online |
| Fort West Martello | Higgs Beach, 1100 Atlantic | Key West Garden Club gardens | Free |
| Fort Zachary Taylor | Truman Annex | State park and the best beach | State park fee |
Three forts, two museums, one garden, three different operators. If someone tells you “the Martello,” ask which one.
Is it worth $15.50?
Yes, if you like a view and you can do 88 steps. It is the highest publicly accessible point on a very flat island, the Fresnel lens is genuinely impressive, and it is across the street from the Hemingway Home so it costs you no travel time.
If stairs are a problem, go anyway for the ground. The society says the property is fully ADA accessible except the tower: the grounds, the Keeper’s Quarters with the Fresnel lens, and the museum store, which has restrooms. The tower is the one part you cannot do without the 88 steps.
