Located a short distance from the southern tip of Florida, the island of Key West is an interesting fusion of laid-back locals mixed with developer's designs. Here, thousands of cruise guests stop each day, and the island must have something to offer all sorts of visitors. From food to entertainment, the small island packs a huge punch when it comes to offering some serious fun for all who come to visit it.



Among many other interesting places to see and things to do in Key West, the island offers a large number of very impressive museums. With every topic covered in every format possible, the museums in Key West are bound to be unlike any other in the nation.

The East Martello Museum and Gallery is a very intriguing museum for many visitors. The museum is located in a Civil War era brick fort. The museum has an impressive collection of exhibits that does a very complete job of interpreting the city's intriguing past. There are many historic artifacts, including models of ships, a deep sea diver's wooden air pump, a crude raft from a Cuban boat lift, a supposedly haunted doll, and a horse drawn hearse. Each exhibit plays a part in recreating the bizarre history that this very unique island has had. After viewing all the exhibits, which could take up to an hour, guests can climb a steep, spiral staircase to look out over the island and the ocean.

A cousin to the East Martello Museum, the Key West Lighthouse Museum offers a more in-depth perspective at the island's history dealing with ships. The Key West Lighthouse first opened in 1848. The lighthouse made the island safer, but it was a disappointing end to many pirate salvagers who had looted reef-sunken ships. The museum today tells the story of this and other area lighthouses. Like its cousin before, this museum also offers a fantastic view of the surrounding island and ocean. Guests only have to muster the energy to climb 88 claustrophobic steps to get to the top of the lighthouse! Completing the trio, the East Martello and the Lighthouse museums also have a third cousin, The Key West Museum of Art and History. This museum again explains the history and background of Key West with many exhibits.

The Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum is a wonderful stop on your Key West Tour. This museum really captures a lot of great history that is extremely entertaining and also educational at the same time. The museum is named to honor a local hero, Mel Fisher. He, along with a crew of other salvagers in 1985, was responsible for the discovery of a multi-million dollar treasure trove that was aboard the wreck of a Spanish galleon ship. The museum is filled with wonderful artifacts for any pirate enthusiast. Many great and small treasures await you to see, including a solid gold bar that you can lift is on display in the museum. The museum also features a 1700's English merchant slave ship, which is the country's only tangible evidence of the transatlantic slave trade. Around the ship are exhibits telling the story of more than 1,400 slaves captured in Cuban waters and brought to Key West to labor as slaves.

Please remember that you should always enjoy your trip as much as possible. You never know when you'll get another chance!