Hemingway in Florida

Check out the latest episode of Florida Book Club, we had the pleasure of talking about our project done there.

Hemingway's "The Strange Country" With Alec Kissoondyal and Henry Johnston - Season 4, Episode 2 – Florida Book Club Today we revisit "The Strange Country" of Ernest Hemingway (otherwise known as 1930s Florida), tracing the possible route Hemingway might have taken through the state.

The next and final stop made by the characters in Hemingway’s ‘Strange Country’ in Florida would be made at a “sandwich town” after crossing over the Suwannee River (likely at the Fanning bridge).

After a beautiful description and discussion of the Suwannee, this conversation was had:

“We’re either going to have to stop to get something to eat…”
“Let’s have another drink,” she said. “And then get some sandwiches. What kind do you think they’ll have?”
“They ought to have hamburgers and maybe barbecue.”

“… Do you think we’ll come to the sandwich town pretty soon?”
“We’ll take the next town.”

This implies they may have stopped at the first town with food after the bridge. If they truly took the route as deduced through the descriptions of roads, this would have lead them to Old Town or Cross City.
The description of the town is as follows:

“The next town was a lumbering town with one long street of frame and brick buildings along the highway. The mills were by the railroad and lumber was piled high along the tracks and there was the smell of cypress and pine sawdust in the heat. While Roger filled the gas and had the water, oil and air checked Helena ordered hamburger sandwiches and barbecued pork sandwiches with hot sauce on them in a lunch counter and brought them to the car in a brown paper bag. She had beer in another paper sack.”

This supports our theory further; Cross City had several large lumber mills (and still does in the present). Along the highway (at the time) were many “frame and brick” buildings (shown in the photos below). Additionally, according to local historians, Cross City had the first restaurant between there and the Suwannee. The Cypress Inn, still constructed out of the original cypress wood, also features a historic lunch bar (which is the original, from when the story would have taken place).

Though more research is needed, with all of this evidence in consideration, Cross City and the Cypress Inn make a prime candidate for this scene.

If anybody has information that may support or debunk Strange Country in Cross City, or may further research on Hemingway in Florida in general, please contact us. If you don’t have any information, but would still like to help, consider sharing this post and following us to see our progress.

[email protected]

Continuing with our journey through Hemingway's short story, "The Strange Country", the characters, heading north through the panhandle toward New Orleans, drive over "an iron bridge across a clean, dark-watered stream, beautiful and clear moving, with live oak along its bank and a sign at the bridge that said it was the Senwannee (sic) River" ("The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway" 631).

Although the name is misspelled, it seems that the characters in the story cross the Suwannee river using the aforementioned bridge. After tracing the path described in the story, one of our candidates for the bridge is the old Fanning Springs Bridge, which was built in 1934 (the events of the story take place in 1936-1937) and bears a plaque that reads "Way Down Upon the Suwannee River".

If anybody has any additional information that can support, refute, or otherwise help identify the correct bridge and Hemingway's whereabouts in Florida in general, please contact us through this page or send an email to

[email protected]

After having their start in Miami, and driving straight through the Everglades on the Tamiami trail, the couple of Hemingways ‘Strange Country’ would turn “onto a road that ran to the left and drove past a drugstore, a general store, a restaurant and along a deserted paved street that ran to the sea.” By this description, they likely would have arrived in Naples. During their time here they stayed in a cabin, and ate at a restaurant named the “Green Lantern” (though it’s possible this name specifically was fictionalized, it was described as being one of the “two places” in town, spoken “highly of”, and being run by a widow). It is also during their time here that the iconic description of a Florida beach is given. They would stay here 2 days (likely 1937 possibly 36), and Roger is written as using his real name in a signature (meaning if this is based on events from Hemingways life, his own signature could possible be documented in relation to these cabins).
If you know anything about cabins or a restaurant that may match those featured in Hemingways short story (or have any information that may be relevant to Hemingway in Florida), please contact us or comment. If you do not have any information but still wish to help, please help spread the word and share. If you want to see our progress, follow us.

[email protected]

[email protected]

There is also an “email now” button on our page, and we can be reached through messenger.

After getting a car and withdrawing money in Miami, Hemingway’s characters would begin their journey on the Tamiami Trail (mentioned by name) through the Everglades. While in the Everglades, Roger would begin thinking back to two events along the Trail. First, Roger and his family exchanging a rattlesnake for two shirts at a “Seminole Trading Post”. The second describes a Native American in a dugout canoe in the canal that runs parallel to the trail. Both of these events likely happened close to the 49 mile bend. The first was possibly close to where family villages in the area are now. The second could have been anywhere along the canal, though it’s described soon after the first so was possibly close by. The events of the story take place in 1937(possibly 36), but as these events were memories it could have been any point before then.
It is also worth noting that Hemingway refers to the trading post as “at” the Everglades rather than “in”, leading to the possibility of the town of the Everglades.

If you have any information that may be interesting or helpful for this project, please reach out. Follow to see our progress.
Message us through the page, or at our emails:

[email protected]

[email protected]

There is also an “email now” button on our page.

For this project, we have started following Hemingway's journey through Florida by using the locations mentioned in his story, "The Strange Country". Today, we'll be starting with Miami.

The story starts off in Miami, where the characters are staying "on the thirteenth floor of a hotel on Biscayne Boulevard. . .'

The rooms they are staying in "overlooked the bay, the park and the traffic passing on the Boulevard".

Later, the characters "had lunch at a seafood restaurant owned by Greeks". During lunch, they had "a good bottle of really cold, dry, resiny tasting Greek white wine and for dessert they had cherry pie".

When the time comes to leave Miami, the characters "drove along Biscayne Boulevard and turned west to get onto the road to Coral Gables and the Tamiami Trail".

If anyone has information that may be helpful in identifying any of the locations mentioned in Miami, or Hemingway's presence in Florida in general, please reach out, and share this post.

Follow us to see our progress.

Feel free to contact us through this page or by email at:

[email protected]

[email protected]

This is the Hemingway in Florida project, by Henry Johnston and Alec Kissoondyal. We are working to track down Hemingways path in Florida, outside of just his time in Key West. We want to raise awareness of these historic locations, by placing informational plaques throughout the state. We’ve had the pleasure of presenting our project at the FCEA conference, and are currently working to research the settings of “Strange Country”. The map shown above is the route we’ve discovered the story likely follows. We are currently looking into the towns, and trying to narrow down settings to a specific location which can be marked. Follow to see our progress. If anyone has information that may be helpful, please reach out.
[email protected]
[email protected]